My periods are so light, except for a twelve-hour or so stretch, that tampons would be more of a pain than they’re worth. Literally. I do use one or two a month but otherwise pass the Kotex. Too light a flow+tampons is not a good combination.
Sorry about the double post.
“pass ME the Kotex” and I haaaate Always. They stick to my hair. That hurts.
In regards to pad use dropping dramatically in other places in the world:
The last time I was in India was in 1997 shortly before I started undergrad. My parents usually drag us out there for 4-6 weeks at a time so I knew I’d have to suffer through at least one period. By this time I had completely switched to tampons so I brought along a box. Unopened. Tampons naturally sealed inside the plastic wrapper. When my period hit (not even in Bombay but in rural Goa where my mother’s family is from) I opened the box and found that the bloody tampons (not quite yet bloody, actually) had somehow magically expanded (even in their sealed packages). Expanded as in they were bursting through the seams of the gentle guide applicator. Nevertheless, I really didn’t want to use pads, especially not in steamy Indian monsoon weather, so I went ahead and tried out the tampon.
Jesus Christ. Within 1 hour I was having dizzy spells. Within 2 hours I fainted. I switched to another tampon. Symptoms persisted. At this point my parents started getting really scared because of our location not even being even remotely near a good hospital (Bombay is a 1 hour flight away). They sent my cousin out with my sister for some pads and after I started using those everything went back to normal and all the scary TSS-like symptoms disappeared (yes, yes, I know TSS takes a while to develop but I swear the symptoms were like some of those on the little pamphlet).
These days I still use tampons or Instead but I would have serious qualms about taking tampons from here to India again. I would probably take the Instead stuff, though.
I do the same thing when I need to take an aspirin.
Where are you putting that aspirin?! :eek:
And here all these years, I’ve been taking them orally, and it was dirty enough for me. 
Tampons are frickin’ expensive, I think. I actually just bought some today. I use the generic store brand that are like three bucks for 50. Seriously, they’re just the same as the regular Tampax with the cardboard applicator.
And I had the same problem with the o.b. tampons that everyone else seemed to be having - I never could seem to get them up far enough because they always felt like they were on the verge of slipping out.
Yes, it does require an odd body position. Sometimes I don’t feel it’s worth the trouble myself.
I used to be a big fan of Stayfree pads but they changed. They now have a plasticky top layer like Always, and they’re horrible. There is a style of Always that I can tolerate, so I use them on some heavy flow days, but otherwise it’s tampons and Kotex for me. I followed the Lunacup link, and I’ve become rather interested in the cloth pads. Has anyone here ever used them? I admit the “soft and comfy” aspect is a draw for me, but I’m worried they might be (technical term) a bit icky. Then again, they’d save a lot of money and be better for the planet.