All You Need Is Less, Eco-Friendly Living, Natural Living

Green House Week 7: Ladies Room

Green House Week7: The Ladies Room - SweetMadeleine.ca

Alright, dudes. I’m an equal opportunity blogger and you are more than welcome to stick around for this, but we will be talking about some lady business today. Personally, I think men should be okay with the fact that women  – virtually all womenhave periods. I mean, is not being OK with it really an option? It happens. Every month. Soooooo, let’s just get over the ick factor, yes?

That goes for us, too, ladies. It drives me nuts that our periods are this huge taboo we are supposed to hide and pretend isn’t happening. We buy these cutesy tampon cases and slim-fit pantyliners and go to work pretending that it doesn’t feel like an angry dwarf has taken up residence in our uteruses, making us feel bloated and angry and doubled up from the pain of cramping.

Sometime it seems the only time we ever talk about periods is when some buffoon uses it to justify their archaic notions about why women couldn’t possibly run a country (actual quote, “…the PMS and the mood swings…”)

Let’s change that! Here we are, ladies! We all bleed every month! In many pre-Kotex cultures, menstruating women were considered to be undergoing a sacred time, a time for rest, renewal and cleansing. Doesn’t that sound nice?

So, let’s figure out how to approach our Moon time, our Marthas, our Aunt Flows, with a little more care and consideration for Mother Nature.

 

What to Phase Out: This is where we can make the biggest impact – please, please, PLEASE ditch the plastic applicators. If you use tampons with plastic applicators please switch to cardboard applicators or even a brand like OB which skips them altogether (this is not as alarming as it might seem – more on this in a second).  Over your lifetime it’s estimated you’ll use between 8,000 to 17,000 tampons. That is a shit ton of applicators cluttering up our landfills, never biodegrading. Ever! All for an applicator you used for literally three seconds. So please, switch. Please?

What to Bring In: So many options! Really cool options! I’ve used all of these! I don’t know why I’m so excited!

Menstrual Cups: The Diva Cup is my favourite, and it is exactly what it sounds like. A little silicone cup you fold up and insert into your vagina just like you would a tampon, except instead of absorbing your period into cotton it collects it in the cup. Every 4–8 hours you simply remove the cup, empty it, wash it, and reinsert. No waste! No leakage! It’s great! And YES, ok, you might have to see and come into contact with your period blood, but that’s what soap and water were invented for, and can we really be ashamed of our own bodies, and their natural processes? You are not gross, and neither is your period.

Applicator-Less Tampons: This is such a small shift, but an amazing one to make. It really isn’t that much different than using an applicator, and as an added bonus, they are TINY! You can fit like, 82 into your standard clutch. I mean, if you ever wanted to.

Cloth Pads: You know you have a great relationship with your mother-in-lawwhen she gives you a gift on your thirtieth birthday and you open it to find homemade cloth pads! That’s exactly what mine did – her quilting guild makes them to donate to third-world countries where girls often lack menstrual products and can not work or attend school during their periods. She knew that this sort of thing would be right up my hippie alley, and so she made me some, too! If you’re a pad girl and your mother-in-law isn’t this crafty or creative, there’s always Etsy!

Recipes/Extra Credit: Sorry to disappoint you but I won’t be teaching you to craft your own tampon out of recycled paper plates or something. Sorry. I’m combining two sections into one here, and you’ll see why soon enough.

This recipe speaks to another aspect of the Yoni care and maintenance. Just like ladies get periods, ladies also sometimes get yeast infections. I KNOW.

LET’S JUST GET THROUGH THIS, OKAY?

So anyway, unpleasant, yes, but it happens, and when you do get a yeast infection you can either truck down to the drugstore and buy a cure from the man, or you can deal with it the hippie way and break out the ACV.

Yes, friends, apple cider vinegar cures yeast infections. OF COURSE IT DOES. Why are you surprised.

So what do you do? Well, you can tackle this a few ways.

The first option is to start drinking 1-2 tsp of ACV in a glass of warm water morning and night. This will do wonders to restore the natural pH of your body. Alternately (or simultaneously) draw a warm bath and add 1-2 cups ACV to the water, along with 10 drops of tea tree essential oil. Have a nice soak and repeat the whole shebang until your situation is cleared up.

 

We did it! We got through it! Even if you got nothing else from this week, please take home the truth that there is absolutely nothing shameful or distasteful about a woman’s body, or the natural processes we undergo. Periods aren’t gross, and we don’t have to pay millions of dollars to personal care corporations to disguise, perfume, and otherwise hide it.

