Lunapads Blog

As regular readers will be aware, over the past decade Lunapads has been developing the Pads4Girls program to bring reusable feminine hygiene supply kits to thousands of girls and women in need in over 15 countries. Pads4Girls seeks to address an often-overlooked problem that hundreds of millions of girls and women in developing nations face: missing school or work for several days every month because they lack adequate menstrual hygiene supplies. You can learn more about the issue and its impact on our site here, and in the Pads4Girls section of our blog.

Trying to determine how to make a bigger impact with Pads4Girls from a distance only goes so far, and we feel called to learn more and go deeper. In January 2012 Suzanne and I will be traveling to Uganda with Shanti Uganda, a Vancouver-based charity that improves infant and maternal health, provides safe women-centered care and supports the well-being of birthing mothers and women living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

We are appealing to the Lunapads community to raise funds to enroll 300 teenage girls in Shanti Uganda’s At Risk Girls Program, a health and wellness program focused on inspiring futures for girls and teen mothers in Kasana Town Uganda. As part of the workshop, each girl will receive AFRIpads (Ugandan-made cloth pads based on Lunapads, see below for more information about them) and a health education manual.

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Hi everybody, Lisa here! Our most recent guest post from Samson (read here)  has motivated me to share some of my own thoughts and an explanation / followup to the note on gender that I added to our website recently.

For those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s the note:

Lunapads users and community members are cisgender, transgender, genderqueer and transsexual individuals who span the gender spectrum. Due to the nature of our products, cisgender women comprise the majority of our customer base. However, we are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming space for all those seeking eco friendly solutions to their everyday and monthly needs.

Being mindful of gender essentialist & exclusionary comments made about periods and bodies – and the real & lasting impact those words and assumptions have  – is important to me, both in and outside of my work here at Lunapads.  Avoiding framing conversations in ways that make others feel unrecognized or overlooked matters to me, to my community, to my family, and to many of our customers. I care about what we say and how we say it because I believe that exclusion in language equals exclusion in practice.

In understanding that many individual’s realities are far more complex than traditional gender constructs would have us believe, I think we can find new, meaningful ways to relate to and support each other — strengthening our communities and expanding the narrow confines of who’s given access to improved health, comfort and support in relation to their own menstrual cycles and bodies.

My hope is that we can provide space within the Lunapads community for those who menstruate and feel unrepresented or overlooked in conversations about menstruation. While most women menstruate at some point in their lives, the ways in which those cycles are experienced varies so widely depending on a number of  factors.  Furthermore, having a period is not something exclusive to those who are women — nor do all women menstruate or share the same feelings about their bodies, fertility, sexuality, and so on.

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A Juicy Life Giveaway
Like A Juicy Life on Facebook + let us know in a comment below and you’ll be eligible to win a free 1hr Private Session with Jane in her North Vancouver Office!

What do you do if you find yourself in a loving relationship with someone and you experience challenges? Maybe you think you are the only one struggling with these issues, and don’t know what to do or where to turn. I had the fantastic opportunity recently to speak with Jane Langton of A Juicy Life. Jane had an interest in Lunapads and is now showing them off, shouting out to others about washable options for menstrual care! Jane was also kind enough to do an interview with me and share some tips.

What is your role as a sexual health educator and what are your qualifications?
My goal is to educate women and men, especially those in the boomer years, so they can make informed choices about pleasure and especially safer sex. I have a background in healthcare – and in addition to that, I returned to school and completed Clinical Hypnotherapy at Coastal Academy and then went on to specialize in sexual health and completed the Certified Sexual Health Education program offered at Options For Sexual Health. The program is the only one of its kind offered in Canada. I am a graduate of one of its first classes.

Tell me about A Juicy Life!
I have always been comfortable talking about sexual health and have been in some capacity for at least 25 years.

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What is your trusted go-to source for information about sexual health or environmentally friendly and body safe sex toys?
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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Win a  7 Day Pantyliner Kit!
Anyone have tips to share for honoring your period or the arrival of the Elder / Crone / Post-period phase of life? Or handling the darling little symptoms? Let us know in the comments below and you could win a 7 Day Pantyliner Kit for you – plus, a Teen Booklet to share with the next generation!

It is a really interesting place in my life that I find myself in. I am in my mid forties and fully experiencing the “signs” of menopause. I am taking them in stride and, so far, it is not so bad. Kinda interesting what the body can do.

Remember being a teenager? Ever want to go back?

Well, some parts of menopause do make you feel like a teenager, just not necessarily the good parts! But it does make me ponder every period – are you the last one? How will it feel to no longer have my period? I will truly no longer be “fertile”. I have had my tubes tied for years so technically I have been unable to have children for a long time, but this is really, really the end!

As much as I have had my moments and many years of uncomfortable disposable pad and tampon use before discovering Lunapads; I started my period at the very young age of 8. My first period memories are of being reassured I was not going to die and a trip to our doctor who inserted a tampon in me and told me to walk around. I promptly fainted on the floor.

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Moon Mysteries Giveaway
Comment below telling us about why you feel like there’s more to our cycles than shedding uterine linings (ie having your period ;-) for a chance to win.

