SheBop is a local, woman-owned adult boutique here in Portland that focuses on educating and creating a safe, fun environment for people of all genders and orientations. We love them for their unwavering dedication to healthy & safe sexuality and women’s rights, and their exceptional knowledge. Read on to discover why the PC muscles are important and how to strengthen them!

Of all the muscles that comprise the pelvic floor, the pubococcygeus muscles are probably the most famous. The pubococcygeus muscles (more well-known as the PC muscles) run from the pubic bone to the tailbone, and form a sort of figure eight around the genitals. All people have PC muscles, and these muscles are instrumental in sexual response — in fact, they involuntarily contract during orgasm, and help to propel ejaculate.

In the forties, a gynecologist named Dr. Arnold Kegel developed the idea of exercising the PC muscles, and the concept of kegel exercises was born. Although Kegel was primarily focused on treating urinary incontinence, one of his papers did mention off-handedly that “sexual appreciation can be increased by restoring function of the pubococcygeus.” Indeed, kegel exercises are now largely associated with sexuality, and for good reason — doing them regularly has many sexual benefits.

Kegel exercise generally consists of voluntarily and repetitively contracting and relaxing the PC muscles. Many associate kegel exercise with a tighter vagina, but that is just one perk of toned PC muscles. Regular kegel exercise can have a variety of pleasurable effects, such as heightened sexual sensitivity, stronger orgasms, and greater response to G-spot stimulation. The more the PC muscles are toned, the more they can relax, so kegels are great for those wanting to have anal sex, or for anyone experiencing difficulty with penetration. With kegel practice and repetition, some female-bodied people can even learn to ejaculate/squirt.

For male-bodied people, toned PC muscles can result in improved ejaculatory control, somewhat firmer erections, and a shorter refractory period (the span of time between ejaculations).

Kegel excercises can be extremely helpful during pregnancy and after birth as well. Kegels are well-known for facilitating excellent bladder control, so they can ease problems with urinary incontinence. Strengthened PC muscles can also prepare the pelvic floor for childbirth, and may help prevent tearing and episiotomy. After birth, regular exercise of the PC muscles can accelerate postpartum healing, restoring tightness and muscle tone in the vagina.

Read the rest of this entry and learn more about toning your kegel muscles on the SheBop blog!

Leslie of Cycle Technologies joins us for a guest post with answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about CycleBeads. We love this all-natural family planning method, and hope you’ll consider giving CycleBeads a try!

What are CycleBeads? When were they invented?

CycleBeads (www.CycleBeads.com) is a visual tool that helps a woman plan or prevent pregnancy naturally. Specifically, CycleBeads is a color-coded string of beads that represents the days of a woman’s menstrual cycle. It helps a woman track her cycle and know if she is on a day when pregnancy is likely or not. CycleBeads and the family planning method on which it is based, the Standard Days Method , were invented by the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University (irh.org). The Institute tested the Standard Days Method using CycleBeads in large-scale clinical trials and found CycleBeads to be more than 95% effective at preventing pregnancy and very easy to use.

My company, Cycle Technologies, launched CycleBeads in late 2002 once the efficacy results were published.

How do you use CycleBeads?

A nice thing about CycleBeads is that it is very visual. In fact it might be easier to just show you a picture than to try and explain it in detail.

As you can see it’s a lot of information when you try to explain it someone. I think that’s one of the reasons why CycleBeads is such a cool tool – it provides a wealth of information in a very simple way so you don’t have to keep track of a lot of numbers or do any calculations.

I should note that to use CycleBeads a woman’s cycles must be between 26 and 32 days long. This is the one medical criteria for using this family planning option. Most women’s cycles are in this range, but it’s important to know this before using CycleBeads especially if you are using them to prevent pregnancy. Of course, if you are unsure if your cycles are in this range, CycleBeads can also be used to help you figure this out.

Why would someone choose to use CycleBeads?

Most women tell us that they choose to use CycleBeads because they don’t like the side effects of hormonal contraception. A lot of women just like the simplicity of it. It’s a very intuitive family planning tool. It’s also useful both to plan and prevent pregnancy so many women like to use it as birth control and then switch over to using it to help them get pregnant when the time comes. Most importantly is the fact that it’s a natural family planning method that is highly effective. CycleBeads is more than 95% effective at preventing pregnancy which puts it on par with or better than other user-directed family planning options such as condoms in terms of effectiveness.

What are the benefits of using CycleBeads?

