Applicator or non applicator ?

Pythia

Applicator of either kind is fine, but I normally buy cardboard ones. I don't see how people can use towels, they strike me as very unhygienic and they often leak. Eugh, I shudder to think about them. I wouldn't use them if you paid me.

Dudess

Pythia wrote: »

I don't see how people can use towels, they strike me as very unhygienic and they often leak. Eugh, I shudder to think about them. I wouldn't use them if you paid me.

Really? Of the two, tampons strike me as the more unhygienic...

Quality

Dudess wrote: »

Really? Of the two, tampons strike me as the more unhygienic...

I defo find tampons cleaner to use... I only have worn pads after having the babies. I dont want to go into too much detail.


But with tampons at least the blood flow is confined to that space less mess and Pads smell.:eek:

Gonna try out the mooncup soon.

Not having periods is the best thing ever.

Kimia

What's a mooncup!!??

I am a 100% a plastic applicator girl. So easy it just pops right up in the right place. I can't do the non-applicator ones it's So uncomfortable and I never know if I have it in the right place.

sillyputty

I am a very recent tampon convert - we're talking the last 2 months, I have only tried the plastic applicator ones. I have no idea what made me try them out but once i did i was completely converted, can't imagine going back on towels.

Lollipops23

Kimia wrote: »

What's a mooncup!!??

it's a plastic/rubbe device that you insert and wash out when you need to...re-useable therefore way more environmentally friendly. but i'd need a gun to my head before i'd use it!!i really could never face washing it out!!

Tinchy

a mooncup?! im intrigued..plastic applicator all the way. i find pads to be unhigenic aswel.

cuckoo

Kimia wrote: »

What's a mooncup!!??

I am a 100% a plastic applicator girl. So easy it just pops right up in the right place. I can't do the non-applicator ones it's So uncomfortable and I never know if I have it in the right place.

Kimia, there's a thread here that discusses the mooncup in detail:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055214177&highlight=mooncup

PrettyInPunk

Dudess wrote: »

Really? Of the two, tampons strike me as the more unhygienic...

Really how come? Im a tampon girl-plastic applicator, i find the cardboard ones uncomfortable to use. To be honest ive never used non applicator but after all this talk of lil lets i might try it.

I use pads at night, but really do find tampons more hygienic, it may be gross, but i feel like with a tampon its soaking up the blood, but with a pad its just gathering in a pad in your knickers and sitting there. Plus i feel like im wearing a nappy with a pad.

That being said, tampons hurt me occasionally and i dont know why, i think it slips down and then its really sore

Faith

PrettyInPunk wrote: »

I use pads at night

I do that too, and it reminded me of a question. To all those who only use tampons, do you never use pads? The leaflets with tampons say to take a break from them once a day to avoid TSS risks, but do you bother? And do you not find them hard to use at the start and end of your period when your flow is lightest?

Lollipops23

Faith wrote: »

I do that too, and it reminded me of a question. To all those who only use tampons, do you never use pads? The leaflets with tampons say to take a break from them once a day to avoid TSS risks, but do you bother? And do you not find them hard to use at the start and end of your period when your flow is lightest?

my period is only 3-4 days so i don't bother with a break!!however, it's bit uncomfortable removing them when your cycle is gone really light(on the last day)but not painful. but i'd always change them every 4-6 hrs(bar overnight) to minimise risks of TSS.

Piste

Faith wrote: »

I do that too, and it reminded me of a question. To all those who only use tampons, do you never use pads? The leaflets with tampons say to take a break from them once a day to avoid TSS risks, but do you bother? And do you not find them hard to use at the start and end of your period when your flow is lightest?

I use pads on the last two days when it's too light to use a tampon. Also for the first few hours on the first day while it's just getting started. Then I use tampons pretty much continually (with pads at night to soak up any leakage) until it gets light enough for pads. I absolutely hate the horrible feeling of pads, like a poster before me said, it's like wearing a nappy.

Nevyn

Bless all of you that think the current modren pads feel like nappies.
Before there was always and kotex we had to suffer maxi pads.

