Lunapads Blog

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Let us know in a comment below, and you could win a bottle of Hathor Pure Lubricant! You can respond anonymously if you prefer, just be sure to fill out the email box (only visible to us / not shared publicly) so we can contact you if you win. Thanks everyone, and good luck!

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To say that we were blown away by the response to our LunaRevolution Video Festival & Contest is a seismic understatement – it was literally one “WOW” after another at yesterday’s staff viewing. Thank you so much to all of you who participated; we are deeply honored by your efforts.

The overall experience has been more complex than “WOW” suggests, however, and I want to address that it was not as easy as sitting down with a bowl of popcorn and basking in the Luna-love. I cannot go any further without first acknowledging the efforts of Nancee, our Video Intern (here for her second summer, woot!) and our IT wonder Lisa. Nancee is a fabulous tech-geek workaholic super-smart/nice person who is constantly seeking more ways to be helpful (if you can’t think of them, she will!) and then executing them with dizzying speed and efficiency. With equal dedication the perennially brilliant Lisa waded through the maze of technical issues with her consistently calm and sensible demeanor.

Clever Lunagals and all, were there flaws? Oh yeah! We have not had a video contest in years, and naturally technology has advanced a notch or two. We decided to go with a Facebook application called Wildfire, which involved a bit of a learning curve and proved to have its shortcomings. Thank you to all of you who were smart enough to point out the not-totally-clear bits and have been patient enough to bear with us while we worked it out.

We received 21 (TWENTY ONE!!!) submissions, which we considered to be totally amazing. Twenty-one Lunagals felt inspired enough to take the time to tell us how our products have changed your lives: how incredible is that?!?

It was a massive challenge to choose the top picks, and if we have any regrets it’s that we didn’t create more categories and/or Honorable Mention spots in the first place (it would have looked pretty silly if we had created a dozen categories and only had three submissions, for example). Finally, we didn’t all agree about, for example, what made a video particularly “creative”, and so I want to highlight what we felt was uniquely awesome about the videos that may not have fit into a particular category.

Our 5 Honorable Mention Prizes:
another drum roll, please…

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 I’ll just cut straight to the chase for those of you with short attention spans: I am nuts about gardening, and the next 500 words or so are basically going to be not much more than variations on that message.

I was prompted to write this post when a friend and business colleague tweeted about how well some plants from my garden were doing on his downtown roof, and further how his jeweler wife had made a casting of a crocosmia (aka Montbretia, Jupiter variety in case you are geeky that way) bud, one of my great favorites, inspired by it. There are so many layers to that: sharing, life, growth, beauty, art: time for a post to celebrate it all.

I am a bit of a messy, creative, “just go for it” type of person, and my garden is no different: I don’t worry too much about what “should” go where, and kind of revel in minor gardening “transgressions” like mixing flowers and vegetables together in the same bed and being perfectly happy with the neighbour’s climbing plants making themselves at home on our side of the fence as well.

It kind of feels like a very large, slightly out of control laboratory/playground, where my family and hundreds of small creatures like to hang out.

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With Madeleine and Suzanne’s trip to Portland this week for the World Domination Summit, travel and adventure are naturally on our minds. We have been meaning to write an updated post about the whats, hows and benefits of traveling with our products (see previous posts here and here), and this seems like a great opportunity to do just that.

Who wants to waste valuable luggage space on boxes of disposable pads and tampons, or risk running out where supplies may not be available? Read on for our top tips for easy, waste-free ways to manage your period while traveling, with bonus video  from Suzanne about how to clean your DivaCup while you’re on the road.

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We often get asked what the difference is between The DivaCup and tampons. As is the case with disposable pads and Lunapads, it really is a bit of an apples and oranges situation, however this video answers some important questions about differences in size and respective amounts of waste generated.

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As if we weren’t already jealous and mildly tweaked when we saw Kotex’s progressive “U by Kotex” campaign last year engage millions of girls and women to talk positively about periods – the folks at Kotex have done it again. But this time, with the help of a celebrity fashionista, Patricia Field of Sex and the City fame.