I have just finished reading Moon Mysteries: Reclaiming Women’s Menstrual Wisdom (order here) and despite having my curiosity whetted for the past couple of years by our good friend and longtime Lunapads supporter Nikiah Seeds, was not disappointed. The book is truly a labor of love, written by Nikiah and Nao Sims, and illustrated and designed by Eyan Myers. There is so much that is rich and beautiful about this book and its authors and illustrator that it’s hard to know where to start.

I have read many useful books on the topic of women’s cycles, however none that inspire in quite the way that Moon Mysteries does. Reading it brought me back to a powerful place of reflection over my own menstrual history, leading me to realize how Lunapads itself can be read as a reflection of my own unmet yearning for honoring and connection as a menarchal girl. Moon Mysteries delivers this gift on numerous fronts, inviting meditation, celebration and awareness raising in every phase of the fertility cycle experience.

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HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY
Find 3 Halloween Cats on our website this weekend and receive a free bottle of Lunablend with your order! Offer Expires Sunday, October 9th at Midnight. Sign up for our Monthly Newsletter to find out about future Lunapads sales and giveaways.

All Hallow’s Eve is just around the corner so just for fun, we have created scavenger hunt style giveaway to those of you who place an order over the weekend.

Here’s how to play:

1.  Find 3 black cats on our website (see right). Hint: keep a close eye on our product photos.
2. Click + Halloween Giveaway in your shopping cart before proceeding through checkout.
3. Email info@lunapads.com the same day you order with the subject line “Meow!” and list the 3 locations where you spotted them.

You may be wondering: what do essential oils and cats have in common?  Both are a great help for menstrual cramping and all sorts of remedies.  Lunablend is a combination of orange, lavender and geranium essential oils and can be massaged directly onto your abdomen or you can use a few drops in the bathtub.  A hot water bottle used in combination with the oil can be quite delightful as well.  Even better?  Lunablend and a furry friend to purr on your belly.

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Names: Julie and her grandmother, Julia

Ages: 27 & 79

How did you hear about reusable menstrual products?
Julie: A visit to Drugstore.com

Julia: Julie!

Please describe your monthly needs:
Julie: Cycle is usually 1 light day then 3-4 heavy days (all night and day) and an average day. The rest of the month is a light discharge on average 3 days per week.

Julia: My grandma deals with mild to moderate incontinence. She has limited mobility and stays at home most of the time. Two to three times per week she goes to a senior citizens health club for physical therapy.

If you are currently using disposable products, which ones do you use, and for what needs?
Julie: I only use disposables if it’s an emergency. If I am at friend’s house or out in public I will borrow/buy whatever is available. I am not really girl who likes to carry a purse so I’m not always very prepared.

Julia: She has to purchase Poise pads on a weekly basis costing about $30 per week. She does not have complaints about using Poise except that during the warmer months she says they make her “uncomfortable” but she is a bit too modest to mention the exact nature of discomfort.

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I am all for Modern Art and think MoMa’s current exhibit, Talk to Me, on how our fast changing world is always in communication with us is brilliant.  As much as I am one of those who need to get out of the city every couple of weeks to recharge in nature, I love and value technology too.

My response to Ms. Magazine’s post about one of the pieces in this show, the Menstruation Machine, was a feeling in my belly much worse than your average period cramps.  The piece itself is extremely intelligently built, designed to dispense blood and stimulate the lower abdomen in a way that would feel something like menstrual cramping.  The artist, Sputniko, wants to allow men and anyone else (children or post menopausal women) to be able to experience menstruation and point out to all of us who are still bleeding for 3-7 days every month that this is an outdated and unnecessary part of being a woman.  “It’s 2011, so why are humans still menstruating?”

I am all for modern art and design but let’s not neglect the greatest designer there is, nature.  In case you missed Biology 101, women are designed with an incredible ability and purpose to birth babies.  Even if you choose not to experience childbirth or motherhood directly this time around, there is a place where we need to remember and acknowledge the creative power that comes with that gift.  To quote one of the greatest midwives of our time, Ina May Gaskin, “There is no other organ quite like the uterus. If men had such an organ, they would brag about it. So should we.”  Sputniko has another piece called Child Producing Machine, a song for girls who would rather become a cyborg than to cope with menstruation pain.  “If I have to suffer with my biology – I’d rather be a Cyborg than a goddess.”

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Apple Blossom Sampler Pack Giveaway!
How do you celebrate changes in the season & the harvest? Share what rituals you use to bring in the fall with us here and be eligible to win an Apple Blossom Sampler Pack!

Here at the Lunapads office, we are all about celebrating cycles. As with the Moon Cycle, the cycles of the seasons are great teachers for us and have been reason to celebrate for many millennia. When I was teaching yoga full time, I taught a quarterly meditation on each Equinox and Solstice. Each season is a great metaphor for phases in our lives and the only constant in the world, change and a great opportunity to reflect on the macro and micro cycles in our everyday lives.

A few years back I took an amazing trip to Ireland and Scotland to research my ancestry and visited an amazing site Brú na Bóinne in County Meath, Ireland. While there, I really got how important these cycles are, they have been very important in ceremonies and traditions around the world much earlier than Hallmark. Newgrange is one of the heritage sites there. It is an ancient tomb and temple that has an incredible design. It was built with the doorways opening to the sun at high noon on the winter solstice. Pretty brilliant neo-lithic culture! This site even predates the Great Pyramid!

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