March Monthly Friend: Mary

Name: Mary
Age: 26
Hometown: Laramie, WY
Current location: Laramie, WY
Occupation: University Staff

Interests: Dogs, cooking, coffee, travel…
Dreams: To be a great mom (in 12 weeks when my baby is due!)

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: 1 year
Reason for making the switch to reusables: I always found regular pads to be so uncomfortable, sticky, and frankly made me yeast-prone no matter how often they were changed. I know a lot of people are worried about the environment, and I care about that too of course, but the bottom line for me was comfort. I picked up GladRags at my local organic co-op and loved them! I have since switched over completely.

Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you’d like to share: So I noted above that I am 28 weeks pregnant. You might think, why does she even need GladRags??? Well let me tell you… it wasn’t too long into the pregnancy that I began to realize that when you are pregnant, everything drips like a faucet. I was at the library a few months ago in an elevator, trying to crane around to look past my belly to see what was on my pants when my boobs started leaking milk too. I may not be having my period, but if I don’t wear a liner every day it looks like I peed my (stretchy) pants! No fun at all. This is the adventure that is motherhood, I suppose. Since I had used GladRags my last few periods before I conceived, they were the natural choice for protection with the increased discharge and I am so grateful! Not only do I leak but I sweat too and I think I might die of heat rash if I had to wear sticky plastic every day. Yuck. Not only have cloth pads been good for me, they have been good for my baby too. I’ve been inspired to stock up on reusable breast pads and cloth diapers! These more natural options just feel right, and that’s important when I’m making choices for the little girl I love the most.

February Monthly Friend: Teresa M. Stillwell

Name: Teresa M. Stillwell
Age: 37
Hometown: Conover, NC
Current Location: Conover, NC
Occupation: Help Desk Analyst for IT dept at a busy local Hospital

Interests: Nature, saving the environment, green living, photography, and reading. I also love to spend time with my cat baby, Gus, and my husband, Chad.
Dreams: To one day own my own company or be able to work for myself in some self-sustaining way.

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: I have used reusable menstrual products now for 3 years, and I wish I had tried them 23 years ago (of course they weren’t marketed then). I had wanted to try them for years, but every time I mentioned to any friend or family, they would say: you can’t be serious - reusable menstrual products you have to wash - no thanks! I’ve suffered for years from irritation, infections, rashes, and discomfort and dread every month. Now since I’ve discovered GladRags, I almost look forward to my monthly friend. I’ve never felt so comforted and comfortable and not worried in my life regarding my menstrual cycle. For years I’ve worried about leakage, TSS, and other side effects of plastic and chemically altered products that aren’t meant to go in or on your body. Before my cycle was so heavy, and now since I’ve stopped using tampons and plastic pads, not only am I more comfortable, but my periods last about 1/3 as long as they did before and they are not as heavy. My cramps I’ve suffered with since I was 13 have also greatly diminished. I am in awe! I will forever be a GlaRags customer, until I go through menopause, and then will still be grasping my pantiliners till the end :-). I have told all my friends and family and coworkers about reusable menstrual products. I have even brought new boxes and packs for them to look at and have given some as gifts to get them interested in buying. I love the products and I know if every woman would try them, the disposable feminine product business would go broke! I’m on a crusade to save the private parts of all the females I know from the injustice of rayon, polyester, and plastic, as well as a list of chemicals.

A day with out a GladRag, is a sad day indeed!!!

GladRags are your friends
Up until the menstrual end
No more rash on those private parts
No more worries about those chemical darts
No leaks to ever cross your mind
As long as GladRags are on your behind!

January Monthly Friend: Jamie

 Name: Jamie
Age: 22
Hometown: Egg Harbor Township, NJ
Current Location: Milford, DE
Occupation: Housewife, Bible teacher

Interests: I love wildlife, nature, BBC Dramas, Sherlock Holmes, classical movies, vintage style, and antiques.
Dreams: To live forever on a paradise earth.

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: Almost a whole year.
Reason for making the switch to reusables: It saves money, is a million times more comfortable than disposable tampons or pads, and is a lot healthier for my body and the environment. My husband loves them too because he doesn’t have to run out last minute when I run out of my “supplies.”

Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you’d like to share: My husband is really cool and supported my use of reusable menstrual pads from the beginning. He is not like some other guys who are easily offended or grossed out by seeing menstrual products. He just accepts it as a normal part of life. He jokingly calls the nighttime pad “the elephant.” I believe that using reusables is much better for your body, and helps you nurture your body and have a more positive attitude.  Rather than hastily wrapping up a used tampon or pad and throwing it away in disgust, washing my GladRags, patiently hanging them up to dry, and neatly placing them back in their drawer, clean, soft and ready for my next cycle helps me feel more positive. I know that it’s healthier for my body and the planet. It almost feels “complete.”

