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Are You Sailing Through? Time to Rethink Your Period Care Choices!

by | Aug 7, 2020 | Period Sutra | 0 comments

Anju Arora
Director - The Period Hub An HR expert by qualification, Anju is our Subject Matter Expert. With the experience of working in the space of Sustainable Menstrual Health since 2015, Anju brings on table the in-depth knowledge about period challenges & needs. With the passion of changing Period Narrative of our society, she has been instrumental in conceptualizing The Period Care Products, courtesy her rich experience gathered by engaging with adolescent girls & women of all age groups and from all strata of society.

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Most women dread their monthlies and relax once they pass.

Do we ever think if this is a natural phenomenon, why is it so unwanted? If this is how our bodies are naturally equipped to let go of unwanted, why is this so unpleasant? 

As Founder of THE PERIOD HUB, which is actively working on Redefining Period Experience, I believe that Periods should not become a hindrance in any girl’s or woman’s daily chores. If that’s so, it’s time you look back and reconsider your Period Care regime. Since we bleed for half of our lives, it is all the more important that we pause, self-observe and address the discomforts we face during our Menstrual Cycles.

While we think of PMS, Cramps or Nausea as the foremost reasons for Period Woes, if we take a step back and evaluate the choices we make to manage our periods, and in doing so, we expose our bodies to some of the very toxic and harmful chemicals during these 5 days. 

We woman menstruate for around 460 times and end up using around 16,800 pads in our lifetime. Which means we also expose ourselves to the plastics and chemicals in them these many times.

Wait, did I say plastics and chemicals in our pad??? Yes!!!

Did you know your conventional sanitary pad is about 90% plastic and plastic derivatives? Which is equivalent to about 4 medium sized polythene bags…and till now you thought it is a cottony feel pad

The chemicals in them are:

  1. Dioxin: a known carcinogen, is a by-product of the bleaching process used for manufacturing of sanitary napkins, tampons. It starts to accumulate in our fat stores, once it is exposed to our bodies. This has been related to impaired fertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, hormone dysfunction, immune system dysfunction, early menopause, impaired thyroid, and abnormal reproductive functions. 
  2. Rayon: it is a synthetic fibre that is commonly chlorine bleached to enhance absorbency. It can lead to nausea, vomiting, headaches and chest pain. Synthetic petrochemical materials do not let the skin breathe, hence increased risk of bacterial growth.
  3. Super Absorbent Polymers (SAP): The most famous gel that keeps you dry for a longer period is actually the one which unknowingly enables you to use a pad for prolonged periods resulting in a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. SAP has been linked to infertility in women
  4. Pesticides and Herbicides: these are sprayed on cotton crops and stay long after crops have been harvested. These chemicals enter directly in our bloodstream.
  5. Artificial fragrance and deodorants: these are added to sanitary napkins during the manufacturing process to act as odor neutralizers. On the flip side, these contribute in the stench that you smell while on periods. They can cause allergies and skin reactions.

These reasons were enough for me to switch from the market variants of sanitary napkins to reusable Cloth Pads and Menstrual Cups. It’s been 6 years that I made a switch and I feel liberated in true sense!!

Are you one of those who is simply sailing through every month and is oblivious of the fact that  these chemically laden pads, creating havoc to your reproductive system? Are you waiting for your body to succumb one fine day?

Take Charge – Time to Rethink!!

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Dr Vijaya Krishnan is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), and the Co-Founder and Director of Healthy Mother Sanctum, Natural Birth Centre. She is the leading official Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE) in India and teaches the Healthy Mother Lamaze Accredited Childbirth Educator Program.

At her Natural Birth Centre, The Sanctum, she has pioneered a unique Collaborative Model of Care – Women receive Independent Midwife Led Care, through pre-conception, pregnancy, labour, birth and postpartum, with back-up support and emergency infrastructure on site

Dr Nidhi Agarwal is a connoisseur of the Holistic approach to propagate medicine free lifestyle for the last 12 years! She is a Homeopathic physician, Lifestyle & Wellness Coach, Relationship Counsellor, a holistic healer and the Director of Prakash Holistic Health Care Centre (PHCC).

Dr Nidhi, a harbinger of holistically healing any individual body, mind and soul.  Her motto is to successfully guide her patients towards a lifestyle where they can cure their body from within by understanding the requirement of the body and nutrifying it by embracing home remedies and using ingredients from your kitchen, with the minimal or no medicinal intervention.

Period Hub is proud to have Dr Nidhi on the Advisory Board. We share the same value system and advocate the Natural way of living. Period Hub hopes to benefit from her rich experience and utilise her insights to enrich our workshop modules. We also hope we shall be able to extend her expert advise to our customers and bring them out of their Period Woes.

Hema Balakrishnan is a social entrepreneur and founder of The Conscious Storey – A Unit of Color D Earth – A Handmade Collective. Hema is an alumnus of the prestigious 10000 Women program, a Goldman Sachs funded Initiative for Women Entrepreneurs in 2009. In March 2012, she was chosen by the U.S Department of State to attend the coveted International Visitors Leadership Program on Women and Entrepreneurship by the U.S. Department of State.

An ardent believer of conscious living and sustainable lifestyle Hema mentors The Period Hub in its outreach programmes and activities at the grassroots level.

Kanupriya is a seasoned marketing leader with more than 16 years of rich hands-on experience in various facets of marketing. She has spearheaded the creation of multiple brands and digital properties in start-ups like Canvera and Seventymm, as well as managed the brand portfolio of large conglomerates like Godrej and Infosys.

Anuhya Korrapati is the founder of BeyondBlood (An organization that initiated an inclusive menstrual-mental health movement to spotlight PMDD and PME). She also sits as a member of the Steering Committee at Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation, Nepal and as a joint secretary at Indian Health Economics and Policy Association. As a Policy Fellow at YLAC, she was part of a four-member team that drafted the Menstruation Benefit Bill 2018 for the office of Mr. Ninong Ering, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and created an advocacy campaign for menstrual leave.

Her published work focused on menstruation, mental health, medical tourism, gender equity, and financial inclusion. During her time at the University of York, she has fostered her academic interests in heterodox perspectives, feminist economics, class-caste-gender intersectionality in health, the economics of disability, feminist and qualitative methodologies.

She received her MSc in Health Economics from the University of York and a recipient of the Postgraduate York Gold Award 2019. She had a brief stint at the Centre for Health Economics, York before moving back to India.

Period Hub is proud to have Anuhya on board as an advisor. We look forward to her expertise on Menstruation and Mental Health and be the guiding force for us as well as our customers.