Well the primary benefit is that it’s an easy way to use an effective natural family planning method. As a natural family planning method there are no side effects, it helps a woman get in touch with her body, and it’s inexpensive. And since it’s easy, it means a woman will actually use it correctly.

You recently launched iCycleBeads, a smartphone app. How does it differ from other fertility/period tracking apps on the market?

Right now iCycleBeads is available on iPhone and Android devices and we plan to make it available through other interactive technologies soon. iCycleBeads differs from other fertility/period tracking apps on the market in a number of ways.

While there are a number of fertility and period tracking apps on the market, there are only a handful of apps that help a woman plan AND prevent pregnancy by tracking her cycle. Most of the apps that claim to identify the fertile days based on just your period dates are unclear about their methodology and cannot be used to prevent pregnancy. iCycleBeads is the only app based on the Standard Days Method of family planning so it’s methodology is very clear and well researched; it has been designed to be used as birth control as well as to plan a pregnancy..

There are also apps that are based on FAM or the symptothermal method of family planning. These apps can be quite effective at planning and preventing pregnancy. However, they require a woman to track a lot of information about fertility signs such as cervical mucus and temperature. If a woman already knows how to use these methods and is comfortable doing so, these apps can be very useful. But for women not familiar with these methods, they can be challenging to use.

One feature of theiCycleBeads app that I also really like and differentiates it from a lot of apps is that it proactively sends you alerts when you are key days in your cycle. So even if a woman doesn’t open the app and check it every day, she’ll get a message letting her know when her fertile window starts, when it ends, and when a new cycle is likely to come. It also proactively alerts a woman if she has had a cycle out of range and reminds her to input her cycle data if she forgets.

Tell me about your efforts to make family planning tools accessible to women in developing countries.

We are really proud of the impact that CycleBeads has had in the developing world and we work hard to make this family planning tool available to all kinds of health programs in developing countries at an extremely low cost. CycleBeads is being used in many countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia and has been made available in over 50 countries total.

CycleBeads is a good fit for developing countries because it addresses a lot of issues. Issues that are particularly acute in developing countries which CycleBeads help address include:

1) concerns about side effects – many women in developing countries, like women in the US, are concerned about side effects and unwilling to use a family planning method that they perceive might cause health concerns,

2) costs – CycleBeads are low cost and can be used indefinitely – one study showed that CycleBeads is the most economical family planning option for programs to offer, and given that they are one time purchase, we know that they are extremely economical to the end user,

3 ) ease of use – because CycleBeads is visual and intuitive, it can be used by women who have very little education,

4) access – CycleBeads can be offered in a variety of settings such as retailers and through local programs; it doesn’t require a highly skilled health practitioner to offer it. Also, unlike most other family planning options, it doesn’t require re-supply, break down over time, or need special storage so it’s easy for a program to keep them in stock and make them available. And since a woman only needs to learn about it one time, she doesn’t need to constantly go back to her health provider for refills.

5) couple communication – in many developing countries, couples may not be able to talk openly with each other about family planning or a woman’s cycle. CycleBeads have been shown to be a great tool for helping couples communicate.

We also donate a portion of proceeds to programs that help expand women’s family planning options and to empowerment programs for women.

Hello fellow bloggers of GladRags! I’m a US Peace Corps Public Health Volunteer serving in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. My home is a small village on the Kisii-Kisumu road called Mikai. After two months of in-country training I was partnered with a small community based organization called Kakelo Based Integrated Support Project. We focus on supporting those community members affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including those living positive, widows, orphans, and caretakers of these people. I love working with my organization, and feel blessed everyday that I’ve been given this wonderful opportunity.

Upon arriving at my site 9 months ago I was questioned by members with an urgent need for our girls to stay in school. We immediately identified the main reasons why girls drop out of school, menstruation being one and early pregnancy being another, and set forth to correct it. We found that girls miss an average of five days of school per month due to menstruation, and early pregnancy is a shocking epidemic.

The Female Hygiene program consists of teaching each in-school girl at menstruation age in our Kakelo Location how to easily and cheaply make her own re-useable sanitary pads using locally available materials. We will also supplement each activity with correct information about how to track menstruation, what is physically happening to a woman’s body during puberty, and healthy sexual education. The sustainable and most important aspect of this project is I’ll be working with female community health workers who will help me develop the educational aspect and insure the continuance of the program well after my service is over.

