The Sanitary Pad vs Tampon War

It’s that time of the month, you rummage through your bag in search of what? Are you a pad or tampon girl?

Although I know this topic might be a little TMI, don’t we all want to know that there is someone else out there who has gone through our same experiences and feels the same way? And in all truth, the more TMI a video/blog post/conversation is, the more I am usually intrigued to get to know the quirks of a person, that I can relate to. So girls be warned, there might be some graphic and vivid descriptions in this post, and if there is a guy reading this, you’ve been forewarned, carry forward you brave knight! Any pervs, just move on.

For most of my period coexistence I have been a pad girl. I mean for a 10-year-old girl, the pad looks like the less fussy, no pain, easy to use option, right? Well only in recent years have I realised the great benefits and conveniences of using a tampon and I would like to share them with you, wondering if you feel the same way.

Smaller and less packaging

When you have a pad, you get the absorbent sticky pad, you get the plastic wrapper on the outside and if you are using one with wings (yes that’s what they are called), you get little papers stuck on the wings which you have to remove before you attach them to your underwear. That means that after getting your soiled sanitary pad off your underwear and put on a fresh one, you are left with a pad and the packaging from the new sanitary pad to dispose of.

With the tampon you only get the tampon and the small plastic wrapper. Easier to get rid of without any fuss, since they are smaller.

There is no funky smell

If you have ever used a sanitary pad you know that if you don’t change you pad practically every 30 minutes you will get that funky smell, that is after all the scent of the menstrual blood that has dripped onto the sanitary pad.

With tampons, since the plug of material is inserted inside of (here it comes) vagina, the smell doesn’t get out.

They are easy to sneak into the bathroom

Working at the office, at school or anywhere really, tampons are the size of a lip balm, easy to conceal in your hand and that you can quickly and discreetly get out of your bag and take with you to the bathroom.

It is not the intention of most girls, I would imagine, to widely inform the people around them that they are currently on their period or that they need to change. Unlike the plastic wrapped, rectangular shaped sanitary pads, that you usually have to stuff under your shirt, you can stroll by casually with a tampon in your hand without anyone noticing.

There is no squeaky sound

Sanitary Pad girls, you know what I mean! It’s the sound the pad sometimes makes when you’re walking down a quiet corridor. It’s the sound of the absorbent material, the plastic cover and your underwear all rubbing against each other. Tampon….forget always, it’s more like never!

It is less uncomfortable

If you get blood clots then you know the pain and awkwardness you feel as they are coming out of your body. Moreover you know the anguish of worrying if the pad has absorbed them or if they will slide, make a mess and ultimately embarrass you if you leak. Well with a tampon, you don’t have to go through that unpleasant feeling because the blood clots will grab onto the plug of material and are disposed of once you remove your tampon.

Increased protection

For those unfortunate girls and women who get really heavy periods than tampons can be an extra layer of protection. You can still wear a sanitary pad whilst having a tampon, that way if your heavy bleeding leaks down the tampon, you are still protected. At the same time, the double protection gives you a bit extra additional time for you to get to a bathroom and change.

Now if you are still feeling a bit wary about tampons and the actual application of them, why don’t you give it a whirl next time it’s your time of the month. If you’re curious about the application of tampons I highly suggest you watch this video, here back from 2010. I myself could never be as eloquent or detailed as this girl, Weylie is about the subject, as well as hilarious, and would have turned beetroot red, two minutes into the video.

Do you have any embarrassing experiences with using either a sanitary pad or a tampon? Which one do you prefer? Why?