Originally posted April 2023, Revised in October 2024.
One of the ways in which I came into the low waste movement from the outdoors perspective. I was fortunate enough to have many wonderful backpacking experiences from a young age and ingrained in me are the Leave No Trace Principles the community adheres to. I distinctly remember one of my trip leaders telling me about how cool moss is and in fact, some moss can absorb 20-30 times their body weight (it also absorbs a ton of toxins and carbon!).
Scientists who work with menstrual products often use moss to experiment in product development. Historically in medieval times, moss, specifically the sphagnum variety, was used for menstrual products, and in the 1920s was even briefly used in a conventional marketed product. While I have zero desire to ‘go back to the basics’ for these, modern advancements have brought us some wonderful alternatives that are clean, environmentally friendly, non toxic, and actually work.
When you get on the topic of most conventional period products, they are riddled with pretty disgusting scientifically proven toxins. (also see here). Tampons being the worse than pads because those toxins are directly absorbed into your bloodstream. Organic tampons and pads have a better chemical makeup, but it also makes me cringe at the ones that are sold at a lot of stores include plastic applicators (!!) But I also recognize this is not a one size fits all for this approach. There are a lot of different products out there and many of them don’t work for everybody and our bodies change. At Four Corners, we offer some clean and low waste alternatives that are worth giving a try.
While we no longer carry Saalt Cups, I always recommend this website to folks wanting to give menstrual cups and discs a try. If you have tried one in the past, try again! It's not one size fits all and there are so many options out there. We do carry a light reusable pad as well that is also very popular for light care, back up, or bladder leaks.
But no shame if you’re not ready or if they don’t work for your body and while I don’t carry disposables, if you are financially able and you use conventional products I would really look into making a swap high on your list. Thankfully the CARES Act added feminine products to HSA and FSA lists (only a mere two years ago despite being classified as a ‘medical device’ and therefore not subject to any ingredient labeling requirements….).
In a world where a quarter of the population menstruates, and an additional quarter either has at one point in their life or will in the future, menstruation is a topic everywhere in the world that is either taboo to talk about or highly stigmatized. While I’m not shouting about periods from the rooftops, it becomes more and more frustrating for me as politicians, generally men, are dictating what can and cannot happen to female bodies or what can and cannot be taught to young people in school. Here's a quick Ted Talk from Nadya Okamoto on menstruation and fighting taboos. (She is the founder of August, a pretty cool sustainable period company that actually tells you the source of their ingredients and promotes sustainable and ethical practices).
ALL kids should learn basic scientific facts because we don’t need another generation of men that shame women for periods, lack basic knowledge about menstruation, or blame “PMS” for emotions. Nonetheless I'm grateful to have grown up in the US where thats the bar, as some globally the situation is much more dire.
In good news, last month in Massachusetts, the senate passed a bill on period poverty, because yeah, those things ARE NOT CHEAP and folks don't need to miss school for a natural bodily function!
So just some food for thought for those who menstruate AND those who don't.
Some updates for 2024....If you haven't heard, more additional research was published in July 2024 in Environmental International regarding the amount of toxic heavy metals in tampons. While this was not "news" to people who have checked in to this (see above linked articles)
We have been thinking about carrying disposable, clean menstrual products. Let us know if this is something you'd be interested in