The project has recently received all the donations needed to start, which is a wonderful surprise for everyone at my organization! Our next step is to buy the materials and I’ll start teaching the women I’m working with how to make the pads. We’ll then develop the education program together and start visiting schools one at a time, with groups of 10 girls at a time. Even though the project has been fully funded we still want the word to get out that hundreds of thousands of girls don’t have the proper hygiene and sexual health education to keep themselves safe from early pregnancy and continue their education. We want to thank GladRags and the readers of this blog for listening to our story. I’ll be sending updates as the project starts to keep everyone informed, so please stay tuned!

Asanteni sana tena,

Helen McGuirk

Blog: http://mcguirkhelen.blogspot.com/

Web Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/mcguirkhelen/Kenya#

Want to help other women in Africa gain access to reusable pads? Click here to learn how you can donate GladRags to women and girls in Uganda!

Okay, so maybe we’re not dummies. After all, how many of us remember what we learned in 6th grade health class. Sure, they separated the boys from the girls (was that really such a great idea?) but there was still all that giggling. And the embarrassment! And that sweating, droning health teacher who acted as though she held all the secrets to the mysteries of our bodies. As if we could let on that she really did know more than us…

At any rate, now we are all adults, and this calls for a refresher. Some of you are old pros. Some have just learned that the vagina (where menstrual flow and babies come from, also the organ/muscle that is utilized in sexual intercourse) is different from the urethra (the hole between the vagina and the clitoris, where urine exits the body). That’s all okay. After all, this doesn’t often come up in polite conversation. Especially the part about how the clitoris is analogous to the head of a man’s penis and is responsible for 70% of women’s orgasms. But moving right along…
One of my services is to explain to young women about their bodies and how they grow and change as we get older. It’s a heavy subject, so I try to make it fun and lively, which is why I bring the pear…and the walnuts.

Picture an upside-down pear. That little, green fruit filled with succulent juices. Yum. This is your uterus. Or at least the approximate size and shape of your uterus. Now the uterus is rounded on the top and narrow on the bottom, just like the pear. That narrow part of the pear is much like your cervix. About where the stem on the pear would be is where one would find the cervical os. It’s pronounced “ahsss,” which is sort of how a British English speaker might pronounce “ass” if they weren’t so busy saying “arse” all the time. Ug, I’m reverting to 6th grade humor again.

To continue, at the “top” of the upside-down pear (or the widest part of the pear) we would find the fallopian tubes. One on each side and both completely connected to the uterus. The fallopian tubes, by the way, are about the width of a strand of hair. So now you’ve got your upside-down pear with two strands of hair sticking out of it. Good. We’re making progress.

Now here is where the walnuts come in. You see, the walnuts are the ovaries. Well at least they are about the same size and shape as your ovaries. And you have two of those also. One on each side, slightly below where the hair ends. Yes, unlike what most textbooks seem to demonstrate, the fallopian tubes are NOT also connected to your ovaries. Only the uterus. Those ovaries are filled with millions of tiny eggs. These eggs were in your body before you were even born. All little baby girls (barring unusual circumstance) are born with all of their eggs already inside their ovaries. Each egg is about the size of a grain of sand.

So now that we’ve got the reproductive system down, how do we end up with a period?

Since women’s body rhythm’s are cycular, it’s impossible to have a beginning and end, since the cycle continually perpetuates itself, but for our purposes (and because we need to start the explanation) let’s begin with day 1 of the cycle, which is the first day of bright, red menstrual flow. Notice I am not using the term “bleeding.” Bleeding is just a part of the menstrual flow, which also involves tissue and other components of the endometrium. So we begin bleeding with a bright, red menstrual flow (not spotting). A woman might even notice feeling a bit colder around this time. This is because her temperature is dropping. It’s a slight drop, but a drop nonetheless. And it will not come back up into the same higher range until after the woman has ovulated. This is very important when trying to understand our fertility and why you may have heard about women taking their temperatures when trying to conceive (TTC).

Once the menstrual flow begins (and even in the few days leading up to this event), the pituitary gland (located in the base of the brain…that’s quite a distance from the vagina!) has begun secreting a hormone called FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). This hormone is…you guessed it…causing the eggs in your ovaries to become mature. This process of maturity actually causes a cyst to form within the ovary and then a race begins. The many cysts, or follicles, begin to grow until at least one begins to actually press out of the ovary, so that, in western medicine, it is visible on an ultrasound. This is usually the point where a doctor trained in the western medical model will begin to speak about “cysts on the ovaries” or “poly cystic ovarian syndrome/disease” (PCOS). But, having follicles on the ovaries is the keynote sign of a normal, healthy, functioning reproductive system. At least at this point in the cycle. At any rate, as these cyst/follicles are growing right up and out of the ovary, the body is also releasing another hormone called LH (luteinizing hormone) which further assists in “ripening” the follicles.

