# Female dopers: Pros & cons of pads vs. tampons? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346 "2003-08-01T13:13:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/41 "2003-08-02T15:58:47Z")
I switch back and forth. Sleeping/awake, working/at home, light/heavy, crampy/non-crampy…it’s not an aversion to either plugs or pillows, just whichever works more appropriately at the moment. Depo-provera does rock, I miss not bleeding at all. After almost 5 years of glorious depo usage, my ob/gyn left my area, I’m now unable to get my new office to accomodate my work schedule at all. One of the bad things about being an factory worker is that no, we can’t simply just negotiate a long lunch or short afternoon or whatever, and the ob’s office hours are within my work hours so I’m hit. Sheesh, it was like going thru puberty all over again, I’d forgotten how very much all this sucked! ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/42 "2003-08-03T00:07:56Z")
I use both, but mostly pads, because for the first two days I bleed enormously, and for the last five (yes, five. Sigh) my flow’s really light and it’s uncomfortable to take the tampons out. So I only use tampons for the first day or so to cut down on how often I have to go to the bathroom. The medium-flow ones only last about an hour, and I have problems with heavier ones. I never thought of menstruation as particularly disgusting, or of blood as “filth”. ---
**Author:** ![Sivalensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Sivalensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sivalensis)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/43 "2003-08-03T04:39:20Z")
I used pads all through high school. Tried to use tampons, but frankly, I couldn’t figure out how to get one in until after I lost my virginity in college. Since then, it’s all tampons. Every once in a while I use a pad, if I’m feeling weird or something (I never really knew what the symptoms of TSS were, but I’ve left the thing in for up to 10 or 12 hours before without a problem), and I hate them. First of all, my flow isn’t all that heavy, so I go for a while without changing them. Sometimes they rip. They feel like a football in my pants. It’s very uncomfortable to sleep with them…whenever I wake up I’m paranoid that I’ve bloodied the sheets, and I frequently got stains on my underpants. None of that since I’ve used tampons. I sometimes have a problem with dryness, which is why I don’t use the cardboard applicators (as much as I hate to use the unrecyclable stuff). I use kotex regular and it works perfectly for me most of the time, though occasionally it’ll sit funny. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/44 "2003-08-03T07:59:35Z")
Well, tampons are a LOT easier to carry around, for one thing. The no-applicator type allow for easy carrying of a small supply in a small handbag, unlike pads. ---
**Author:** ![TeaRoses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@TeaRoses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaRoses)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/45 "2003-08-03T10:09:33Z")
I’m glad I’m not the only one who sticks with pads. I used a tampon once for swimming (as a teen) and found it very uncomfortable. Now that I’ve pelvic exams, sex, a baby, etc. it would probably be fine but I just don’t have that many complaints about pads. ---
**Author:** ![stringy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@stringy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stringy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/46 "2003-08-03T10:48:52Z")
I can’t use tampons, for physical reasons. Never really had a problem using pads, except for the two occasions (in over 10 years) when I wanted to go swimming and couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Sappho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sappho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sappho)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/47 "2003-08-03T11:25:08Z")
I’ve tried cycling packs of pills together to avoid periods, but I always end up with sore breasts, bloating, cramps during the time when I should be having my period, and the next time I cycle the packs together I get my period regardless or rather such heavy spotting that I might as well have. Is this something that would get better with time? Another possible reason for preferring pads would be that if I get large clots with a tampon, I get really nasty cramps until I take it out. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/48 "2003-08-03T11:38:13Z")
I started using pads when you had to use a belt to secure them. These were truly torture devices as the pads slipped all over the place, sometimes ending halfway up your back, with the buckle rubbing you raw. Bleech! Then they came out with the sticky strips to attach them directly to your underpants. A big improvement, but I would still occasionally try tampons. Never found one that felt comfortable enough, and when TSS came to light, I stopped trying. I’m now just biding my time for when I won’t have to buy feminine insanitary products. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/49 "2003-08-03T11:57:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by brachyrhynchos \* > \*\*I started using pads when you had to use a belt to secure them. \*\* A BELT?! LMAO ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/50 "2003-08-03T14:51:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Indygrrl \* > \*\* > If you’re wearing them for 2-4 hours, I’d imagine the risk would be very low. I’ve never actually known anyone to get TSS. \*\* If I was chinging a tampon every 2-4 hours half of them would be dry when I took them out. I simply don’t bleed enough for a tampon to be a viable option. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/51 "2003-08-04T04:43:39Z")
