Talk:Menstrual pad

I just finished expanding this stub. What are your opinions?

What did women use before maxi pads and tampons were invented? I think that should be included in the article.

Re Expansion from stub - opinion (as requested above)

One read through is enough to show multiple grammatical and spelling errors. There are also statements in need of verification and with questionable accuracy: one outstanding example being the Asian female physiogamy preference assertion. I'll have a go at it when I've the time (viz. when its not my bedtime); though Someone Else would probably make a better job of it, I think this needs urgent attention if not by an expert, then someone with at least a basic grasp of the Wikipedia requirements and standards. That's my opinion then... Plutonium27 01:13, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Uses

I think that a lot of the wording under "Uses" is bias and not true for many people. These two lines struck me particularly: It is also usually easier to change a pad than a tampon in public bathrooms., and In general, pads are a perfect fit for most women's menstrual needs., which I both totally disagree with, and would have to say that I'm hardly the only person to feel that way. Those aren't facts, those are some people's opinions.

--I agree that there is a lot bias here. The use of ultra-thin products is on the rise in both Europe and and the US by women of all age groups. They are generally seen as just as effective as traditional maxis. The explainations of why traditional products are still dominant is clumsy and almost seems based on annectdotal information.

new poster (i'm new to this and not really sure how it works)

The cloth /washable ones I think should have a bit more detail about them ( I actually missed it after skimming the article AND reading it properly) considering it's not very well known and they are better for you due to the bleaches and chemicals and un-natural stuff put on "regular" pads that irritate a lot of women (perhaps with them thinking this is normal)

I think it is really important to update with info about this but I don't have the time so maybe someone else can? It can also save you lots of money especially if you have a heavy flow. You can also make them yourself which I never even thought of until I read an article somewhere.

constructive criticism so don't be offended ;-)

I think you should also be more careful with your wording like if you truely believe that this is a popular opinion then say something such as "SOME people find it easier to change..." or A LOT of people choose to use...." because it's not really good to voice opinions like they are facts. (like another person mentioned) You should try and be more neutral. Also a bit about the history of sanitary towels would be nice. I think it is interesting and not something a lot of people know about. I will try to submit a piece myself if I can. Otherwise good job. =)

   I wonder if it can be changed sucessfully to be more..international?

It seems like this was written by an American and no offence but it does not match up with British pads (i'm not sure about other english speaking countries) but maybe more specific parts should be changed to general wording.

new poster as well! I agree with the above poster. Especially the brands mentioned are only the leading brands in North America, and the use of certain terms (maxi pad). I am Australian and and a lot of this information is not true in my country. 220.214.143.202 09:20, 3 July 2006 (UTC)Nicole

new poster #2 What did women use before maxi pads and tampons were invented? I think that it should be included in the article.

Technical specifications

What is that stuff inside the towels that absorbs the blood? I'm interested in the chemical composition and in other materials specs, in order to lift this article (and more: the Dutch version where I'm currently working on) to a higher standard. SietskeEN 18:30, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Cellulose ist the classical material. Thin towels are made possible by superabsorbent polymers (de:superabsorber), see e.g. [1]. There exists some literature about the pros and cons, see for example [2]. There is nothing specific to blood. --Pjacobi 22:58, 2005 Apr 26 (UTC)

limited geographic scope

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This article seems rather focussed on how feminine hygine is handled in first world countries only.

Write something about other countries yourself? Living in the developed world and not having had a particular interest in ST before now..I do not have a clue. Wouldn't even know if information on that could be found easily. I assume that they would use reusable cloth or go on their own and let it "flow freely" as I've read some cultures do, or have done in the past. If they are malnourished perhaps they don't even have any periods at all. But they are still able to have children..so i'm not really sure. Would be interesting to know.

I'd rather see this article focus on sanitary napkins or towels or items similar rather than general feminine hygiene. Other methods, such as tampons, natural internal absorbents, no product use has little place here than direction to a general feminine hygiene article or to specific articles on those methods. I do agree that this article focuses on products and preferences in the US.

not limited, IMO

In my opinion, this article is not geographically limited. Imagine an article on non-disposable cigarette lighters [3] -- should it be tagged as geographically limited b/c most such lighters are used in industrialzed countries? I do see the legitimacy of the NPOV disagreement over whether tampons or pads are easier to use, and think that should be addressed. I think the geo tag should be removed. I don't know if I am allowed to do so, but I am going to try, right now. Brainhell 00:15, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

I think I agree, this article should cover the commercial products as sold in the first world, and a separate article cover all sanitation options, including 'new' alternatives like cups and sponges and the old low-tech options like rags/cloth pads. However, It still lacks geographic scope in that it only says what they're called in the US and UK. We call 'em pads here in Aus, menstrual or sanitary pads if we need to be specific. Towels and napkins are (only) things you'd find in the linen cupboard, so I had trouble finding this article. --Kelly holden 03:04, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

What about reusable cloth pads?

The article touches the subject lightly, but I would love to see more depth about them on this article. Heck or even a page of its own would be great that this article could cross link to! I would do that, but Im kinda new to wikipedia, so Im not sure where to begin.

I also think it would be interesting to add a brief history on the evolution of menstrual products and include what disposable pads are made out of. This would also be an interesting addition to the article. It needs to be presented in a non-bias way.

Update: I just added the "instructions for using cloth re-usable pads" part on it. I think that will help this article out lots! Thanks! (user: moonhut 4/20/06)

Why are washable pads considered feminist ?

You got me??? ;)

I don't know, but I find it interesting that cloth pads are one of very few places where feminism seems to meet granola mom!

