Unfortunately only one of those wishes came true, a quick glance at me will tell you which one it was (still very thankful for these A-cups).
I got my period for the first time in the 7th grade, after being quite watchful and nervous about the whole thing. Despite my vigilance, it came as a surprise and I was completely unprepared – and so was my mother. After 24 hours of putting it off and using wadded-up toilet paper, I finally fessed up about 10 minutes before the school bus arrived. She laughed, hugged me, said "Congratulations I guess?" and then jokingly offered me one of my sister's diapers because there was literally nothing else in the house. She was joking, but I still wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out. If memory serves, my mom ended up driving me to school that day so we could stop at the store ahead of time. I was mortified. In fact, "mortified" is a good way to explain how I felt every time I got my period as a middle-schooler. I was convinced everyone knew and could see the outline of the enormous pad. It wasn't a great start to womanhood. But I'm sure there are thousands – millions – of stories like mine out there. Embarrassing, but we made it through.
The thing is though, I was lucky. Red in the face, but very lucky. Even though the cupboard was bare on that particular day, my mother could afford to drive me to the store to get a box of pads and some aspirin. Did you know that 1 in 5 students struggle to afford menstruation products – or have access to them at all? And 85% of young people have either missed class or know someone who has missed class because of their period. These stats shocked me. No one should miss out on an education simply because of a process their body does naturally – and the costs associated with it. This goes beyond the Pink Tax – it's easy to image that if this were a "men's issue", it wouldn't be an issue at all. We'd have it solved.
Which is just one reason why I'm so excited to announce that I've joined Thinx as a Thinx Leader!
What does this mean for you? If you shop through my Leaders profile, you'll get $10 off your first order – but it means a lot more, too.
I'm excited to not only introduce you and others to Thinx, but to also help them make a difference in the lives of girls, women and people with periods.
If you're new to the world of Thinx, they make products for people with periods, the most famous of which are their Thinx Panties – wicking panties made to back up a cup or tampons or completely replace pads. They also make Speax for bladder leaks and Thinx (BTWN) for tweens and teens (can you imagine how amazing it would have been if something like this existed when we were teenagers?!). If you're thinking "Whaaaaaaaaat?! Period underwear?!" – so was I.
Until I began I began using Thinx earlier this year after being influenced by JessWithLess.
I hated wearing pads – I won't use tampons – I hated how they felt, how much money I was spending on them, and how awful they are for the environment – the average person with a period uses 11,000 period products (pads, tampons and liners) in their lifetime. That's a lot of trash. I became interested in Thinx because I wanted to cut back on how much trash I was producing, and I was tired of giving my money to Always every month. So I bought a set and tested them out. Mainly, I wanted to see if I could completely replace disposable products with Thinx – and the answer is: almost!
The first three I purchased were a pair of the Hiphuggers (heavy days), the Sport (light to medium days), and the cotton hiphuggers (heavy days). As suggested I wore the Hiphuggers first on a day when I would just be around the house, to see how they would hold up against my flow. After some testing I now know I can almost completely replace the disposable products I was using – sometimes I'll use a pad on the first day, but usually I'll just carry a couple of pairs with me and I'm good to go. I especially love the sport style to wear to the gym or on outdoor adventures on light days.
Thinx are:
- Moisture-wicking
- Odor-controlling
- Super-absorbant
- Leak-resistant
When you're ready to wash them, you simply rinse in cold water, then wash on cold and hang to dry. There's a wealth of information about them on their website, too.
What makes Thinx especially great, though is their Give Rise! program – which works for better access for puberty education, amplifies grassroots activism and donates undies and time to those in need – and work with programs like Girls INC, Safe Horizon and Alliance of Border Collaboratives to expand access to basic hygiene products and community services like reproductive healthcare and mentoring.
In short, Thinx are awesome. They've made having a period somewhat less of a hassle, and I think you'll like them too. Learn more and save $10 by visiting my Thinx Leaders page – and feel free to ask questions by connecting with me on Instagram!
