1. Pads, pants or both!
If you’re thinking of making the switch to cloth sanitary pads or period pants, there’s a couple of additional items which would be helpful to make life easy for yourself, both when using at home or when using whilst out and about. Firstly, of course, you’ll need the pads or pants themselves - see the next paragraph for some advice on how many you would need.
2. A wetbag or two…
In addition, we’ve found that it’s helpful to have a little wetbag to carry your pads / pants around in. The reusable sanitary pads do fold in two and popper closed for discreet carrying, but our double wetbags have got two pockets, allowing you to keep a fresh set in one pocket and your soiled ones in the other. There’s no smell from the used pads / pants so don’t worry about that!
3. A Mucky Box or Strucket
We also recommend cold soaking your used period pants or pads along with a scoopful of oxygenated stain remover as this is the best way that we have found of ensuring that they wash well without any hassle! To do so, we recommend either our mucky box and mesh bag which comes as part of our cloth sanitary pads full kit, or the new ‘Strucket’ which is a revolutionary combined strainer and bucket. Alternatively, you can of course just soak them in a basin in your sink - you will know what works best for you.
Which are the best pants to use with cloth sanitary pads?
Obviously our period pants work really well alongside cloth menstrual pads, but we recommend pants with a decent percentage of lycra in them (at least 5 percent) as it helps keep the pads in place and stops them moving around.
How many cloth sanitary pads or period pants do I need for my period?
This is a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question and one that we can give you a personalised recommendation on if you use our ‘reusable period protection’ questionnaire.
In general, if you have a wash going on every other day and you would normally change your pad / tampons 4 or 5 times a day you would need around 12 pads / pants to give you time to wash and dry between uses.
However, we normally use period pants in conjunction with our reusable period pads, and would recommend six pairs of period pants and maybe 4 to 6 pads for your period, again, washing every other day. It’s tricky to give an exact number as so much depends on the heaviness of your period, your changing facilities during the day and how often you wash.
Once again though, we are happy to give you a more tailored recommendation by using our reusable period protection questionnaire.
Which cloth sanitary pad option is best for me?
We have two different types of cloth sanitary pads, our 100% cotton cloth sanitary pad ‘Ultrapads’ and our bamboo plush pads. In addition the bamboo plush come with two different top layers. Here we discuss how the vary and which might suit you best
Cotton ‘Ultrapads’
These are great if you’ve got ‘normal’ periods (i.e. you wear just one type of period protection at a time and your periods last around 5 days). They are made from 100% cotton, so are cool to wear and thinner than our bamboo plush pads. They are still very absorbent and currently come in two different coloured topping fabrics, grey cotton for the more squeamish and standard cream cotton for the non-squeamish! Because they’re made from cotton, they tend to stay put a bit more in your knickers
Bamboo Plush Pads
These are brilliant for heavier periods and maternity use. The bamboo plush cloth sanitary pads are thicker and more absorbent than our cotton pads and the grey topped option is fantastic if you’re concerned about staining. Alternatively, the bamboo topped ones are slightly cooler to wear, though of course they need a little bit more care to remain stain free. Of course even if your pads do stain through accidental washing at too high a temperature, they will still work perfectly (they’re in your knickers and no one will see them except you!)
Is this your first foray into Cheeky Pants?
Check out our 45 day Period Pants Trial Policy.
Still got questions? Feel free to contact us, Jo and her team all use the pants and pads themselves and are always happy to help.
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