Becoming Crunchy

Posts Tagged ‘Cloth menstrual pad’

加厚款護墊 (Photo credit: hjw223)

Happy Earth Day!

I hope you’ve been enjoying the awesome guest posts of the past few days (one more coming up tomorrow!) – personally I love seeing all these real life stories of women who have made the switch to reusable products for ‘that time of the month’ – it’s inspiring and encouraging to know how many have happily made this choice.

And today on Earth Day, I extend the challenge to you.

It was just about 3 years ago today that I closed my eyes and jumped in – it’s hard for me to fathom it now, but it really was a difficult decision to give up those pads and tampons. I wasn’t confident that reusable products would really work for my heavy periods. I thought it might be a little too gross. It seemed like a lot of money to pay up front.

But the more I realized how bad those toss away products are for the earth – and for my body – the more I leaned toward taking that plunge. And once I finally did…well, ever since then I’ve wanted nothing but to share how amazing these products are!

It’s hard to say why, exactly…I don’t make or manufacture or sell reusable products – there’s no monetary gain for me. I certainly don’t judge anyone who chooses not to. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the First Annual Freedom of Cloth Carnival

This post was written for inclusion in the Freedom of Cloth Carnival hosted at Natural Parents Network by Melissa of The New Mommy Files and Shannon of The Artful Mama. This year’s carnival will run from Sunday, July 3rd through Saturday, July 9th. Participants are sharing everything they know and love about cloth diapering, including how cloth has inspired them.

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Disana

When I think back on how the whole ‘Becoming Crunchy’ phase of our lives began, the phrase “Inspired By Cloth” is simply an understatement.

Here’s how it went down…

Back when I was first expecting and had almost no conception of what it meant to be ‘crunchy’, AP, natural, etc., I realized towards the end of my pregnancy that I had been reading all kinds of books and resources about pregnancy, but very little about actually being a parent.

Along with that, I had this irrational fear of postpartum bleeding – for some reason, I had built it up in my head as this terrible thing (I was imagining my worst period times 10) and I was quietly searching around the web for some sort of mega-pad type solution to save me from becoming a Lady Macbeth covered in blood type figure directly after delivering.

(I know – but I was pregnant).

Anyway, my search led me first to mama cloth (cloth menstrual pads) – it was my first introduction to the idea that cloth could be used in place of something I would normally just assume to be disposable, like a pad.

And in the end, while I did find the idea intriguing, I rejected it – I didn’t really see it as worth the investment or believe that it would work.

But in that search that exposed me to mama cloth users, I came across bloggers who were talking about using cloth diapers. Read the rest of this entry »

My Stash

All this week at Becoming Crunchy, I’ve been reviewing Mama Cloth, or cloth menstrual pads, along with reusable tampon-like products – the Diva Cup and Sea Sponge tampons (even wrote a guest post on this topic over at The Cloth Diapering Mama!)

I’m very excited to host a mama cloth giveaway tomorrow as part of the upcoming Earth Day Blog Carnival hosted by Child of the Nature Isle and Monkey Butt Junction, but I wanted to do a little wrap-up of my experiences and reviews before we go ahead with the giveaway.

Did I Make the Right Decision?

I’m gonna answer that one with a big “Heck Yes!!”

I really want to emphasize – I was so not all about mama cloth when I first heard of it; I decided to give it a try because I had read so many great reviews, and because I would prefer my daughter to use natural products over disposables when she gets to that point in her life, but I really didn’t expect to like it.

Now I’m just wishing I had made the decision sooner!

This is just one of those things I know I will never regret doing; there are too many benefits that outweigh the negatives of using disposable pads and tampons.

OK…Then Which One Should I Use?

My personal, number one recommendation? Read the rest of this entry »

Party in my Pants pads, Wet Bag & Wing Extender

That’s because I’m reviewing Party in My Pants – the cloth pad company that definitely wins the award for the best name ever! (Seriously – I bought from them because of their name! )

If you’re just catching up with Becoming Crunchy today, I’ve been reviewing mama cloth, or cloth pads from various businesses, along with reusable tampon-like products.

So far I’ve covered Moms Crafts 4 U (along with Earth Mama Angel Baby Monthly Comfort Tea), Lunapads, GladRags, the Diva Cup and Sea Sponge Tampons.

I also got the great opportunity to guest post over at The Cloth Diapering Mama today – I would love for you to go check out my post on Looking at That Time of the Month in a Whole New Way - especially because it includes information on how you can help support girls and women in countries around the world who are being deeply affected by an inability to afford sanitary menstrual products – a cause that is very dear to my heart.

I have one last review this morning, a post later on today with a few wrap up points, and a giveaway tomorrow!! (A chance to try mama cloth or add to my stash without spending $$? Don’t mind if I do!). The giveaway will also be part of tomorrow’s Earth Day Blog Carnival hosted by Child of the Nature Isle and Monkey Butt Junction, so it’s definitely going to be a great day for some good reading.

All that housekeeping out of the way, let’s get started… Read the rest of this entry »