What's your opinion on eco-friendly menstrual pads?

Question

I'm torn between sticking with my regular pads and using the washable ones. I want to be eco-friendly, but the practical habit is so hard to give up. I can't use tampons because my doctor advised me not to due to some medical reasons. Hm. Is eco-friendly pads a better solution?

Answer 1

It's not just the eco-friendly aspect with cloth pads, because they are made form natural materials that are not chemically treated they are a lot more comfortable and safer than commercial pads, they are also of course much cheaper.

I use a menstrual cup but I have a couple of Lunapads, I thought they were great just for using when I'm knocking about the house, I've used both commercial pads and organic pads in the past and found cloth pads to be very comfortable - also far less likely to irritate, cause infections, or result in odour.
They never stained (not like it would really matter if they did) and they just get thrown in the washing machine. People think they are hard work and they leak, but coming from someone with menorrhagia (excessively heavy periods) and who is often lazy, I can say they are no trouble at all to use.

I would highly recommend looking through the posts and memories at Livejournal's cloth pad community - http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=cloth_pads – hearing from other cloth pad users, their questions and so on would probably help you decide and inform you more about cloth pads. You could always join Livejournal yourself so you can join that community to ask your own questions and get more perspectives.

Have you considered using organic pads?
These are disposable just like commercial pads, the difference is however they are better for your health and the environment because they are 100% organic cotton that are not treated with chemicals. Organic pads still mean a lot of waste, but it does cut down on the environmental impact.

The problem with commercial pads is not just the waste [the average woman using 12000-15000 pads in her lifetime] but the manufacturing; paper pulp is made with only 30% of the trees harvested, plastics used are not eco-friendly, they are unnecessarily chemically treated not only adding to pollution but requiring extra energy.

Some more information for you….

Organic pad brands;
http://www.natracare.com
http://www.organicessentials.com

Cloth pad brands;
http://www.lunapads.com
http://www.gladrags.com
http://www.reddyspads.com
http://urban-armor.org/urban-armor
http://www.hagrag.bigstep.com
http://wemoon.com.au

Homemade pads;
http://www.wen.org.uk/sanpro/reports/makeyourown_web.pdf
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/sanitarypads.htm
http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/PADS.html
http://bloodsisters.org/bloodsisters/images/makepads.pdf
http://www.tinybirdsorganics.com/organiccotton/clothpads.html
http://www.borntolove.com/d-list7-make.shtml
http://onewoman.com/redspot/pattern.html

Cloth pad information;
Eight myths of washable pads dispelled - http://www.scarleteen.com/pink/washable.html
Cloth menstrual pads at Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloth_menstrual_pads
Care and cleaning of cloth pads - http://www.thekeepershop.com/article_clothpads.asp
Cloth pads community at LJ - http://community.livejournal.com/cloth_pads
DIY cloth pads community at LJ - http://community.livejournal.com/diy_pads
Alternative menstrual options at menstruation site - http://www.menstruation.com.au/menstrualproducts/productsmenu.html
Why make the switch? - http://community.livejournal.com/cloth_pads/625.html
A guy's perspective from MoonHutNaturals - http://www.moonhutnaturals.com/articles/guysperspective.php
Reusable menstrual options - http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~obsidian/clothpads

Environmental impacts of pads;
WEN's Sanpro campaign - http://www.wen.org.uk/sanpro
Blood Sisters - http://bloodsisters.org/bloodsisters

Answer 2

Here's a tip-- unless you want to be soaking your panties in the sink all the time, and don't mind smelling like a fish, stick with your regular pads. The Eco-friendly ones are apt to leak a lot b/c the absorbent material is really not that effective, and the washable ones are uncomfortable and smell bad.