Maxi pads were 3 inches by 8 inhces and 1 inch tall of cotton and they always leaked
and they didn't have wings and they would rub and shift to one side due to their
only being 3 small strips of crappy adhesive on them. There was no lock away layer either.

http://www.mum.org/newfre71.htm


and such pads were only invented in 1971.
Before that is was that same amount of cotton in a string hammock
with a loop either end and you had to wear a sanitary belt to keep it in place.
And before that pads were pinned in place and considering that the safety pin
was only invented in 1841....

Seriously ladies be grateful for the wings, the tampon and the cup.

oh and if anyone else is interested http://www.mum.org/ has an archive of
all the products aimed at women going back nearly 200 years.

sam34

im old enough to remember those awful maxi pads *shudder, they were horrendous, no wings, awful leakage...

bad times

sam34

sam34 wrote: »

im old enough to remember those awful maxi pads *shudder, they were horrendous, no wings, awful leakage...

bad times

They still sell them! Well in culchieland they do.
Recently a 30 year old friend tried to revert me to stayfree maxis! Seriously like.

sam34

Moonbaby wrote: »

They still sell them! Well in culchieland they do.
Recently a 30 year old friend tried to revert me to stayfree maxis! Seriously like.

oh i know they do, but at least now we have decent alternatives!

GirlInterrupted

Thaedydal wrote: »

Before that is was that same amount of cotton in a string hammock
with a loop either end and you had to wear a sanitary belt to keep it in place.
And before that pads were pinned in place and considering that the safety pin
was only invented in 1841....

Oh good grief. I can't imagine the discomfort and the logistics of living your life with that attached to your body.

Probably a massive improvement on 100 years prior again though. Makes me glad I live in these times.

sam34

this has just reminded me of being in fifth or sixth class at primary school, in the days when always ultra were not around and i was using those stayfree maxi pads (was there also a brand that began with "dr..", cant remember the full name)

anyway, my school uniform had no pockets, and as you couldnt be bringing your schoolbag into the loo, my mothers suggestion was to stick teh pads up my sleeve... they were hardly unobtrusive!:o

another of her suggestions was that i could wear them while swimming :eek:

GirlInterrupted

sam34 wrote: »

this has just reminded me of being in fifth or sixth class at primary school, in the days when always ultra were not around and i was using those stayfree maxi pads (was there also a brand that began with "dr..", cant remember the full name)

anyway, my school uniform had no pockets, and as you couldnt be bringing your schoolbag into the loo, my mothers suggestion was to stick teh pads up my sleeve... they were hardly unobtrusive!:o

another of her suggestions was that i could wear them while swimming :eek:

Dr. Whites? I've heard the stories!

I'm so glad my mother was clued-up about that sort of stuff.
I'm screwed up enough as it is.:)

sam34

GirlInterrupted wrote: »

Dr. Whites?

thats them, thanks.

horrendous yokes. :eek:

Rozabeez

Can't work applicator ones very well, once shot the f*cking thing under the wall into the cubicle beside me in a public bathroom. Never again!

Lollipops23

Moonbaby wrote: »

They still sell them! Well in culchieland they do.
Recently a 30 year old friend tried to revert me to stayfree maxis! Seriously like.

they used to (may still) have them in the girls toliets vending machines in my school:( seriously,even at 13 i made sure i carried pads around in my schoolbag to aviod using those things!!seriously, you'd actually walk funny if you wore them:D

Cycalogic

I just bought tampax mini's yesterday. And, this is my last shot at tampon use
I can never get them in right, despite trying for YEARS. I can always feel them and they always hurt when I sit down. Maybe I'm just not built to wear tampons? The only reason Im trying them this time is because I'll be spending a lot of time in the water this summer and pads arent practical!! So, one period left to master them! Drat

Pythia

Cycalogic wrote: »

I just bought tampax mini's yesterday. And, this is my last shot at tampon use
I can never get them in right, despite trying for YEARS. I can always feel them and they always hurt when I sit down. Maybe I'm just not built to wear tampons? The only reason Im trying them this time is because I'll be spending a lot of time in the water this summer and pads arent practical!! So, one period left to master them! Drat

You need to push them up quite high to stop that feeling. If you can feel it poking out the bottom, it's not high enough. I try to push them up as high as they'll comfortably go.

Faith

Like Pythia says, you need to push them up as far as you can. Keep pushing until it won't go any further. Your fingers should be touching the entrance to your vagina generally, before you push up the applicator. They can't get past your cervix, and if you push them up far enough, they'll settle in the right place and you won't feel them.