In their latest campaign, called “Ban the Bland“, with the help of a cool online tool, budding artists are asked to help design a limited edition fashionable menstrual pad and win a trip to New York Fashion Week.  Wait a minute: a fashionable menstrual pad? Isn’t that what Madeleine set out to do 18 years ago when she made her first set of Lunapads? Sheesh, we’re really starting to feel like Kotex is taking a page from everything Lunapads has done to make periods cool, stylish and fun.

Kudos to Kotex for investing in positive messages about periods (in a way that we could never afford to do!) and revitalizing the feminine hygiene  product category.  But let’s not forget that at the end of the day they are still pushing disposable pads and tampons (that happen to be priced up to 50% higher than other disposables.) Disposable feminine hygiene products are an ugly environmental blight to our planet; according to E-magazine, Franklin and Associates reports that over 12 billion pads and tampons go into North American landfills every year.  I haven’t worn a disposable pad in a decade but remember how they feel: sticky, sweaty and made from plastic and other synthetic materials.  Is that cool? I don’t think so.

What’s your take? Do you like what Kotex is doing? What ideas do you have for us to help get our message out to girls and women that Lunapads have always made beautiful menstrual pads that are better for your body and the earth? We want your ideas!

Related articles

• Get your creative juices flowing with Kotex! (adweek.blogs.com)

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It’s been a while since our last video, but I think you’ll agree that this one is worth the wait.

Many of you have probably perused our Why Switch? section, which I admit verges on being overly extensive (there are a lot of reasons, after all!)  While the argument will be old news to our existing customers, our latest video is a one minute snappy version for women who have never heard of Lunapads (or even thought of cloth pads).  It’s also an entertaining little kick in the pants (pads?) to those fence-sitters out there, in the hopes that they will be inspired to relinquish their fears and reservations to take the leap to a brighter, more eco-positive menstrual future!

Do you have some girl friends who you’ve been meaning to tell about Lunapads, but didn’t know how?  Here’s the perfect thing to send their way!

Now, about that Giveaway:
Complete the 3 steps below & you’ll be entered to win 1 of 5 $25 gift certificates for Lunapads.com!

1. Watch the video on our YouTube Channel
2. Use the buttons below the video to Share via Facebook or Twitter, or <Embed> onto your blog or website. Tip: Use #clothpadsftw on Twitter and @Lunapads.com on Facebook.

3. Comment below telling us where you posted our video, including a link, if possible.

This is also a perfect opportunity to express some gratitude: Nancee, our summer marketing intern, fearlessly piloted this project from start to finish, bringing a happy mix of technical experience, creative insight and patient feedback-taking to the project. Some final visual and musical touches came via our uber-competent webmaster and all-round tech/creative Lunagal Lisa and her trusty accomplices Morgan and Sara. I know that I speak for everyone here when I say: It’s been great having you with us this summer, Nancee. We are totally thrilled with your work – thank you!

Thanks you guys for all your support, we ♥ you!!!  We’ll announce the 5 winners in September’s newsletter. (And if you have any other ideas or suggestions for future videos, please let us know below!)

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Last Friday, we were delighted to see the Huffington Post write a story called “How to Green Your Period” describing the many ways to green your period.  (Check out slide number 4 which talks about reusable cloth pads, including Lunapads.)   You can even “vote” for your favorite period product: menstrual cups and cloth pads are ranked #1 and #2 respectively!

Despite the Huffington Post having a progressive following, not long after the post went up, a lot of readers posted comments indicating they were put off by the topic, men and women included.  Many expressed their disgust that the Huffington Post would write about such a “vulgar” topic and why nothing was sacred anymore.  Well, thanks to fans of the DivaCup and Lunapads, there is now a bit more balance in the over 200 comments posted to date.  I particularly like what “kudzumaster” had to say about the negative feedback:

“Would it be better to go back to the days in which women were ashamed about their normal processes, and thus kept ignorant and uninformed? I know they were good times, when teenaged girls got their first period and hid in the bathroom, thinking they were bleeding to death because no one was comfortable enough to discuss menstruation with them, but I think we’re ready to move past that now, aren’t we. Women bleed once a month during their childbearing years. It’s a fact, and nothing to be embarrassed about.”

