Tampons (no applicator) since day one. I am suprised at how many of you find them uncomfortable. On my first period my mum told me “if you can feel it, it is not in far enough and if it sticks when you try to take it out, it doesn’t need to be changed”
Actually I just went and got the leaflet out of the box (haven’t ever read it before) and its says “By lightly tugging the withdrawl cord, you will be able to tell if it’s time to change-if the tampons does not move or resists there is no need to change…always use lowest absorbency needed to suit thats day anticipated flow.”
Oh look my mum did tell me right! (that’s a miracle she often doesn’t lol) On inserting it says “A tampon cannot be felt if inserted correctly, if you feel any pressure or discomfort at all, the tampon has not been inserted properly or far enough inside the vagina.” I personally think the ones with applicators are harder to get in or get in to the right place.
Only worn a pad once and walked round all day thinking…eek everyone can smell my period. I’m paranoid enough without thinking that as well ;).
I wasn’t able to use tampons until after I had kids. I just couldn’t get them (or anything else for that matter) inside. Its a bloody miracle that I got pregnant at all!
Gee, it takes a thread about periods to get me increasing my post count by heaps and bounds? Go figure!
LOL …insemination by eye droppper? 
I am the youngest of three (two older sisters) so by the time I started my period at age 12, I knew what to expect. (Mostly.) There were no “shameful secrets” when it came to our periods, even my poor long-suffering dad (the only male in house full of women) was used to period talk and knew which brands of tampons to buy for us at the store.
I started out with pads for the first few periods, but because my mom and sisters were tampon people, I stuck with tampons. Most brands are OK, but good ol’ Tampax was fine with me. I was stupid during my first years and refused to “double up” (tampons and pads/pantiliners) so I often had leakage. Always lived in fear of leakage, but refused to double up. Stupid me. It took me years to get a clue. (Note, I am not saying that all girls who refuse to double up are stupid, it was just that in my case, I needed to double up, and was always having “accidents” because I refused to.)
Over the years (and after reading warnings about the tampons) I have migrated away from tampons and more towards pads. I always have tampons in the house and will use them on occasion, but pads are less of a hassle. (I always live in fear of losing track of that damned tampon string!) Especially since there are a myriad of pad brands and variations—wings, extra long, quilted, different weaves. I mean, the selection is good, so I can always find a brand of pad that I can live with.
I’ve never tried the OB kind of tampon. One of my sisters liked them, and certainly they looked convenient and compact, but I just. couldn’t. do. it. without. an. applicator. Oh well.
Isn’t diversity wonderful?
Don’t misunderstand me - wearing the things was always comfortable. It was the taking them out I always had problems with. I mean, if you’re using the lowest absorbancy and if after 12 hours it’s STILL too dry to remove easily… well, obviously this wasn’t an ideal situation. A couple times I thought I was going to have to go to an ER and get some assistance getting the damn things out. Just not worth it for me.
However, if tampons work for you that’s fantastic.
Jeez, I remember those Kotex “loin cloth” belts. You younger gals don’t know how far we’ve come the last few decades with all the different products. Used to be all the pads were the same, and so were the tampons, and nothing was as comfortable as now. Heck, I remember when “it sticks to your underwear” pads were new.
(By the way - anyone else ever get your short hairs caught in the adhesive for stick-on pads. Yowch!!!)
Yes, dioxins can be found in bleached cotton products, at least some of the time in very very very very very small amounts… but if those trace amounts have you worried then there are UNbleached pads and tampons available. You’ll have to do some searching, though. Maybe someone else can help you with that.
The story making the rounds involving tampons and asbestos, thought, it total weehocky and has been debunked several times.
True enough, I wasn’t trying to be a tampon nazi. Heres to the wonderful world of diverse vaginas
Of course I meant here’s…
I didn’t mean it to be. I was just honestly recounting my personal feelings on disposable products and my use of them. Didn’t mean to get up on a soapbox, I just had a personal lightbulb-over-the-head moment when I thought that it was kind of silly of me to insist on cloth napkins, tea towels and (now) cloth diapers while continuing to use disposable stuff.
I figured that in 25 years of regular periods, I was personally responsible for having put about 9,000 :eek: tampons and applicators and 3,000 pads or pantiliners out into the environment. That honestly weighed on me.
