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!

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Struggling to learn how to use the DivaCup? Hang in there and keep trying. Its all perfectly normal! In the mean time, read how our guest blogger Avigayil finally got past this eco-positive learning curve.

So I wasn’t exactly stranded, but New Zealand is certainly an island (two islands, to be exact) and it is very tropical. I was there for my belated honeymoon, nearly a year in the waiting. I am a new wife, a full time student, part time writer for The Bargain Moose, and a part time caregiver for an adult lady in a wheelchair. This trip was well deserved!

While in the packing stages of the trip I knew that from counting my birth control pills, my period would come smack dab in the middle of my honeymoon. We were going to be staying in little vacation houses and I had no idea as to access to laundry facilities so I decided to forgo the usual Lunapanties and Pads: instead opting to throw the Divacup into my bag.

The Divacup and I have had an unkind history: I wanted to love it and it hated me. It popped open before I insert, it hurt going in, and it hurt coming out. Lets just say I ignored my past history when I made my ‘crash course in using a Divacup’ decision. I was determined to learn how to use it. VERY determined. At home I could cheat and if it hurt, switch over to the pads: but not this time… I was stranded!

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Whether you’re planning on going camping, attending summer music festivals, doing some long-distance adventure travel, or just heading to the beach this summer, personal hygiene is always a consideration.  Here are some ideas on how to manage menstruation and elimination while enjoying summer adventures.

An aspect of travel that can often be a source of frustration is simply staying clean.  While it may be a stretch to imagine for the first time, being able to urinate while standing up (like a man!) can actually make things a lot easier.  Imagine rather than having to squat in scratchy underbrush, or hover above a toilet, simply being able to relieve oneself without having to completely remove one’s pants, shorts or undergarment.  The pStyle is a small, durable plastic funnel that enables this process with a minimum of fuss or hassle – just point and shoot, as it were.

Most of us will also need to think about how to manage our menses while away from home.  Depending on the length of the trip, heaviness of flow, and availability of supplies at the destination, it can be tricky, not to mention taking up valuable luggage real estate.  Supplies may not be available locally, and can be easily damaged and rendered useless if not packed carefully.

And then there’s the question of disposal – where does one put used pads and tampons in the wilderness?  Given today’s “leave only footprints” camping credo, one could well be faced with the dilemma of packing along used supplies versus burying or burning them, hardly eco-friendly alternatives.

Reusable silicone menstrual cups such as the DivaCup obviate these dilemmas, and are becoming increasingly popular with female travelers as a result.  Add the bonuses of not having to change a cup for up to 12 hours, financial savings and reusable eco-friendliness to boot, and you’ve found your new best travel buddy.  They’re also ideal for sports and swimming.

Caring for these products properly is of course an important consideration, which brings me to yet another travel wonder-product: Wysi-Wipes. Wysi-Wipes are compressed, biodegradable personal wipes that require only some water and a bit of soap to become a “wet wipe”, perfect for cleaning cups, pStyles, or even you ;-). For a complete travel kit, team up all of these products, plus a peri bottle to hold some water or a cleansing solution, and put them in one of our new travel pouches.  And to top it off, it’s all on sale this month, plus ALL orders this month get 2 FREE Wysi-Wipes (while quantities last.)  Happy trails from all of us at Lunapads!

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We are pretty excited to be offering the pStyle as the latest addition to the Lunapads collection. The pStyle is an ingenius device which allows vagina owners to pee standing up. That’s right! Stand up and pee ladies, go ahead you know you’ve always wanted to. While you’re at it, here is a song for you to practice your “pStyle pose” to:

For more about the pStyle and why you should be excited about it see Sandra’s post here.

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I love to travel, and did my share of world roaming in my early 20s. The interceding decades (gasp!!) have been more to do with building Lunapads and raising a family, so my wanderlust hasn’t had as much expression. Lately, though, some great opportunities have come my way, and I am excited to talk about what great travel companions the DivaCup and pStyle are.

Here’s a funny story: back in the days before I started making Lunapads (I was a dedicated tampon user until I was 25), during a bout of the aforementioned wanderlust, I found myself in a village in Northern India with a freshly-started period and no supplies. Did I grab a sock, or improvise with a handkerchief? I am faintly embarrassed to admit that in those days I had yet to broaden my imagination to be able to conceive of an alternative to my monthly “necessities”, and wandered in a panic throughout the local market in a hilariously unsuccessful attempt to communicate my need to the local shopkeepers.

I’m not sure whether tampons have made it to Pushkar by now, but back then, not so much, and I was frankly stumped. Was there some secret women’s store somewhere? Just where were the women of Rajasthan hiding their pads and tampons? (Dear reader, are you laughing at me yet?) To be kind, let’s just say that my lack of imagination was matched only by my Western, disposable, privileged mind that simply couldn’t figure it out. Fortunately I ran into a well-stocked Australian sister traveler who took pity on me, and all was well.

So, back to my new travel buddies. Unlike certain fruit-picking, concert-going PStyle fans, I had yet to try mine until some very recent plane rides and, shall we say, tricky bathroom situations in faraway places that would have been downright unpleasant were it not for being able to do it standing up. While I found it a bit odd at first, once I got the hang of it it actually made me laugh. Any traveling gals out there, do yourself a favor and get yours today!

As for the Diva Cup, how I wish that 1) it had been invented and 2) that I might have had the willingness to give it a shot at the time. Better late than never. A recent holiday found my husband and I in relaxation mode of a swimming, tennis and the odd martini variety – with my period. As fabulous, comfortable and versatile as my Lunapads and Lunapanties are, let’s face it: bikini-wearing demands a different solution. The Diva Cup totally came through for me, and I had a great time. Happy trails, everyone!

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