I can appreciate that people have hang ups about certain topics, but I can never understand why they go on to publicly express those hang ups.  Posting those kinds of comments only shines a light on their degree of ignorance about a topic they can’t seem get their head around.   It’s refreshing to see others chiming in to show a more eco-positive perspective about periods.  Thank you, and if you haven’t commented yet, please do so!

While surfing around the Huffington Post website, I came across a story by writer Deanna Neal called “Make her Vagina Green” packed with interesting projections about the number of bleeding women in the world and how much garbage is produced by disposable feminine hygiene products.  As compelling as those numbers are, Deanna isn’t ready or willing to try reusable products herself, but at least does a good job informing the more ‘mainstream’ reader why she should think about healthier options for her period.  Deanna, if you’re reading this, we’d love to send you some Lunapads and Lunapanties to try out!  Never say never; we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Anyone else out there want to try and convince Deanna to make the switch?

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As mentioned in a recent post, Lunapads’ “organic transition” is officially underway. Shaking things up in the fabric department has brought about the opportunity to introduce some other new fabrics, which brings me to our latest addition, 100% organic cotton sateen. Just the sound of the word “sateen” tells you a lot about this fabric – it’s light, smooth and cool to the touch.

The new fabrics have also acted as a catalyst to my designer brain, and I’m thrilled to announce some great new products. We have been making organic flannel handkerchiefs for years, and the sateen lends itself to the same purpose wonderfully, making an already soft and eco-friendly alternative to disposable tissues fabulous to boot! When I was testing the new fabric hankies I found myself collecting them in one of our Luna Pouches in my purse, and decided to make a simplified pouch for the hankies, allowing you to easily stuff clean ones back in the bag post-laundering. Check out our new Hanky Packs, which contain 3 10″x 10″ handkerchiefs in a matching pouch (pictured).

I’ve long admired the Japanese tradition of furoshiki, or cloth gift wrapping, and thought that given its light weight, luxurious feel and gorgeous prints, the sateen might also work well for a Lunapads version. To that end, we’ve created 2 versatile sizes of “Lunashiki”: the smaller, 18″ square size doubles as a dinner napkin, and a larger, 24″ size that also works as a handy bandanna, in additon to being stylish and responsible ways to wrap gifts. These products all make great gifts themselves, and are 10% off this month!

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It should go without saying at this point that Lunapads is deeply committed to sustainability, but of course there is always more that we can do. One of our long-held goals in this respect has been to switch our fabrics to being 100% organic. We are thrilled to announce that we are officially on our way!

For a long time we were held back by the limited availability of organic fabrics that were as attractive or as competitively priced as conventionally-grown goods. We are thrilled about how this has changed in the past few years, to the point where our main supplier of conventionally-grown fleece is now switching to all organic.

For a long time we were also afraid of what the transition would look like from a production perspective (ie complicated and expensive!), but have figured out an efficient way to deal with that as well. Basically, we have chucked the notion of worrying about mixing organic and conventional fabrics for the time being, and we think that you will love the results.

Here’s what you can expect: a growing selection of the same beautiful prints and soft fleeces that Lunapads has always been known for, but instead of being forced to choose between organic or regular cotton, you’ll get a mix of both (and for the same price as just regular cotton!) First up is our Heavy Pad & Wing Liner sets in Regular Cotton with a matching Organic Fleece Center Panel & Wing Liner. Watch for more styles coming up in new “hybrid” dropdown menus from the main Pads + Liners and Pantyliners navigation. Enjoy, and stay tuned for even more organic fabric news to come!

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