How to CHANGE your life with a healthier MENSTRUAL switch?
- Charul Joshi
- Oct 6, 2019
- 6 min read
Vermilion- A brilliant red colour
Friends, here is my enduring gift of health and savings for you. It is Eco Femme’s reusable sanitary pads (life of at least 75 washes), at an exclusive discount of 15% with the discount code 'charuljoshi15'. You need not bother buying another for several months then! (Buy here)
Switching to these reusable pads could make your non-biodegradable sanitary waste Zero!
READ ON to know why you NEED them in your life and how switching to them will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
One Eco Femme full-cycle kit has 7 pads. To account for a heavy and longer bleeding, let us assume each cloth is washed thrice during the period week-
Therefore, each pad would last for = 75/3= 25 months i.e. one kit would last for at least 25 months for a heavy bleeding.
The kit usually lasts anywhere between 25 and 40 months depending on the usage and bleeding intensity.
Considering an average of 28 synthetic pads used per month, 700 synthetic pads are disposed by a person in 25 months; while with reusable pads there is zero disposal.
Look below-
Total savings for 75 washes= Rs 1200 i.e. 69% savings on your money. Even purchase of individual Eco Femme pads instead of a full-cycle kit would only be a small fraction of what you spend on synthetic pads annually. Additionally, Eco Femme pads will last you for at least 75 washes.
However, you save something even superior- your health…
For bulk productions in today’s consumerism-driven market, all natural and highest quality components have been replaced by synthetically made, chemical-based, toxic materials like plastic. Calling them carcinogenic is an understatement.
These toxic products first endanger our health directly through their entrance in our consumption. Post their disposal, they accumulate in our environment, contaminating the air, water and soil which we breathe, drink and procure our food from. One such plastic giant is a synthetic sanitary pad.
Your monthly vermilion, hence, is in a swingeing jeopardy!
WHY ARE THE SYNTHETIC MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS HARMFUL FOR OUR HEALTH?
Synthetic pads and tampons are riddled with several carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, irritants, furans and pesticide residue, meltdown polymers, plasticisers and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Being medical products, they are not required to disclose their constituents. The most sensitive and permeable orifice of women’s bodies, that is the vaginal mucus membrane, acts as a passage for the toxins to enter our bloodstream unfiltered (due to no passage from gastrointestinal tract).
For instance, Dioxins used to bleach the pad (to make it spotless white; and on cottony covers) is a potent carcinogen with an accumulating tendency. Persistent use for years significantly increases their concentration in our bodies, potentially causing cervical and ovarian cancers. It is also an endocrine disruptor and an immunosuppressant.
The plasticisers (BPA and Phthalates) and fragrance inducers cause bacterial and fungal infections that are exacerbated by the humid environment down there! These can cause severe septic shocks as well as reproductive problems (PCOD, PCOS, ovarian cysts, menstrual issues etc.), that can go up to infertility.
The cotton pads, believed to be safer, harbour pesticide and herbicide residues.
The only tests performed on pads/tampons are basic physical ones (softness, absorbency etc.), not biocompatible, toxicological or microbiological tests. Were these tests to be done, of course if the powerful lobbies permitted, they would evidently flag the lethal chemicals unabashedly used in these products.
Nonetheless, as part of a study, eleven brands were collected from the USA, France, Greece, Japan and Finland. Methylene Chloride was found in two brands, Toluene in nine and Xylene in all eleven.
Had there been more research, we would hear of multiple cases like the 1978 cases of Toxic Shock Syndrome in over 60 women, on using Procter and Gamble’s fully synthetic, food-grade ultra-absorbent tampon named Rely.
Ergo, the more attractive these synthetic products appear with their ultra-absorbent, super ultra-absorbent, ‘long-lasting protection from leakage’ labels, the worse they are for our health.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE PLASTIC IN PADS?