December Monthly Friend: Dionne M. Frey

Name: Dionne M. Frey
Age: 36
Hometown: Denver, CO
Current location: Portland, OR
Occupation: Personal Assistant and Student Midwife

Interests: Midwifery, women’s health, reading, knitting, nature walks, herbs, alternative medicine and health.
Dreams: My dream is to be a midwife and help babies enter the world peacefully by empowering  women to choose how and where they give birth.  I want to change the world one birth at a time.

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: I’ve used reusable menstrual products for 9 years and I love them!
Reason for making the switch to reusables: I was tired of ugly, itchy disposable pads and I felt disgusted when I thought of all the disposable products that I would use in a lifetime of menstruation piled up in a landfill.  I also thought that breathable menstrual products like GladRags would help stop me from having so many yeast infections and they really did help.  I really wish I had thought to search for reusable products sooner, not only because of the landfill thing, but because they are so much more comfortable and beautiful than disposable pads.

Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you’d like to share:  When I was a little girl my grandma told me that she got her period when she was 10 years old and that she and her sisters used to use old rags to catch their menstrual flow that they would wash and use again.  I thought it was kind of gross,  not because they washed them and used them over and over, but because they used scraps of old things that used to be used for something else.  I guess I always thought that  there should be something especially for menstruation. As soon as I turned 10, I thought, “OK, I’m old enough to get my period now!” and I was very excited, checking often and sometimes feeling disappointed when there was no red spot in my panties.  It didn’t come until I was 12, in gym class, and I had to go to the nurse’s office to get a pad. I felt so bummed out when I put on my first disposable pad thinking, “This is what I was so excited about?” The pad was thick and scratchy and I didn’t feel womanly wearing it at all.  The first time I put on a GladRag at the age of 27, I wished I could turn back time and put on a GladRag on that first day of my period and celebrate my menarche.  I also wished that my grandma was still alive to see that there really was something special to use just for menstruation, and it was not an ugly, itchy, disposable pad that had been created to clean it up, freshen it up or hide it from the world, but to be comfortable and help women feel good about their bodies.

November Monthly Friend: Lacy Hale

Name: Lacy Hale
Age: 28
Hometown: Wolfpen, KY
Current location: Morehead, KY
Occupation: Artist/Textbook Manager at a local college bookstore

Interests: Art (making and viewing), music, midwifery, feminism, Appalachia, reading, gardening
Dreams: Becoming self-sufficient by selling my artwork. Working with a charitable organization that benefits women. Learning to play the banjo and dulcimer.

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: A year and a half.
Reason for making the switch to reusables: I used to rue the day that my period came. The cramps and irritability were terrible but having to go out in public with a synthetic pad on (I never used tampons) was always a gamble and the worst part. I never knew if it was going to leak and let everyone know that I was on my moon-flow or if it was going to move while I walked, bunching up and showing through my pants. Athleticism was a no-no. Bending, squatting, wearing white? Never! Not to mention the terrible diaper rash that I got from wearing those horrid plastic-like pads. I got fed up with it and started researching alternative menstrual products. Upon doing so, I also found a lot of information about all the synthetic pads and tampons fill landfills and even end up on beaches. I did not want to be a part of that!! I knew there had to be a better way! My friend had started using GladRags a few years prior and being from the very small punk and alternative subculture in Southeast Kentucky that we were, most of the females I knew had heard of GladRags. I figured it was time that I looked in to this interesting prospect. Now I seriously enjoy my period. I like claiming my body and recognizing what stage of my cycle I’m in. I tend to use my Moon Cup and a GladRags liner on most days that I go out or to work, etc. but once I come home it’s out with the cup and into some fantastically comfy reusable pads!

Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you’d like to share:  I decided to mention to my mom that I had switched to reusable pads and she was quite appalled saying, “Are you serious? Your grandma used rags like that! I remember she’d keep them in a big heavy pot out on the porch to soak. Are you sure you want to do that?” I tried to explain that these were different, had snaps and everything, but she was so horrified that I was “reverting back” to the way the old folks did it. The old ways aren’t always bad and with a little ingenuity, they can be the best! I wish someone had told me about these alternatives when I started my period 16 years ago. If I ever have a daughter, she will be given options!

October Monthly Friend: Sarah MacGregor

Name: Sarah MacGregor
Age: 34
Hometown: Vernon BC, Canada
Current location: Prince George BC, Canada
Occupation: Virtual Assistant / BellyDance Instructor

Interests: Dancing, Painting, Gardening
Dreams: I’m living them!  I get to work at home, make my own schedule, and not bother with a car; I have a big yard now with a big garden that’s probably going to get bigger every year; I get to teach dance classes out of my own home studio; I have a sweetie that loves and supports me; I have two kitties.  The only thing I would change is to move back to southern BC so that I can ditch the long winters and have a longer growing season.

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: Since January of this year and I’m never going back!
Reason for making the switch to reusables: I hated to think of all the garbage I was creating using disposables, and I wanted to lose the “diaper rash” that most of those so-called dry weave products always gave me.  GladRags made complete sense as soon as I heard of them, and once I learned that I could use my soaking water to nourish my plants I was completely sold!

Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you’d like to share: My favorite quote that I like to remember whenever I’m hesitating about trying something new: “Don’t worry if you fall flat on your face – at least you’re moving forward” - Anonymous

September Monthly Friend: Olivia F.

Name: Olivia
Age: 23
Hometown: Greensboro, NC
Current location: Pittsburgh, PA
Occupation: Case manager/social work grad student

Interests: Social justice, cooking, gardening, adventures
Dreams: Change daily.  I like being happy and I like living in a way that allows other people to be happy as well.

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: Four or five years.
Reason for making the switch to reusables: It seemed environmentally sound and I was sick of having to go to the store monthly to feed large corporations and landfills. And I never found conventional menstrual products very comfortable.  I first started hearing the buzz in a women’s health class and then there was a community stitch ‘n bitch that included someone providing some pointers on making pads. When I was traveling and my period started unexpectedly, I was thrilled to realize that they could also be purchased!

Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you’d like to share: When I first made the switch, I was visiting my boyfriend.  I had mentioned to him that I was going to try them and he thought it was a bit odd.  When I got to his apartment for a visit, I put a stack of homemade pads on his bathroom shelf.  We had friends over for his birthday and we had finished a good bit of wine over dinner.  He returned from the bathroom with my brand new pads on his hands, using them as puppets.  Another female guest recognized what they were, and we had a good laugh.

8/10/09 - WOW! We have received an amazing number of responses in just three days!  Thanks to everyone who submitted their questionnaire and shared their stories with us.  We'll contact our picks for Monthly Friends within the next few days.  Make sure to look for them on the blog in the coming months and thanks again to everyone who participated!

Hi GladRaggers!

Here at GladRags we love hearing from our customers and friends about their experience with alternative menstrual products. In the past we've introduced you to some of our fabulous GladRags users in our Monthly Friends feature (like the awesome Michelle and Rose) and now we want to get to know you!

 To be featured, just send an email to tracy@gladrags.com with your answers to the Monthly Friend Questionnaire (below) and attach a photo of yourself.  We'll be picking nine GladRaggers to appear on the blog and receive a free regular cotton color pad sampler kit!

Name: Hometown: Current location: Age: Occupation: Interests: Dreams: How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: Reason for making the switch to reusables: Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you'd like to share:

August Monthly Friend: Sarah Sliva

Age: 29 Hometown: Tully, NY Current location: Salt Lake City, UT Occupation: Emergency physician (ER doc!) Interests: Telemark skiing, hiking and camping, the great outdoors, knitting and crochet, brewing beer, travel, my two Labrador retrievers Dreams: Nothing too far out there, just a lifetime of happiness, great friends and enjoying the world around me! How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: Two months Reason for making the switch to reusables: Once I heard about the product, it just made sense!  Menstruation is a natural process, and should not be another venue for adding waste to our landfills.  Now, I feel more in tune with myself and with mother nature! Funny anecdotes, deep thoughts, or anything else you'd like to share: Gladrags work great for backpacking! Much more sanitary than carrying out your disposable pads. Just a quick rinse, and pack them away until you get home and do laundry!

December Monthly Friend: Michele A.

Age: 26

Current Location: Brooklyn, New York

What she does: She is a performative story teller and a kinesthetic monologist. “They don’t have words for what I am.” she says. And, oh yeah, she’s also a waiter.

Dreams: “I wanna have a dream!” She guesses that right now her dream is that her friend, who is due to give birth sometime next week, has a healthy baby. Another dream of hers is, “That someday I will chill out and realize that I am not in control of the whole universe, and to let things just happen to me.”

How long she has used menstrual alternatives: Probably for about 9 years, starting around the age of 17 or so. Michele said that she stopped using tampons and pads at this young age because she realized that conventional products were inconvenient, expensive and uncomfortable. Around that time she was validated in her ideas while reading the book Cunt by Inga Muscio and realized “Wow! Other people don’t like those either? Awesome!”

Reason for switching:  “Back then I wasn’t about to use a pad (they’re like diapers!), and just forget about tampons! So I just started to bleed all over myself.” Eventually she started innovating -  she would stick a sock in her underwear, or just whatever soft fabric was around. After a while it seemed right to do something more intentional, making her cycle more hers.  She started collecting rags for this purpose and after a while she had her “bag o’ rags”. In a culture such as ours where bleeding is hidden and forgotten, this enlightened young woman was celebrating hers.

Michele once had an assignment in her ritual dance class, in which she had to find something she did with intention, and create a dance about it. Her dance was about the ritual she had cultivated of “reading” the period blood on her rags. When she had to change or refold her rags she would ask ask the universe a question and then apply what she saw in her blood in whatever way seemed right.

As an ending note and as a great plug for us, Michele would also like to say how much she loves her GladRags, and how dainty and lady-like it makes her feel to use her beautiful, soft, lovely Rags.