Now this is the cool part that I never really “got” until I had deeply studied the reproductive system, but both the estrogen and, later, the progesterone in a woman’s cycle actually comes from these follicles, albeit at different stages of their “lifetime.”

It is when these follicles are maturing that they begin secreting estrogen into the woman’s body. At this point, a whole host of biofeedback occurrences take place, which are not completely understood by modern science, but basically, one follicle begins to become dominate while the other ripening follicles begin to recede and deteriorate back within the ovary. Sometimes more than one follicle continues to develop and this would cause the ovulation of multiple eggs, potentially leading to fraternal twins, triplets, or more, should the woman become pregnant. Of course, this is also what is being done to the body when Clomid and injectibles are being used to hyper-stimulate the ovaries.

The estrogen released by these follicles are causing our fertility signs to materialize. (These are the signs I will teach you how to read at our first appointment, or you can get a head start by reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility, 10th Anniversary Edition: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health ) It is also causing the lining of the inside of the uterus to grow, so that it is blood rich and ready to support and nourish a forthcoming embryo.

Eventually, a follicle becomes fully grown and the body reaches an “estrogen threshold.” At this point the pituitary gland signals a surge of first LH and then FSH, which causes the body to ovulate.
Now what is ovulation? Well, picture a volcano erupting. That is exactly what it looks like. The egg just shoots right out of the ovarian wall right out of it’s fluid filled cyst/follicle. This fluid now becomes the corpus luteum and begins producing progesterone! It is here that the temperatures of the woman rise. Some actually noticeably feel warmer at this time in their cycle.

But wait! We now have an egg floating around freely in the pelvic cavity. Thankfully the hairs on the end of the fallopian tubes are doing their job of drawing the egg into the tubes where it must already have a sperm waiting in the outer 1/3rd of the tube to fertilize it, if we are to have a live, healthy baby. (I, personally, think this is the biggest miracle of the entire process.)

Sperm, meet egg. Egg, meet sperm. Sperm penetrates the egg, and the resulting embryo begins to divide as it continues in it’s travels down the fallopian tube and into the uterus where the cushy, plush uterine lining (aka, the endometrium) is waiting to provide it’s home. Embryo enters uterus and burrows itself into the endometrium and begins to secrete HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) causing the corpus luteum to extend their lives of progesterone production. Or there is no growing baby. In which case the natural life of the corpus luteum comes to an end, signaling the all time cycular low of both estrogen and progesterone and causing the woman to have a “period.”

This is where the endometrium sheds off of the walls of the interior uterus and slides down into the cervix and through the cervical os, which is the little hole leading from the cervix into the vagina. Down the endometrium goes, through the vagina and exiting the body in the form of a menstrual flow.

Menstruation for Dummies was originally published on the Wise Woman Fertility blog.

J. Rivkah Asoulin is a self taught “Medicine Woman” who began her journey as a healer over 15 years ago. It was at that time that, despite years of medical treatment with specialists representing various facets of the western medical model, she alone was able to diagnose and treat her women’s health issues with success. J. Rivkah feels that it is each woman’s right to know her own body and each woman’s responsibility to become an empowered consumer and to take an active role in her healing.

Connect with J. Rivkah Asoulin at the Wise Woman Fertility website or Facebook page.

Welcome to your one stop shop for menstrual art, news, science, and more!

• All you hip ladies out there should check out these super cool 2011 Menstrual Lunar Calendar by Etsy crafter vivalacraft.
• Blogger Life as a Reader responds thoughtfully and personally to our post The Curse? Cultural Celebration of Menarche in her post Huge Myths About Women’s Bodies.
• See the commercial that started it all!  The word “period” said on air in this commercial for the first time by our friend, Courtney Cox.  Did anyone see this when it first aired?  Did you notice it was the first time you heard the word “period” on television?
• Read this sassy British review of the MoonCup, Investigative Journalism from the Fringes of Girl Culture #9827: Over the MoonCup, complete with awesome graphic (shown on right).
• Check out this awesome, unintentionally menstrual positive tattoo Norwegian footballer John Carew got on his neck.  This might have to be my next tattoo.
• Blogger Context and Variation posted a very interesting academic (but totally readable!) article titled Iron-deficiency is not something you get just for being a lady, which explores the relationship between anemia and menstruation.  Surprise!  They may not be as linked as you think.
• Look for the new Moon Cup packaging at your local store! It uses fewer materials and takes up even less space in shipping, reducing the cup’s eco-footprint even more.
• There are great tips in Social Media for the 28th Day: 9 Tech Tips for Easier Periods, but as you know DivaCup is not the only option. What is your favorite cup?  In your tweet, use the hashtag #28thday to voice your opinion and add your tips!