The plastic of 1 synthetic sanitary pad is equal to 3 plastic bottles. Figure 1 & Table II describe ‘the toxic chain of plastic- from origin to endlessness’ and how it is hazardous for our health and the environment at every point-
In addition to all the toxins added to plastic befalling upon our health directly, the various emissions released throughout its chain affect our health indirectly as climate change/global warming (To know the uncontroversial meaning of climate change- read here)
HOW MUCH DO THESE TOXINS AND CHEMICALS ACCUMULATE IN OUR BODIES?
An average woman uses about 500 plastic and chemically-loaded pads in a year, adding up to about 12,000-17,000 pads in her lifetime. This is the direct ingress of toxins in our bodies. Can you now imagine how much of these toxins accumulate in our bodies within a year alone?
Also, 47% women in rural and 77% in urban India use synthetic sanitary pads. Statistically, 16,180,000 kilograms of pads are disposed in India every year. Being non-biodegradable, these plastics NEVER stop existing. You can BEGIN calculating the hoarded waste from these on the planet now (landfills and the environment).
Figure 1 shows how this accumulation in the environment comes back to our health even after their disposal.
To reiterate, ‘What kills the environment, kills us’.
WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?
Cloth pads, menstrual cups (for a later discussion), and organic disposable pads, all of which are devoid of the aforementioned toxins. The first two are reusable and the last disposable. However, organic disposable pads are quite expensive and an increased demand between women must be created to plummet the costs. I will proffer a tip on how we can still use them without going broke! But until then, we shall adopt what women have done since time immemorial, but in a safer and more hygienic manner- Reusable Cloth Pads by Eco Femme.
Why the Switch to Eco-Femme Cloth Pads will Change your Life for the Better?
They are healthy
As the cloth is procured organically, these pads contain no toxins.
They are delightfully cheap in the long run
Re-read the math done at the start, please. That’s how affordable these pads are.
Now my tip- Although Eco Femme pads absorb the flow really well, I am not very comfortable with washing heavy blood from the first three days of my cycle. This is why I use Eco Femme reusable cloth pads in conjunction with organic disposable pads made of corn and bamboo (for a later discussion) for those days. This is a personal choice.
Result- I now dispose 6-8 pads every month, down from the 25 to 27 synthetic pads I used to before (about 75-76% lesser sanitary waste). Needless to say, the disposal now is completely organic and biodegradable in nature.
They are very easy to wash
Contrary to the belief, they do not get stained if washing directions are followed properly (i.e. soaking in cold water for 15-30 minutes as required and then washing with soap/detergent). They can also be washed in the washing machine, albeit I hand-wash them.
The pictures below are of my ‘used’ unstained Eco Femme pads. Nonetheless, if you are uncomfortable with washing off heavy blood at the start of your cycle, you can follow my tip from point 2.
They have no leakage
They have a leak-proof lining of plastic. The lining, however, rests against the underwear and does not touch our skin.
They come with extra benefits for a smoother menses
This holds true for me and many other experiences I have read about. Since eradicating the plastic pads, I have experienced a healthier bleeding with a lot less stomach turbulence. I also feel more free! It is as if the humongous advertisements around plastic pads were aimed at discombobulating and frightening me of a natural bodily process. Before, I always spun around the expected dates, the hours a pad would last me and pre-gathered pad packets at home in perpetual anticipation. Now, no more!
Switching to them saves the environment and health from enormous waste
Please refer to Figure 1 again. Using them also discourages use of the synthetic pads, which are manufactured through fossil-fuel and carbon-intensive processes that increase greenhouse gas emissions (To know the uncontroversial meaning of climate change- read here).
In case you are wondering, Eco Femme pads are made by rural women generating additional incomes for them.
Hence,
There is no better start for you than the Global Empowerment Initiative that is Eco Femme. Your every purchase supports underprivileged rural women for a healthier menstruation, in addition to the benefits it bestows upon you.
This is the GOLDEN chance to avail the products at a discount of 15% from right here. You need not bother buying another for several months then! Use the exclusive code 'charuljoshi15' to avail it.
If you are a woman, you must make this choice right away for your health and the environment.
If you are a man reading this, you now know how much the women in your life need this.
As Eco Femme chants, ‘Revitalize menstruation, because life depends on it.’ And indeed it does- hers, yours and everyone’s.
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