The Crimson Wave

UPDATE: this experiment did not work well with absorption! It works well on a lighter day, but not heavy days. 

...It came...

I knew it would come, and today it came, much sooner than I had hoped it would. I immediately grabbed my trusty tampons, with the trusty plastic applicator, and in the trusty and sanitary plastic wrap containing it...

..And then...

I did what I thought I would never do in my whole life...

Because only boon dock hippies would do something like this, and not me...

Oh yes I did. (O_O)

I talked to my mother about the possibility of forming my own feminine hygiene products earlier this week. She said to me sternly that I would soon have a whole lot less friends if I ever attempted reusable feminine products. I accept this challenge, just like I decided to accept zero waste into my life. Only true friends will still stick around after this.

If these don't work well, I will try sewing my own reusable pads together and see what happens with those.

Just some very quick facts as to WHY I would EVER try to do this:

• Tampons cost around $100/year per woman. (not too bad, but what else?)
• They contain interesting things like pesticides, dioxins, GMOs, and sometimes fragrances.
• One woman produces 1000 pounds of waste from women's tampons, pads and applicators in her lifetime.
• We create one million tons of tampon waste every year in the USA. That's the size of two and a half Empire State buildings.
• The applicators take at least 500 years to break down.

Time to ride the wave. Zero waste style.

And I would like to apologize to my friends for this intimate post. I am so so sorry.

Laura