It seems we’re all striving for simple, frugal living these days. And we’re always looking for ways to save time and money, decrease our stress, and protect our health.

We all know we can recycle, drink tap water and stop using chemical cleaning products Those are the basics. But what about the feminine issues that we often have a hard time making changes with; the things we put off because it seems like a hassle or too expensive?

Just like switching to cloth or reusable feminine products took a few minor adjustments, it can be just as easy to adopt these following simple, frugal living ideas, as well:

Hair Care

Normal shampoo and hair care products are full of chemicals and additives we can’t even name, many of which have been linked to cancers and various other health or environmental problems. But organic shampoo can be expensive. And the resources involved in producing, packaging, and shipping organic shampoo is still extensive.

The solution is actually very simple. First, women can adopt an easy-to-manage cut or style that requires fewer or no products. Next, we can transition into washing our hair less often – remember the days when women only washed once a week? It worked because they weren’t stripping their hair of its natural oils, which causes the scalp to produce even more. This also keeps the scalp and hair follicles healthier, just as nature intended.

And we can switch out our regular products for simple, natural products instead. Many women have great success with “no poo” – washing with water only, or water and baking soda. Others use small amounts of liquid castile soap (at about 1-2 drops per ounce of water a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s will last ages). And try rinsing with watered-down apple cider vinegar (approx. 2 parts water to 1 part ACV) as an alternative to conditioner.

Lastly, when you must use products opt for those organic versions but use them in smaller amounts.

Skin Care

This is perhaps the easiest area to adopt simple, frugal living practices. Skin care should not be a big messy affair! There are four essentials to healthy skin: a healthy lifestyle with well-managed stress and plenty of sleep, a healthy diet full of lots of fresh fruits and veggies and plenty of water, gentle cleansing and gentle moisturizing as necessary.

My favorite product for moisturizing: Coconut oil! It’s rich in the same vitamins and minerals found in expensive wrinkle creams, is well-absorbed by your skin, and is even reported to help with things like age spots and healing. And it smells good! Use organic virgin coconut oil in small amounts under your makeup or before bed at night.

And hands-down the best thing to use to clean your skin is warm water and a wash cloth. Gentle washing with a cloth increases circulation and removes dirt and excess oil. If you feel it’s necessary, baking soda is a fantastic way to gently exfoliate and leave your skin feeling clean and fresh. As for removing eye makeup, use the same organic virgin coconut oil described above to remove makeup and moisturize around the eyes.

Natural Deodorant

The ingredients in conventional antiperspirants are often called into question, and rightfully so. But least often spoken of is whether it’s a good idea to stop our body from sweating in the first place; it is after all a very important way to eliminate toxins from our lymphatic system and being that those lymph nodes are so close to our breast tissue, quite possibly putting us at risk for cancer.

Whenever possible (at least once a week), skip the antiperspirant and allow your body to do its job. If you don’t sweat often or much, or you’re going to be in a cooler climate (such as during winter or in an air conditioned office) choose a natural deodorant to mask odors instead. Freshening up throughout the day or using cloth shirt guards for excess sweat is also an option.

And when an antiperspirant is a must, choose one that uses mineral salts or alum instead of one that lists any form of “aluminum.” And especially avoid conventional aluminum-based antiperspirants after shaving, as small unnoticeable nicks may allow more chemicals into the bloodstream than normal.

Natural Fertility

This topic is a biggie, but probably most important. Birth control pills have been linked to breast, ovarian and uterine cancer, stroke, heart disease, and so much more. There is also the dangerous affect of synthetic hormones making their way into the water supply simply by flushing the toilet.

Unfortunately the topic is way to big to cover in a few paragraphs. I’d highly recommend picking up a copy of the book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health. Knowledge and awareness are important parts of this area of simple, frugal living.

Feminine Products

And you ladies already have this covered, right? Choosing non-disposable feminine products, such as GladRags or the Moon Cup, supports your simple, frugal living efforts by reducing your waste and saving you money. And by avoiding synthetic and dangerous products and ingredients you’ll be decreasing your risk of infections and allergic reactions.

