Recommended suppliers:
Willowlane Designs (local in Cwmbran)
TCS Eco
Muff Fluff
Earthshire Luxe
Piggie Cloth
Red Rags
Honour your flow
Minivivi
Silly Panda
Bloom & Nora
I have personally been using cloth sanitary protection for a few years. Thinking about the fact that half of the world’s population are female and most of those wear some sort of disposable, plastic covered and plastic filled sanitary protection every day helped me make this one of my first switches. I’d say in a year I save upwards of 1000 single use plastics by making this switch, and that’s just the outer wrapper of a disposable pad!
This information is for people who wear daily panty liners and pads and also for people who use a cup but want a backup.
Here’s what I’ve learned…
😕You can buy cheaper pads on Amazon and Ebay but they aren’t as good as handmade pads.
😊There are lots of UK based sole traders out there who hand make them and sell them. They are a bit more pricey but even buying one a month, you will slowly build up enough to last a cycle.
I recommend you start by measuring the length of the disposables you currently use. For the daily liners, the only decision you need to make is the length you want and maybe whether you want a slim fit if you’re petite or maybe buying for a teenage daughter.
You can choose the length but also light, regular, heavy or night. I’d rather be safe than sorry so I just got mainly heavy or night and a little longer than the disposables I was using but I’ve now found you don’t really need to do this as they are better than disposables.
People also say that your cycle is shorter and lighter and you don’t have lots of nasty chemicals next to your skin.
So the nitty gritty. For the liners I just put them in the wash with everything else like you would your pants and bras!
For your time of the month… The most important thing is to only introduce cold water to them until they go in the wash at the end of your cycle. I place mine in cold water until it’s time to wash them all together, but you can also dry store them. When you’re ready to wash them in the washing machine I do a cold rinse cycle, ours is 20 minutes. Then I do a hot wash with our Fill laundry liquid. Do not use fabric conditioner and they will lose their absorbancy! I haven’t yet encountered any stains by doing it this way.
If you’re out all day you can buy special two part bags to store them in, clean on one side and dirty on the other with zips.
If you’re nervous, just start with buying one or two liners for general daily use and see how you get on. I literally haven’t had any issues at all and was sold from day one.