Lia_lia

Cycalogic, use a non applicator one. Then you know exactly where it's going. I could never use tampons until I tried a non applicator one. Applicators don't have a curve, but you do!

chocgirl

Have always used applicator, just can't get the hang of non applicator no matter how much I try.

spurious

When I had the mad bleeding, before I got the Mirena (FTW, by the way), I sometimes had to buy maternity pads to cope with the level of bleeding I was having. They reminded me of the old pillows between the legs we had in the mid 70s.

When things were more normal, I always preferred towels to tampons and I would sometimes wear both, as I felt I could never quite trust tampons. Of course what later became my menorrhagia may have been the reason I was getting leakage from tampons. I used non-applicator ones.

Thanks to the Mirena I haven't had a period in years (woo hoo).

Lollipops23

spurious wrote: »

Thanks to the Mirena I haven't had a period in years (woo hoo).

my mum got that done too, before that she was having a period every 2 weeks and had gone all anaemic:( she says she still gets a period but it's waaay lighter than before(so it's now normal!)

IWishh

I remember one of my friends gave me a non applicator when I was stuck before. First time I'd seen one and remember just thinking what the hell am I meant to do with that
Urgh, I don't see how anyone could use them - gross!

I like my plastic applicators, the scented ones especially - they just make the whole awful experience slightly more pleasant.

Thaedydal

Thaedydal wrote: »

Before that is was that same amount of cotton in a string hammock
with a loop either end and you had to wear a sanitary belt to keep it in place.

EEKkkk I found these Southalls on the shelf in my local convenience store today.
I'm trying to guess which of my neighbours, hasn't taken the chance on stayfree maxi yets.:pac:

Cycalogic

Using tampax mini now and i think theyre absolutely perfect. Tiiiiiiiiny bit of discomfort at times, but for the most part, its been good.

doctor evil

I use the cardboard applicator tampons, I have never found them to be rough. Tried applicatorless tampons once, never again as it was too sore to insert. I remember those horrible massive things, when I first started my mum had already had her menopause and just a few of those yokes lying around.

Plastic ones aren't green enough. Fortunately my flow is light due to being on Dianette.

I keep on meaning to switch to the mooncup. Are they still about €30?

ams

You can buy them online for slightly cheaper - I bought a femmecup and think it may have been about €22.

Am a complete cup convert but will have a few non-applicator ones in the bag for emergencies. They are much more discreet at work etc.

Maple

Quality wrote: »

The it of fabric left at the end of the tampon.. ,like a skirt

why the hell would you put a skirt on the end of a tampon? in case it feels like going out dancing or something, ridiculous.

non applicator tampons ftw. can't use the applicators, horrendous experience of pinching myself with one before turned me off them. dread using pads, horrible bulky yokes adding to the general all round feeling of disgustingness at time of period.

SeekUp

IWishh wrote: »

I like my plastic applicators, the scented ones especially - they just make the whole awful experience slightly more pleasant.

Surely "awful experience" is a bit harsh . . . it's inserting a tampon, not running over hot coals or being held hostage or something!

IWishh

SeekUp wrote: »

Surely "awful experience" is a bit harsh . . . it's inserting a tampon, not running over hot coals or being held hostage or something!

I didn't mean just inserting the tampon, I meant the whole 4 days of it all. And didn't mean for it to be taken so literally.

shreksaurus

I've only recently started using tampons (within the past three months) and this thread has encouraged me to buy applicator tampons. I bought tampax applicator tampons - the 3pack - and I must have to say I like them. It was a little tricky inserting them at first but now I think I have it correct.

Piste

I just had a look at the new tampons with skirts the other day and all I can say is...wtf? What's the point? It can't be for aesthetic value so that only leaves function...but how is the skirt meant to be any more protective?

Toots

Has anyone ever tried soft tampons? I saw these on smartpaddy a while ago, but it was like €7 for a box of 10, which is pretty steep. They're not reusable like a mooncup, so that'd work out pretty expensive if you have a 6 day period.

She Devil

It took me about a year of trying to use tampons ... but i wouldnt have it any other way now!!
Much cleaner i think.