There are pros and cons to all period products! It's nice to know that you have a lot of options when it comes to finding products to help you with your period: Liners: A thin and absorbent (usually disposable) piece of absorbent material that sticks to your underwear. These can be useful for days of light flow, or can be used with a tampon/cup to protect against leaking. Pads: Thick napkins that stick to your underwear to catch your menstrual blood. Pads come in different th

It's important to start by defining some anatomy terms. We're used to hearing people refer to all of a woman's reproductive anatomy as "the vagina." Actually, the outside part of your genitals is called the "vulva," and the vagina is the canal/tube inside you where a baby would come out of, or where period blood comes out of. You don't need to wash your vagina - the vaginal canal inside of you has its own chemically balanced environment and your vagina cleans itself. Washing

An IUD does not fall out during your period because of the way it is placed in your uterus. Unlike your uterine lining, which is tissue that sloughs off during your period, an IUD is a firm object and has two arms that make it fit snugly in your uterus. It it also difficult for it to go through your cervical os (a term for the tip of your cervix, where the IUD strings go through) since the cervical os is pretty closed and too tight for the IUD to go through on its own, wherea

The main infectious concern with tampons is toxic shock syndrome (TTS), which can be a life-threatening infection starting with fever, vomiting, diarrhea and dizziness. This is why it is important to never leave your tampon in for more than 6 hours or overnight, because this increases your risk of getting. However it is important to note that it is possible to get TTS from using pads, tampons, menstrual cups, or any other products that can start to cause an infection. Also, T

Yes, you can still test for sexually transmitted infections (or STIs) on your period. Whether or not you are menstruating at the time of your STI test does not impact the accuracy or validity of the result. This is because STI tests look for a specific bacteria, fungi, or virus and the presence of menstrual blood does not impact whether or not these tests can detect those things. If you are interested in a home STI testing kit, you can visit our online store here.

You can get tampons and panty liners at most pharmacies, convenience, and large grocery stores (Walgreens, Walmart, etc.) but their prices can be expensive depending on where you go. You can see our Menstrual Health page for more information about different period products. For pads, our low cost recommendations are getting Always Pads at Target, Walmart or Amazon. For tampons, we recommend Always, Tampax and Playtex. Walmart, for example, has their own brand called Equate th

There are now a number of period products available for use, including but not limited to: pads tampons menstrual cups (or menstrual discs) period underwear With that said, there is no best period product to use, but each of the choices do have their pros and cons. When deciding what to use, it's important to ask yourself these three questions: Is the period product I'm using comfortable for me? Is the period product I'm using convenient for me? Is the period product I'm usin