I’m pretty sure you can order them directly online, or there might be a Japanese distributorship. Check their website, it’d be better able to tell you than I!
Oh, here’s what I get for not reading through the whole thread.
It took a couple of months to get used to the Keeper. Until I got used to the timing factor of it, I wore a pad with it when I was out in public. Once I knew how long it took t get it to a place where it needed to be emptied, I felt far more comfortable and I haven’t experienced any major leakage. I may just be lucky about it.
I will also admit that I first engaged the insertion and removal process while standing over a mirror, so that I could see the angle and figure out a useful technique. Obviously this isn’t something that everyone will be comfortable with doing, especially the removal part. Fortunately I wasn’t experiencing a gushy kind of flow at the time.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the whole thing did get much easier without sticking something absorbent inside of me. The heavier side effects of menstruating were alleviated. The usual first-day cramps got lighter to the point of being barely noticable, the heavy clots were not seen and (though this may be simply age) as I used it, my period got progressively shorter, going from about 5.5 days from first sight to last spotting to something more like 3.75 days.
Let me tell you that I was in no way happy to be unable to use my Keeper for all the post-partum bleeding I did, and, because I wasn’t expecting my period to return as soon as it did, I hadn’t bought a post-childbirth Keeper before it made its brief return. Thank goodness I got pregnant again right away! (I now have a post-childbirth Keeper in the closet for when the time comes again.)
I’m the girl who doesn’t ever wear pads, with or without tampons.
Just can’t do it.
Sure, I leak now and again…and I don’t really care. I just hate pads. I wore them exclusively til I was about 17, when somebody lent me a tampon…and then, never again. Even at night I refuse to wear 'em. They’re bulky, they do leak, they’re sticky, they eat pubic hair for breakfast, and I hate 'em.
And honestly, as far as leakage goes, it was worse overnight with pads, b/c it would always (TMI) apparently run down and end up on the other end of the pad, all over my underwear.
And what about the smell with pads? I’m paranoid to death about it, ever since a friend’s younger sister was…shall we say…having a not-so-fresh day. We were riding in the car and I was sitting next to her and I knew she was on the rag b/c I could freakin’ smell it.
Ugh.
Tampax for me. Period.
Mama Tiger, me too!! I’ve always had a moderately heavy flow, especially in the first few days of my period, but in the past few months I bleed BUCKETS (it feels like) the first day or two. Or three. Those days now require a tampon AND a pad, PLUS frequent changing (2-3 times/day.) After that, my flow drops to almost nothing overnight.
I’m a non-applicator OB user myself. Insertion doesn’t bother me, nor does removal. The only discomfort with tampons I’ve had was using some of the brands (Tampax?) that get longer as they absorb fluid. I like the OB’s MUCH better.
Cripes, I started out on those Kotex with the belts too. Vile things. The first time I tried using tampons were when we were on vacation and I realized I wouldn’t be able to go swimming ALL WEEK if I didn’t use them! It must have taken me an hour to figure out how to get one in. (We Didn’t Talk About Things Like That in my family, so I was on my own for figuring it out. But I finally did.) Never looked back.
Honestly, I wish I had done that Google search on the meaning of TMI before diving into your post.
I was actually expecting something along the lines of “frilly clothing for women through different time periods”. What was I thinking? Must be time to catch some zzzzzz’s.
You’re kidding,right? 2-3 time a day andyou think that’s heavy? Try every 2 hours - and that’s with Tampax Super.
Ditto what Sparrow said.
I’ve even had times when I had to change a Tampax Super every 45 minutes. It doesn’t happen a lot, but once in a while, I get a bizarre gush. And every 2 hours is not beyond the realm of possibility either. 2-3 times a day isn’t that heavy, not by a long shot!
Ditto again…I would love 2-3 times a day!
Do tampons make cramping worse? I’ve never been quite sure.
And, am I the only person who gets heavier periods while on the pill? I’ve never used it for more than a few months at a time, but it’s always happened, or does it get better with time?
It’s only recently that I started using pads as a backup to tampons because of what you said about your teenage years, though lucky for me, it was only one year I was condemned exclusively to pads.
