Cloth pads, however are no longer the old rags our grandparents used. Nowadays, they look a lot like disposables actually, would it not be that they're from fabric, which makes them breathable, and moreover, makes them especially cute since a lot of them have the cutest prints!
They are also a lot better for the environment and for your own health than disposables. Disposables take at least 450 years!! to break down when they end up in our landfills. One woman will use approximately 12 000 disposable menstrual products during her lifetime. If she's using both tampons and pads at the same time, it will be double this amount, or 24 000 disposables! during her lifetime. If you take into account how many menstruating women using cloth pads or tampons, or both at the same time, then that's a lot of waste and a lot of landfills. In the US alone, 19 billion disposable menstrual products end up in the landfills each year. 19 billion, each year!! It's easy to imagine mother earth becoming one big landfill in a hurry at this rate. It's scary.
Another environmental impact of disposable menstrual products is that it takes tons of water to produce them and the chemicals used in their making pollute the water too!
Next to the big impact on the environment, disposables also contain a lot of dangerous chemicals of which dioxin, a byproduct of the bleaching process is the most dangerous one, being the number one cancer-causing-chemical.
The dioxin in disposables can cause:
- breast cancer
- ovarian cancer
- uterine cancer
- Immune system suppression
- reproductive and developmental problems
- organ failure
- Endometriosis
- PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome)
- miscarriages
- Infertility
Using cloth pads, although the initial cost of creating a stash, will also save you money in the long run as they will last you up to ten years and even then some! If you go to the following website, you can calculate how many disposables you will have used and how much using disposables will cost you over your lifetime: http://www.menstruation.com.au/menstrualproducts/padcalculation.html
The only disadvantages (for some):
- you have to wash them
- you cannot throw them away, but have to carry them to and fro in a wetbag
- they can stain
Cloth pads thus have a majority of advantages:
- they do not contain any toxins/harmful chemicals, which is good for your health
- they are reusable
- they are good for the environment (less waste going to landfills! & less water wasted)
- they are cute
- they are breathable
- they don't pull your pubic hair
- they're extremely comfortable
- they're highly adjustable to your own needs: they come in any size or absorbency you want, especially if you get a custom order with a cloth pad-maker
- if you know how to sew, you can easily make them yourself
- they last up to ten years
- they will save you money
- Less cramping in some women
- Shorter and lighter periods in some women
- You are not being used by the disposable menstrual care industry to make money on you at the expense of your own health
- You feel more empowered and in tune with your own body due to taking care of your pads
- You feel a lot cleaner: Cloth pads are not as sweaty as disposables and you won't feel like sitting on a puddle of blood either with them.
- THEY DO NOT STINK!! :D This is due to the fact that the blood cannot react with any chemicals, hence no bacteria will form and thus will not create any smell (fishy stench)
- they are stain-treatable for if they should stain
- they are soft for your skin, just like your undies
- they will not give you any rash
In this slideshow an example of what a cloth pad looks like : )