I've spoken before about using menstrual cups. I also like to use cloth pads/liners during my period, just as an "insurance policy" in case the cup has some weird leakage problems (which in fact has never happened to me but I know has happened to other cup-users) or in case I get distracted and forget to empty it before it fills up and overflows. They're also useful at night because I don't have to wake up to empty my cup.
Clever women who can sew and who have their own sewing machines make their own. I cannot sew and don't own a sewing machine, so I buy mine from clever women who sew pads and sell them to the rest of us. I've just bought these pads and I absolutely love them:
How cute are they?? They are from April M Designs and I purchased them through her Etsy shop. I like her pads because she uses nice fabrics, they're very well made, they're a sensible shape (you'd be surprised what some people make) and she always sells at a very reasonable price. Many women like to charge $15+ for one pad - I don't care how nice the fabric is or how amazing the design; I'm just not paying that. These ones were USD$14.95 + $2.95 postage for all three.
I'm sure you're sitting there reading this and thinking, "Why do they need to look pretty? She's going to bleed on them." Yes, that's true. I suppose there are a few reasons. Firstly, functional doesn't have to mean ugly. Secondly, I don't want to associate my period with unpleasantness and ugliness. Although I don't hate periods (particularly since I started using a cup) it's true that they're not always fun and sometimes a downright inconvenience. Having nice products makes the whole thing far less onerous - I need to use them anyway, so they might as well be funky. They don't need to be pretty, but I'm happy they are!
Cup designers, by the way, seem to have caught on to this. Ladycup now makes a pink cup and Miacup makes a very groovy purple one (which looks pink in the picture but is apparently closer to purple in real life). Miacup also has some good articles and other things on their website. They've put a lot of thought into the way they're marketing their product - environmental factors and health factors - and I think they've done a great job.
Change comes slowly, but hopefully the day is coming when these things are mainstream.
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