My first period came when I was 13 and my mother gave me and taught me to use pads, so I used them and couldn’t stand the constant ickiness, chafing and leaking, but it seemed my only choice. Then when I was 14 one weekend when my father was taking us to the beach and I had my period, Mom gave me tampons, and I continued to use the tampons from then on. I rarely had problems with tampon leaks (and then only minor ones) until I hit my mid-30s (I’m 42 now), and then overnight sometimes I’d “blow out” a pair of panties with a really bad leak. This even though I always inserted a fresh Super Plus Absorbency for overnight when the flow was heavy right before bed. Lucky I never ruined any sheets, just panties. BUT…
About six months ago, I finally got sick of ruining panties, having to toss them out and buy new ones, so I broke down and started perusing the pads in the feminine products section of the supermarket where I buy my tampons. It was my intention to use the pads on those overnights as a backup to the tampons.
Boy, had pads changed since I was a young girl who’d just started menstruating! The pads my mother had given me the first time, and which I’d used that first year, were attached to the body via a belt. As I looked at the several kinds of pads on the shelves, I noted that none of them were like the ones I used as a girl, and some of them had those “wings” things – which I’d sort of remembered seeing on TV commercials (I watch VERY little television).
It seemed to me that the pads with wings would probably attach/stay in place better and therefore help me with the nighttime leak problem, so I bought a box of Always With Wings.
As it happened when my next period came and I tried to attach one of these pads, while I had no problem aligning the length of the pad (and exposing the adhesive strip) on the BOTTOM of the pad, those wings gave me hell - their adhesive strips were hard for me to deal with, and so was aligning and attaching them correctly.
Well, I used up the box eventually (although I never really got the hang of the wings; I COULD get them prepared and affixed, but not without a good deal of effort!). They did stop the nighttime leaks, but I won’t use pads with wings ever again. I’m planning to try pads WITHOUT wings as my next backup. I mean, after all, I’m only using them for NIGHTTIME backups; obviously during the day I’m awake and able to change my tampons often enough that I don’t leak like a sieve and ruin my underwear!
As to the feeling of safety without the backup: I finished up my box of Always With Wings with the period I had before my last one, so my last period was the first one I’d had in months without the “nighttime safety net.” Even though I lucked out and didn’t wake up to ruined panties, I do have to admit that even though I don’t like pads with wings, I DID feel a sense of “risk” not having pads for heavy-flow overnights.
So yes, before I have my next period, I WILL be buying more pads (wingless ones) because I do appreciate the safety net at night.
These days, with the OB Ultra absorbency tampons, I have to change them ever 1-2 hours the first day, and since I use them and a pad at night as well, I also have to get up during the night and change them or else when I get up in the morning I gush out past the tampon AND pad. It never used to be this way.
I remember those horrible Kotex with belts, too! Nasty, thick things, uncomfortable and so thick there was no way you COULDN’T know someone was on the rag if she had on pants. The stick-on pads were one of the world’s more miraculous inventions, right up there with disposable diapers with elastic legs. Some things seem so OBVIOUS, it’s a wonder they take so long to arrive!
Tsubaki, I bought my Keeper online.
I think if maybe I had stuck with it, I would have gotten the hang of it. But those first few months traumatized me.
I prefer OB nonaplicator. However, my cheep self just uses whatever is at the dollor store. Usually this is Tampax or one similar that grows longer as it absorbs. This ain’t good as soon I can feel it and that means leakage.
My fix for this silly little problem is to flatten out the tampon and reroll it sideways. Insert as one would an OB, and viola!
When it comes to night time I definatly need the pad back-up. Wings are as Always preferable but once again, whatever is cheepest is what is in the bathroom. I also usually keep a spare tampon on the desk next to the bed so I can wake up once in the night and change. Black sheets save on those little staning problems
Does anyone here remember the name of the tampons that started the TSS scare? They were aplicator type, but as they expanded they grew to look like something like a Daffodil cup. I loved the absorbancy of those suckers and the fact that they sat up on your cervex, cupping it nicely and stopping those silly leaks. This design rocked and I’ve never noticed any other brand that is similar.
Oh Ladies just reading the experiences about sanitary belts is making me feel so damn old. I remember what the only pad one could get with the sticky backing was just a newly fangled panty liner. Ain’t progress wonderfull?