And I just took a picture of a reusable cloth pad.--Sonjaaa 13:56, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Very nice! That adds a nice touch!  :)

I just tried to add an article "cloth menstrual pads" but now everything is just linking back to the sanitary napkin page...I'm not sure what this means...does the article have to be reviewed before it is posted? It was not lengthy, nor did it have pictures, but it did have all the basics about cloth pads. I wrote it carefully and I think it was in an unbiased manner...keep an eye out for it or discussions about it or whatever, because I'd like to see it (or one like it) get posted here!

Instructions

I think we should remove the instructions. This information is available on the box of the product. Why do we need it here?--Sonjaaa 14:01, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

This is a good point... maybe a better overview of the products and its features would be better? Including its history, ingredient and/or material list, and pros and cons of each option. I also think that cloth -vs- disposable need to be equally highlighted and presented giving all readers something to benifit from. Are you working on these changes yourself? Do you need some help? (user: moonhut 4/20/06)

I agree. About the instructions.

Yes, we need to show all the available options, in terms of pads. We should also mention non-pad products such as menstrual cup and link to them. We need to broaden the article to non-Western traditions too. What types of menstrual cloths are used in third world countries, I wonder? Surely there are many traditions and methods of putting a cloth in a woman's crotch. :) I'm done working on the article for now, so feel free to work on it if you have inspiration.--Sonjaaa 14:17, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree! I noticed that menstrual cups are already mentioned and linked to, however I dont see sea sponges or anything else as far as other options noted. We need to add to this article without totally getting off topic at the same time. I think highlighting what other contries do for their menstrual heigene is a great idea and should be looked into... 3rd worlds probably use a simple piece of cloth, but we need to know for sure before we note that. Im sure that MUM talks about that on their site. Ill think about this some more and see if I cant get a creative spurt and come back... I gotta get off the computer now though. I hope you can get around to adding to this article too - Ill check back and see what you have added! (user: moonhut 4/20/06)

Updated

I've gone through and spruced this article up a little. The main changes I made were:

• Replaced the words "maxi pad" with "menstrual pad, as this term, while perhaps being commonplace in Northern America, in other counties is used to describe a pad of a higher absorbency to a "regular" absorbency pad. So its use to describe all menstrual pads could be confusing and misleading.

• Replaced the word "panties" to "undergarment" or "underpants", as I believe this is a more universal term.

• Removed this sentence "There are two main classifications of maxi pads: ultra-thin and maxi. Maxi pads were traditionally preferred over ultra-thins, but the newer ultra-thin products are gaining in popularity." as not only is it confusing (with the "maxi pad" term), but also an unsubstantiated claim, so while possibly correct, I felt it not necessary.

• I actually removed some of the references to cloth menstrual pads, as I have created a topic specifically for them and felt it unnecessary to double the information too much. - Obsi 11:38, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

inconsistancy in spelling

There is an inconsistancy with the spelling panty liner/ pantiliner. Which is more universal? Is there a singular of panties? panty? Or is it an abbreviation? In British English it is usually (as far as I am aware) panty liner. It should be fixed. Nicgeorge 06:53, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

menstrual pad history

Please note that the factory-made menstrual pad was introduced to America from Britain in 1892 by the Canfield Rubber Co. of 7 Mercer Street, New York, when it began marketing Southall's Celebrated Sanitary Towels. This information is readily available through a ProQuest search. I'd edit the listing, but the last time I made such a correction the page was reverted and my knuckles were rapped for "vandalism."Bentruwe 02:13, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Absorption

I think it might be useful to add the absorption capacity of pads (or at least a range). I just don't know where this information might be found.

Updated again

I've made some changes to this article. One problem that I tried to correct was the lack of references. There were a lot of unsourced claims, and I found references for many of them on the Cloth menstrual pad article, mostly from MUM. I tried to find additional references from some other sources. I couldn't find any for the "In non-Western cultures" section. Some statements were false, such as "Until disposable sanitary pads were created, all women used some form of cloth or reusable pad to collect menstrual blood." and "Disposable menstrual pads appear to have been first commercially available from around 1895 through Curads and Hartmann's." The poster above, Bentruwe, was right that Southall's disposable pads were earlier.
The paragraph describing the different types of cloth menstrual pads used terms like AOI that I had never heard of before, so I looked them up and tried to describe them in the article.
I also split the "Types of Menstrual Pads" into two subsections to make it clearer. --Ships at a Distance (talk) 02:36, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

The term "Maxi pad"

I am a little confused by this alternative term in the first sentence.

1) The link following the term (linking "U.S." to the page "United States") seem irrelevant. The usage of the term could be geographical, but it's no point linking to the page about a country. For a linguistic matter, should it be linking to "American English" instead?

2) I don't understand why the word "Maxi" is capitalized. Although it often appears as is, if the term is not referring to any proper noun (e.g. company name or brand name), I think it's best to keep it all in lower case.

Combining both points, my suggestion for the first line would be:

... '''maxi pad''' ([[American English|U.S.]]), ...

generating

... maxi pad (U.S.), ...

Any thoughts? —Tonyngkh (talk) 07:57, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Pollution Facts Relevant?

I was looking through the article and the section immediately after composition on the history tab detailing the pollutants such as NOx's, SO2 and, CO2 seemed somewhat irrelevant to the overall tone and focus of the article given that they're formed through the majority of human activities. The dioxin reference later on in the same passage seems extremely misleading as it seems to imply that disposable pads contribute dioxin pollutants to the environment which seems highly unlikely given their composition.