**AngelicGemma** yep, a sanitary garter belt. The pads had long extensions on either end that you threaded through a front and rear clasp on the belt. They were about as stable as they sound (not). I know I can’t be the only doper who wore those darn things (but there weren’t that many options back in the Pleistocene). 🙂 At least I didn’t have to _wash_ my pads like my mom did when she was young. Yuck. When she came to the states on the _Queen Mary_, her mom made a bunch of pads for her and told her to take care of them. Rather than wash them, mom just tossed them out the porthole. The first dispoable pads! ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/52 "2003-08-04T12:20:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissla Lissar \* > \*\*I never thought of menstruation as particularly disgusting, or of blood as “filth”. \*\* I s’pose that if you were bleeding from any other place we wouldn’t think anything of it, would we? Hmm. Gotta love those Old Testament values, eh? ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/53 "2003-08-04T12:48:03Z")
I just realized I’ve been playing this particular game for almost 20 years now! I don’t think of it as particularly disgusting either… it’s just something that is part of me. This is the same blood that nourishes the munchkins when I’m pregnant so it can’t be all bad. The only thing that really annoys me about the whole process is the unpredictability of my cycle. Could be 2 weeks … could be 6 months. ---
**Author:** ![ouisey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc29f/32.png) [@ouisey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouisey)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/54 "2003-08-04T17:53:55Z")
I had to use pads at first because my mother refused to let me use tampons…she said I would lose my virginity.:rolleyes: So I sneakily bought tampons. The first tampon I put in, was very, horribly uncomfortable. Then I read the instructions and realized that the applicator was not meant to stay in my vagina. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/55 "2003-08-05T10:33:59Z")
Oh, no! \*\*ouuisey! Very sad! I bet that was very uncomfortable. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/56 "2003-08-05T14:11:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by js\_africanus \* > \*\*I s’pose that if you were bleeding from any other place we wouldn’t think anything of it, would we? Hmm. Gotta love those Old Testament values, eh? \*\* Um, no. Having blood and blood clots and tissue drip from any other part of my body for four days straight would also be icky. If when next I skinned my knee, it oozed for 96 hours, I’d think “yuck.” Dripping, clotty blood is kind of gross no matter where it comes from. And mostly tampons, occasionally pads. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/57 "2003-08-05T14:24:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amarinth \* > \*\*If when next I skinned my knee, it oozed for 96 hours, I’d think “yuck.” \*\* Oh, I agree with that! I was thinking of something more “unclean” than “yuck”. People can talk about poo, puss, & blood without too much problem, but if a tampon commercial even comes on the air they hide their eyes and say things like, “Is nothing sacred?!” ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/58 "2003-08-05T20:51:28Z")
Tampons are just far more convenient for me at the moment, and more comfortable. When I was younger my mum also gave me the “tampons are only meant for women who’ve had sex” line, and I waited till I was in university before trying them. Now, I keep a supply of pads for those really heavy days, but its tampons all the way. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Magic8ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Miss\_Magic8ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Magic8ball)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/59 "2003-08-05T21:20:07Z")
I’ve had my priod since christmas of grade six… almost 5 years. I was 11, so the thought of tampons Never came into my head. Which sucked, because I have this thing where EVERYTHING I wear on my bum goes UP my bum. I knwo you don’t wear pads on your bum, but thats where they go, on me. So, finally in Grade 8, I was at school and I didn’t have a pad and I desperatly needed one. My freind handed me a tampon\> Seeing no other choice, I used it. And I cannot remember one other time since then That I have used a pad. Tampons, for me, are a blessing. Especially since When i was wearing pads, they would leak through REALLY bad and cover all of my bum with blood, wheraes when tampons leak, you can tell that they’re leaking and avert disaster. ---
**Author:** ![sleepytimebaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@sleepytimebaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleepytimebaby)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346/60 "2003-08-05T21:22:44Z")
Tampons during the day, pads at night. Toxic Shock is extremely rare. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-dopers-pros-cons-of-pads-vs-tampons/192346.md?page=2)