I was SO excited when Molly agreed to do a blog post for me. Molly is 17 years old and is campaigning for women to embrace a wider education about their periods. She also currently has an open petition for companies to advertise the ingredients in sanitary products. I asked her to use this space to talk about some of the best sanitary products on the market!
You may have seen recently seen a sudden hype about ‘organic’ period products. What are they? How are they different to other products? Where can I buy them? Why are they important?
Organic feminine products are free of synthetic elements and potentially harmful ingredients. This means that these products won’t have elements that increase your risk of bacteria and other infections.
There is no legal obligation for menstrual product manufacturers to list ingredients on their packaging, therefore, it may come as a surprise to you to learn that up to 90% (the same as almost 4 plastic bags) of your period products you are using are PLASTIC. Not only is this causing huge environmental issues, but a detrimental effect on our bodies. Due to being used in such an intimate area, we are absorbing plastic up to 10x FASTER than if it were just on our skin.
This plastic causes foreign oestrogens (used in thyroxine for metabolism, serotonin for our sense of well-being and dopamine for our motor function) to make our oestrogen levels rise causing hormone imbalance. This excess oestrogen causes in the short-term heavy periods, infertility in the medium term and in the long-term feminine cancers.
Period Products are used so intimately, and we need to easily and clearly know what’s in them and what is being absorbed into our bodies. Just like food manufacturers, it should be compulsory for period product manufacturers to clearly state their ingredients on packaging.
Here are some of my favourites on offer. You can buy these products in most stores, these companies include:
- Yoni Care (available in Sainsburys) –TOTM (online)
- HeyGirlsUK (online, co-op, Asdas) –Lux Store Organic (online)
- Organic Initiative (online) – Kind Organic (Boots, online)
Do you agree that period products should all be labelled? Sign our petition today! Make Period Product Manufactures Put Ingredients on Packaging when being Sold in the UK!
You can follow Molly (seriously, she is 17 and making HUGE differences for women all over the UK so she is one to watch) on Instagram @loveyourperiod
Clever C(nt)s 