We are women, dammit! Self-cleaning, wonderful, sometimes a bit crazy, women. Own it, ladies. Roar.

(and STOP with the plastic applicators I swear)

Previous Weeks:

Week 1: Intro
Week 2: The Bathroom
Week 3: The Bedroom
Week 4: The Kitchen
Week 5: The Living Room
Week 6: The Playroom

 

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15 Comments

  • Reply Andrea July 1, 2015 at 10:23 PM

    I also need to throw in a vote for Sea Pearls (sponge tampons).
    I personally have never had a natural yeast infection cure work, sadly, BUT for UTIs: instead of using antibiotics, there is something called D-Mannose (which is supposedly the ‘active’ part of cranberry- which never worked for me otherwise) and it is amazing and very, very effective. Those are all my related lady tips.
    *Howls at moon*, or the young and childless might write #howlsatmoon

    • Reply sweetmadeleine July 5, 2015 at 12:21 PM

      I had never heard of sea pearls! That’s awesome! And thanks for the UTI info! Ah-wooooo! 😉

  • Reply Kirsty Buchan July 1, 2015 at 11:07 PM

    In Australia you have to look pretty hard to find an applicator tampon. Unless you are 12 years old we just don’t use them!! And how did I not know about the ACV for yeast infections??

    • Reply sweetmadeleine July 5, 2015 at 12:22 PM

      That’s so interesting! I wonder why the difference between Aus and North America? I JUST read about the ACV/Yeast infection thing recently, so you’re not the only one who had no idea!

    • Reply Sam Pereira July 10, 2015 at 7:03 PM

      Yep, I always find it weird that when Americans discuss tampons they always have the applicator ones…are Americans scared of touching their bits? I’m yet to try the Diva Cup, it kinda freaks me out, but I’m about to make some pads for charity and I feel like I’m not being very helpful if I don’t try out my own creations…. Stay tuned!

  • Reply Laura M July 1, 2015 at 11:37 PM

    Yep, that Diva Cup is the shit. Word to the wise, though: it’s tricky to use in public during a heavy flow.

    • Reply sweetmadeleine July 5, 2015 at 12:23 PM

      Haha, that is the TRUE test! And yes, accurate.

  • Reply Susan July 1, 2015 at 11:48 PM

    Still chuckling… “82 applicator-less tampons in a clutch” just in case! Sweet Jesus! I don’t know where your ideas come from Madeleine, but you are truly hilarious! This is my favorite post (so far)! Thank you for the deep belly laughs!

    • Reply sweetmadeleine July 5, 2015 at 12:24 PM

      Oh, I’m so glad you liked it! I love hearing that I have made someone laugh – what an amazing feeling 🙂

  • Reply valerah July 2, 2015 at 9:56 AM

    Madeleine, another ACV option is to add 1tbsp ACV to a cup with a spout with about a cup of water, and use this as a rinse in the shower over your outer-lady-parts to relieve itch and rebalance pH. My midwife recommended this to me when I was pregnant and it is effective.

    • Reply sweetmadeleine July 5, 2015 at 12:20 PM

      That’s awesome! Thank you, Valerah!

  • Reply Kate July 2, 2015 at 1:53 PM

    The diva cup is brilliant, BRILLIANT, I tell you! When I discovered it I wasn’t even unhappy with tampons but I sure am now! You can wear for up to 12 hours at a time, you never get that full icky feeling, it never EVER leaks and I don’t have to pay $8+ for a box of tampons every period (it’s like a period tax lol)?! I’m only pissed it took me years to discover!

    • Reply Leah July 23, 2015 at 5:19 PM

      Mine has leaked, but only when I didn’t get it in 100% right OR when I have a heavy flow and don’t get time to empty. In 8 years of using a Diva, I think I’ve leaked 4 or 5 times. If I’m nervous about getting it in right, I’ll use a cloth pantiliner as a backup. It did take me two cycles to get fully confident using it, but it’s been great since.

      After I gave birth and had to use pads (and didn’t get my crap together to use reusable ones), I realized how much I missed my cup.

  • Reply createdfamily July 5, 2015 at 11:54 AM

    Amen! I’ve been using the applicator-free tampons for years. A cup is next on the list. Have you tried other styles than the Diva?

    • Reply sweetmadeleine July 5, 2015 at 12:19 PM

      To date I’ve only tried the Diva, but I’ve also heard great things about the Mooncup!

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