h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have recently been converted to using alternative natural products. I realised that whilst I was making every effort to eat organically, once a month I was putting a lot of bleach and chemicals (in the form of tampons) next to a very absorbent part of my body - it just seemed mad!
Since then I have found that a particular feeling I had during my period has completely gone. It was a feeling of drawing out, a sort of downward pulling at my insides. It wasn't painful, just unpleasant. I've also noticed that my periods are less heavy - this could be coincidence but I have since read that this has been reported by other women. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else can empathize with the feeling I described above, and if they have tried more natural alternatives.
Oh, also I think it is worth mentioning that almost all of the above products can be found on a site called www.daisyboxonline.com , which I found to be very non-embarrassing, stocking a wide range of natural and non-natural products for periods and other related women's issues...including the washable pads which are mentioned in the main article. (Goodness, making your own might be alright in theory, but they aren't expensive and I think I'd rather just buy them!)

Hi
yeah, i think this is an important issue- I run an online forum and web shop for moon products- called Moon Times (Its the only provider of organic pads in the UK...other sites import pads ect from the US, India and Canada). I think women are so sick of being told to clean it up, make it go away...
The market for sanitary products gets bigger and bigger and more and more ridiculous. We are turning women hygiene mad and are piling up landfill sites (and blocking our loos) with over 12,000 products per woman in their life time, unbelievably in 2001 we spent over £370 million in a year on sanitary wear!

WEN (Women’s Environmental Network) have done a great job over the years promoting washable nappies after research showed that disposables take over 500 years to decompose- almost every pregnant woman will have heard about washables either from her antenatal class or from friends. When I had my children (18 years ago!) the modern variety of washable nappies were just beginning to be stocked in Boots and Mothercare, and presumably they are still there.


But what of the humble cloth pad? Is it just too back to basics for most women? When I first looked in to washable pads (around the same time I was washing my babies nappies!) and I was considering the waste women produce with pads and tampons each month I found it difficult to find any ‘alternatives’ to disposable pads. Luckily with the internet it makes finding products so much easier!

But I am still stuck on how to get women to become aware of cloth pads. WEN ran out of funding for their Sanpro Campaign and shops don’t want to risk stocking them as they are convinced women won’t buy them! So my Moon Times© Cloth Pads and myself are here to challenge women to at least TRY a cloth pad- even if you only use them at night you will be making a difference to the amount of waste we women produce from ‘disposable’ sanitary products every month!