Living on Raw Foods

I still vividly remember when I first read about reusable cloth maxi pads. Well, maybe not the first I’d heard of it, but the first I remember reading about it in detail.  It was the Rag Lady who appears to no longer be making them.  She made them out of recycled fleece (not fleece made from plastic bottles, but stuff from old clothing), and extolled the virtues of the material in dryness, softness, and absorbency.  The inside was filled with materials like old baby blankets.  I wanted them so badly, though I found the usage instructions a bit intimidating (I had a problem with taking care of my cloth diapers as it was).  In their place, I would have happily used some of the hemp cloth pads available at the time, and I looked with interest at some sea sponge products.  This was between five and eight years ago, and the field of reusable menstrual products wasn’t as large as it is now.  Yes, I would consider the field considerably larger than it used to be where it seemed like the majority of products were handmade and homemade.

But in the end it wasn’t those products I went with after I had a little extra money on the Christmas after my youngest was born.  I decided to go with the Keeper.  I don’t have my own washing machine (which made cloth diapering interesting to say the least) so the best product for me seemed to be one that was easily washable.

I have to admit that I looked askance at the rubber cup that came in the mail.  It didn’t look like it would be comfortable.  But there was that guarantee — though then I had to wonder what they did with returned cups.  Did they melt them down?  Sell them as seconds?  Wash them off and send them off again? (ewww…)

It took me a little while to find the right length for the stem.  I kept it a little too long for a while because I was scared I was going to cut it too short and not be able to get it out.  I figured out that its not too difficult to ermm… push it out.

The Keeper has worked very well for me in the past 5 years, and I will most almost certainly buy another one if and when its time.  I’ve been thinking about buying another one as a precaution — wouldn’t want to be caught short without it and have to use ::shudder:: disposables.

When its my daughter’s time, I’m fully planning to have some cloth pads on-hand.  In the end, I’ll allow it to be her choice, but I’ll have them ready. 

Some people think reusable menstrual products are “going too far” and “gross”.  You know what?  I think throwing blood soaked sticky pads into the trash is unhygienic and disgusting.  I wonder sometimes how that is even legal.  And I’m pretty sure its not wise to flush tampons down the toilet — not to mention that it doesn’t seem good to have super absorbent cotton inside you.  Ugh… It gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.