Ban the Bland

Kotex has partnered with designer Patricia Field to put together Ban the Bland, a site where users can design their own disposable maxi pads. Fun colors and  patterns are one of my favorite things about reusable pads, so it's interesting to see a major manufacturer of disposable products picking up on this.

At first, I thought it was a contest, where some of the winning designs would be incorporated into some of Kotex's future products, but that was probably just my hopeful idealism kicking in. There's no competition, and actually their "bold" new products look pretty much the same to me. Still, it's fun to design your own.

my design, "8loodthirtsy"

It made me think about what I would want my ideal disposable pad to look like, though. Bleeding onto an octopus sounds a lot more fun than just another white sterile pad (especially when the unnecessary bleaching of these products leaves behind dangerous dioxins). I've been reading more Gloria Steinem lately, and so I tend to reframe this thought in regard to her "If Men Could Menstruate" essay. I imagine disposable pads for men with targets and crosshairs. I think bleeding on a target could be okay.

Then again, perhaps there is something to be said for providing your own art (hah).

Ladybag vs. P-Mate

I'm not much of an adventurous peer pee-er (that is, one who pees). I like plumbing, or at the very least, an actual toilet seat. So since I haven't encountered or used either of these products, it's more like a mental would-you-rather type of game for me. Camping season is upon us, so this seems like a good time to pose the question. Which would you prefer?

Exhibit A: The Ladybag

Basically, a plastic bag filled with absorbent crystals. You pee in the bag, the crystals absorb the liquid, and then you can throw away your pee gel. I'm not sure what purpose is served by the four protrusions on the sides. (Want to play Germany or Florida with this one?)

Exhibit B: P-Mate

A funnely thing you hold up to your crotch to enable you to pee while standing. This seems like it would really broaden the horizons about where you can do your business.

Or does everyone else have some foolproof top-secret outdoorsy peeing style I am unaware of?? I don't think I've ever peed outside in my adult life. Is that sad?

What's the worth of natural disposable products?

I was cleaning out my desk space and found this ad that I meant to post about a long time ago--I wish I could remember in which magazine I found it. For some reason, I want to say Time, although this seems like a potentially bold ad for them. 

"Not cotton? My pads and tampons aren't 100% cotton? Introducing Organyc, the brand with the unsurpassed advantages of 100% cotton. It's surprising when you find out your tampons, pads and panty liners aren't 100% cotton. Introducing Organyc. No brand offers better natural absorbency than Organyc. And you get 100% organic and biodegradable cotton. What else would you want so close to you?"

Anyway, it's an advertisement from Organyc, which sells disposable pads/tampons/panty liners made out of 100% cotton. I like this ad because it's straight to the point, without any stupid euphemisms or talk about being free. I also like that it draws attention to the fact that "mainstream" brand products are in fact not made of cotton (they're a strange blend of plastic and low-grade wood pulp leftovers).

However, I've always had a bit of trouble getting behind organic disposable products. Sure, they are a better option than most other brands. The cotton biodegrades, meaning less trash in landfills, and I imagine they're more comfortable to wear. But the pads are also much more expensive than mainstream products, so they're only an option for buyers with higher incomes.

I looked around online to find out how much a pack of Organyc pads would cost. At target.com (not sure if they're available in the stores or just online), you can buy a case of four boxes for $19.99, a total of 40 pads. Each pad would cost about 50 cents each. When I compared this to data from the workshop I put together a few years ago, this is more than twice the cost of Always brand maxi pads (which where about 22 cents each).

However, I was surprised to find that the price of Organyc tampons is similar to the price of Playtex tampons. Four boxes of the tampons is also $19.99, which is a total of  64 tampons. Each tampon then is roughly about 31 cents, and again, comparing that to the data I used for my workshop, that's only about three cents more than buying Playtex tampons from Walgreens (at least in 2008).

But beyond cost, the thing that's never made complete sense to me about disposable natural products is the way they appeal to buyers' ecological awareness. It seems to me that someone who's in tune with helping the environment by reducing waste would be even more interested in reusable products such as the DivaCup which produce virtually no waste at all, so biodegradability or organic source materials kind of becomes a moot point. 

Anyone care to shed some light on this?