Lunapads Blog

Shanti Uganda is a fantastic organization 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. In addition to that, they havebeen a Pads4Girls distribution partner for years now, providing cloth pads to girls through their Holisitic Health programmes and to new mothers at the Shanti Uganda Birth House & Learning Centre. Natalie Angell, co-founder and Executive Director of  The Shanti Uganda Society shares her personal experience with Lunapads while building a Birth House in rural Uganda, after childbirth and also distributing reusable pads to women and teens in Uganda. Natalie is an incredible Vancouver woman whose vision and mission we at the Lunapads office are big fans of.

Shanti Uganda Giveaway!
Natalie has graciously shared some crafts from the women’s sustainable income generating group for us to give away. Leave a note here about your travels with reusables or experience in activism to win a yoga mat bag, banana bag and some hand rolled, paper beaded jewelry! Webale (thank-you in Lugandan) Natalie!

I started using Lunapads during my first trip to Uganda in 2007.  At the time I was using organic cotton, chlorine free disposable pads and tampons and had long given up my relationship with tampax (and the impending fever, cramps and sweat that they caused after about 15 minutes).

In 2007, I founded The Shanti Uganda Society and shared my time between Uganda and Canada.  In Uganda, there was no option to purchase my less toxic menstrual products and filling a suitcase with a few months supply of chlorine free menstrual products seemed like a silly way to pack. Making the switch to Lunapads took up far less room in my suitcase and I could easily hand wash and dry them. I also loved how soft and comfy they were – much better than plastic lined pads in the hot climate!

(more…)

Sarah Juliusson is one of our most valued friends and colleagues here at Lunapads. She is the mother of two boys, and founder of Mama Renew, offering community and inspiration for new and seasoned mothers. She also mentors Birthing From Within prenatal classes in Vancouver & Victoria, BC.

New motherhood…we envision the sweetness of a newborn, a baby’s fresh and pure gaze, blissful breastfeeding, and the joy of getting to know our child. Three days postpartum most new mothers dissolve into something resembling a puddle. Exhausted, emotional, overwhelmed…not to mention bleeding, soreness, swelling, and a belly that still looks about five months pregnant. The first days and weeks after the birth of your baby are indeed a beautiful time, and there is much sweetness to celebrate. North American culture, however, is lacking in supportive postpartum traditions and rituals. The intensity of the postpartum period is neither discussed nor honoured, and too many women feel a sense of isolation when they should be feeling nourished and supported. Without a strong set of cultural guidelines to go by, we have the opportunity to create something new.

Here are some ideas to support a healthy unfolding into motherhood:

(more…)

Photo ©Sandra Vander Schaaf, with permission

This blog post is way overdue, since my “baby” is turning 4 years old this summer! My older son Aiden (4 years old at the time this was taken), is pictured here caressing his new sibling who arrived only a week after this photo was taken (by the very talented photographer Sandra Vander Schaaf of www.theartofseeing.ca). When I learned that a super hip website called Offbeat Mama had blogged about “Post partum period woes” and garnered 100 comments (one of their most popular blog posts ever!) it kicked me into gear in posting my own story about “Going with the Flow” pre- and post baby.

Being pregnant and giving birth are among the most impactful and unique life experiences I have ever had. I feel particularly blessed to have been there twice, with both births being remarkable events I will never forget.  I recognize this isn’t necessarily the case for all women (having experienced 3 heartbreaking miscarriages, not to mention having had the privilege of multiple safe birthing options available to me), so I am mindful when approaching the subject of pregnancy and birth. That said, when I sense that the listener is receptive to hearing my perspective, I become an enthusiastic advocate of birth choices, and describe my experiences and passion for the different ways women can use Lunapads and Lunapanties to support themselves during pregnancy, labour and postpartum.

Here goes!

(more…)

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!

Organic Bikini Lunapanties

Welcome to our next installment of our International Women’s Month celebration! This time it’s for Moms-to-be.

Here’s lovely photo of one of our longest-term (pun intended!) collaborators, the lovely Emira Mears of Raised Eyebrow and The Boss of You, taken mere hours before the arrival of lovely little Lena at our recent Lunapanties photoshoot.

We have 3 sets of 2 Organic Mini Pantyliners, so anyone out there who is currently expecting, comment below to tell us where you are, how many weeks you’re at, and what your favorite thing about being pregnant to be entered. Winners will be announced in our April newsletter.

Organic Mini Pantyliner

While I’m here, check out the blog of one of my favorite pregnant gals: the one and only Chloe Jo Berman of the fabulously green Girlie Girl Army. If you’re expecting and wondering about eco positive diapering choices, I have just written a guest blog post for GGA about cloth diapering and more – check it out!

 Good luck, and don’t forget to smile at a pregnant gal today!

If you had told me 16 years ago when I first started developing Lunapanties that one day they would take me halfway around the world and almost drive me crazy, I would never have believed you. How could underwear possibly do this?

Lunapanties, as their legions of fans will be happy to tell you (ladies, you can stop calling and emailing about when they’re going to be in stock now!) are no ordinary underwear.  The basic idea behind Lunapanties is a hybrid between Lunapads and underwear, where the pad is permanently sewn into the gusset of the panty, with added bands at either end to hold Liners in place like pad-style Lunapads do.

Lunapanties are highly functional underwear that happily accommodate what we have come to affectionately call everyday ”random leakiness” to full on menstrual flow. Think: everyday whatnot issues associated with sneezing, laughing, having stayed up late for some (ahem) fun, being pregnant, postpartum, or heck, even your plain old period. Just add liners as necessary, to accommodate your needs.

Knowing we had a fantastic product on our hands, we set out 2 years ago to find new production partners to improve the overall quality and meet customer demand for new styles and colors (cue the Gilligan’s Island theme song)! I’m going to pause for a moment of gratitude for all of you who have waited so patiently while our “3 hour tour” turned into an international odyssey. What took so long? Allow me to explain..

(more…)