Sanitary napkins are the bestselling period products in the American market, indicating their popularity in the States. However, before you peel open that sanitary napkin, it’s time to learn about the unwritten rules about using pads that all women should know and follow faithfully.
#1 – Change Your Pad Regularly
Menstrual blood is not the cleanest substance, and we all know it. A used sanitary napkin is contaminated, making the act of wearing a damp pad for too long an unbearably unhygienic one. Used period products overstaying their welcome can lead to severe reproductive health consequences, as it’s been proven to heighten a pad user’s risk of contracting a yeast infection. In ideal circumstances, you should be changing your pad at least every six hours. However, those with heavier flows may require more pad changes in a day.
#2 – Wash Your Vaginal Area
Though you should be washing down there even when you’re not on your period, it’s doubly important to wash more often when you’re menstruating. This helps you to cleanse your body of excess blood and remove the funky odor of period gunk. Removing excess blood in your vaginal area is highly important as blood makes for a favorable environment for bacteria to wreak havoc in, and nobody likes having a bacterial infection. Try to rinse your intimate area at least twice a day to prevent a potential horror story from happening.
#3 – No Soap Down There
When we mention washing your intimate area, we mean with just water. Rinsing with water is already plenty because the vagina has its own cleansing mechanisms that eliminate bacteria. While soap is associated with cleanliness, for the vaginal area, this is far from the truth. In fact, soap could be a potential irritant that could potentially lead to a higher risk of infection. Thus, we urge you to keep soap of any kind far, far away from your vaginal area!
#4 – Front to Back
When you wash your vagina, or even when wiping after toileting, always remember to do it from front to back, from the vaginal area to the anus. This is because washing or wiping in the opposite direction can introduce bacteria from the anus to the vaginal area. Hence, washing or wiping from the anus to the vaginal area is strongly discouraged among women’s health experts, because it could lead to UTIs and other nasty infections.
#5 – Flush and Check
Never forget to flush the toilet properly, especially when you’re on your period, and especially when you’re in public. There’s nothing more revolting than seeing a bloodied mess in the public restroom cubicle you enter, and nothing more embarrassing than being the one that created the mess.
#6 – Keep it Odor-free
It’s every user’s responsibility to dispose of their sanitary napkins properly. Failure to do so can leave an unpleasant odor, and even be a health hazard with how improper disposal can lead to the spread of infections. Remember to wrap your pads properly, and resist the temptation of flushing them down the toilet bowl! This is the perfect time to use SNUCS disposable odor-sealed storage pouches!