Of course all of this is just the beginning. If you’re interested in more ideas, click here for additional ways to incorporate simple, frugal living ideas into your life.

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Tara Wagner writes SustainableBabySteps.com, an online resource for people wishing to go green one step at a time. Visit the site for ideas and articles for every area of your life and subscribe to Going Green for updates and additional information and inspiration on simple, frugal living.

A number of women in the GladRags community have contacted us recently and asked us to focus on the issue of incontinence.  While I can’t claim to be an expert on the topic, I’ve done a little research and hope I can shed some light on what incontinence is and what can be done about it.  I encourage anyone with a deeper knowledge of the topic to comment and tell us more!

To begin with, let’s define incontinence for the purpose of this blog post.  There are all kinds of incontinence, from urge to functional, but the type that affects the most women is called stress incontinence.  The symptoms of stress incontinence include leaking urine when coughing, sneezing, laughing, or during other times of physical activity.

So why does this happen to some women but not others?  Stress incontinence is generally caused by a weakening of the pelvic floor muscles, which help support your bladder.  Pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause all cause physical and hormonal changes in our bodies which can lead to weakened pelvic floor muscles — and leaking urine when someone tells a particularly funny joke!

Fortunately, there are several natural, non-invasive ways to treat stress incontinence.  First, a doctor might recommend behavioral changes such as weight loss, quitting smoking, and avoiding caffeine and spicy foods.  Being overweight, smoking (and coughing!), and certain foods can all put stress on your bladder, causing leakage.  Then, the doctor may suggest the most common treatment for stress incontinence: Kegel exercises.

Kegel exercises involve contracting and relaxing the muscles of the pelvic floor in order to increase strength.  And they’re not just useful for women suffering from stress incontinence — Kegels are helpful to women preparing for childbirth, and to improve sexual experiences.  We recommend the Energie Kegel Exerciser, by the way!

I was surprised at how difficult it was to find out exactly how many women suffer from stress incontinence.  Most sources were vague, but cited stress incontinence as a common problem that “millions” of American women experience.  Are the numbers vague because women are too embarrassed to see a doctor, or assume that stress incontinence is just something they have to live with?

Working at GladRags, I’ve learned that stress incontinence is quite common in women of all ages.  We frequently receive letters from women who wear our pads daily due to incontinence, and are grateful for the comfort factor (imagine having to wear plasticky disposables every day!).  While GladRags may not work for someone with full loss of bladder control, we hear all the time that our Day Pads and Pantyliners are great solutions for women with occasional light leaks.

For more information on stress incontinence, visit these links:

Urinary Incontinence: Millions of Women Suffer in Silence

Stress Incontinence (National Institutes of Health)

Urinary Incontinence in Women  (Health)

Urinary Incontinence in Women (NKUDIC)

GladRags user Kirsten sent in this story about her new use for her cloth pads.  Thanks for sharing your experience, Kirsten, and for reminding us how versatile GladRags are!

I originally bought some Glad Rags to try after a long and frustrating battle with repeated infections and skin irritations after my period. They solved that problem immediately! For the past several months, however, I have found a different use for my GladRags. I have been undergoing fertility treatments. These treatments require frequent internal exams and other equally unpleasant procedures. The nurses are always suggesting, “You might want to wear a pantyliner after this…” After the last procedure I had, a kind nurse left a traditional pad sitting on the counter for me to use before I left. I picked it up, smiled, set it back down, and took my organic cotton overnight pad out of my bag. Thank goodness. I can’t imagine how I would deal with daily skin irritation on top of these treatments. Thank you!

Do you use your GladRags for something other than menstruation?  Let us know your creative ideas in the comments section!

• The Allergy Be Gone blog shares with us info on a New Study Finds that Early Menstruation Linked to Greater Asthma Risk.
• One of the the most interesting blogs on the internet, Sociological Images, reports on an artist’s installation on Re-Framing Menstruation through branding (see image to the right).
• Pfizer recalls ThermaCare HeatWraps Menstrual lot.  Check out our microwavable Herbal Comfort pacs instead!
• Check Mommy of 1 and Counting’s review of GladRags pads.

• “Menstruation Skateboards: some girls bleed more than once a month.”  An Austrian university student creates a fake skateboard brand that is both awesome and positively reframes menstruation.

• A new study links early menstruation to a greater risk of asthma.

• Save on GladRags in stores by requesting up to 10 coupons on GladRags.com.

• Enter to win a 3-pack of GladRags color day pads on Heather M’s blog, Mommy of 1 and Counting!