‘ere I’ve got a curious question for you, as I will often do. I think a lot of you have gotten used to this by now eh? LOL!
While we love shopping, as women will, I’m curious to know if this quite compulsory purchase to staunch a monthly discomfort is something you dread or find embarrassed to buy?
Yes ladies, today we talk again about sanitary pads and tampons, and whether you feel anything when making that purchase? Are you a nip in, grab and go customer? Do you spend time comparing different prices and makes and brands? Does pausing before the shelves of sanitary pads and tampons in the usually deserted aisle of the pharmacy or supermarket make you feel self-conscious and uncomfortable? 😀 Yes, I know, I hold the most curious discussions! LOL 😀
Me? I don’t feel anything untoward, to be honest.
In fact, I’m all for grabbing value packs of sanitary pads when there’s a deal available, and if I find my regular brand sold for cheaper elsewhere, I bulk buy. I gravitate to the Whisper brand (branded as Always in some parts of the world) and on previous travels, I used to notice that it was cheaper in places like Hong Kong or China or Thailand.
The quality was pretty much the same, so I used to stock them up by the dozens! If I had ever been asked to open my luggage bag at customs upon arriving home, I think the customs officers might have thought that I was selling sanitary pads on the black market 😛
Oh yes, I’m that mad woman in a foreign supermarket pushing that trolley laden with packs of sanitary pads just because they’re cheaper than buying them back home. The problem of course, is that they’re pretty bulky so my purchases are limited by space rather than price.
I suppose I feel that this purchase is strictly a female thing, and I’m female so I don’t feel embarrassed or self-conscious pausing at the shelves of tampons and sanitary pads, debating the merits and demerits of each brand or product, and where there are samples on offer, feeling them up for comfort (LOL! Ok, that just sounds wrong!)
I even paused once for a long time at the shelf of tampons, while I held a text conversation with a friend on which to buy, complete with photos that said “Do you mean this one?” Oh yes, riveting conversations we have, sometimes 😀
The reason I got to thinking about this, is because sometimes, as I stand in the aisle, pondering whether I should pick up a back up pack which is on special offer, I sometimes see some women dart in, grab a pack and go, looking a little furtive. Or sometimes, they put it in their shopping basket, but cover it up with something else, like toilet paper, as if they’re embarrassed that they’re buying a pack of pads or tampons.
What say you then?
Does shopping for sanitary pads or tampons leave you feeling self-conscious and embarrassed?
Go on then, humour me with what you think 😀
Paris B
Hell no. It’s natural. For any men who pooh-pooh or go eww over it, I say grow the *beep* up. I think most women are OK with it, it’s the men who probably grew up thinking it’s stigma or dirty or unnatural. For those, I hope they end up with women who make them buy sanitary products their entire lives.
I’ve been known to stand in front of the aisles with my phone calculating the best value for money for tampons, pads,, loo rolls.. Btw, 4-ply loo rolls is the shiznit. Forget Birkins or Chanels. 4-ply loo roll is the new luxury.
LOL yes I think guys have more of a raw deal when they have to make that purchase. Must be mind boggling for them unless they pay enough attention to what their women are using! 4 ply loo rolls?! Oh my! I’ve tried 3ply and already it feels like a cushion! 😀
LOL!!! How many pads do you actually lug home from your travels?? I’m not embarrassed about buying pads at all. I’m more than happy to stand and stare at the different types of pads available – wing, no wing, no fragrance, thickness, length etc – HAHAHAHA I may have just gone overboard there! But yes, pads are cheaper in some countries… I used to lug home adult diapers for my late grandma. I’d pack them in this huge box and check-it in, and would ask the check-in staff to plaster the “fragile” sticker on the box. In hindsight, I’m thankful I was never stopped by any officers, although I was once… for carrying too many crisps. =D
My record was 6 value packs so that meant I had 240 pads to last me MONTHS if not years LOL! 😀 What can I say, it was cheap and it’s something I have to use anyway right? So I figured, I might as well just stock up. I think the customs officers might have queried my intentions if they had opened my luggage. But you know what I don’t get? Fragrance in pads or liners. Like hello?! 😛
And what? You got stopped for carrying crisps?! How can?!?!
HAHA!! I have no qualms whatsoever lingering in the sanitary pad aisle. I’m a Kotex fan through and through but it’s not available in Japan where I live. In Tokyo, I’ll buy Megami, a very pretty-looking brand that has a butterfly theme – even the “wings” have a butterfly shape. Living in Japan made me experiment with different brands but when I’m outside Japan, I don’t bother and just automatically reach for Kotex. I stick to the Carefree brand outside JP and in JP, I use a brand called Kiyora – which is again, extremely pretty and feminine with a gorgeous design lol! But having said that, the quality is exceptional. The Japanese sure know how to entice their customers.
Sounds like Japan is not only the land of everything pretty and cute and adorable, they even extend it to their pads! LOL 😀 I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to the pads when I was in Japan years ago. Maybe I should have – a pad comparison from all over the world LOL! I use Carefree for pantyliners too. For me, they’re the best.
Carefree and Kiyora – pantyliner brands. I forgot to mention that!
This is a very, very fun and interesting topic to chat!
When I was in school, it was so embarrassing, especially when some random guys passed by when my arms were full of Kotex (I never buy just one!) but at same time I was having lots of fun teasing my elder brother about it (He still shies away whenever I go to buy my pads LOL). Those awkward teen years were my most terrible time when it was time to buy sanitary pads.
Nowadays, I’m always so excited to see value packaging or if there’s sale on my favourite brand, Kotex; I’ve been using the same brand since my first period, since millions years ago, haha. When there is new product launched by this brand, I almost always buy it because I’m always looking for the longest, widest, most absorbent pad during the first few days of heavy flow (right now, my favourite is the Luxe Kotex in black packaging – slim design with various colours of individual “bag” yet shockingly very good with heavy flow that I almost want to dig around the cotton material to see what’s the secret LOL).
The hardest time I bought my pad was at a middle east country. There was no salesgirl, just male employees who barely spoke English and that was the first time after many years I felt my pad-horror feeling surfaced back, haha. There were Kotex pads but the descriptions were mostly in Arabic and I had no idea whether those were for heavy or light flow and it didn’t help that I had never seen those type. I had to grab one of those guy assistant to translate but of course, seeing it was sanitary pads, he nearly jump out of his skin and run away, haha.
Haha! I’m glad you found this fun, Fathin 😀 You know, a teacher in school told us a funny story once. She sent her young son out to buy a pack of pads from the kedai runcit nearby, and to remind himself as he cycled away, he shouted “Kotex! Kotex!” at the top of his lungs. Every time I hear Kotex, I remember that story LOL! 😀 I have tried it once I think, but I tend not to go for that brand. Not sure why – habit maybe LOL! But I can imagine the look on the face of that guy in the Middle East! He must have been mortified that he had to not only sell pads, he had to actually HELP someone buy them! LOL!
have been a loyal kotex fan! but not anymore with cloth pad now 😀
that said, i am certainly not embarrassed to buy it, but i do applaud for men who buy it for their partners though.
Ooh you like the cloth pads then? I still never really got the hang of them. Maybe coz I used to work longer hours. I should give them a nother go. Oh and everytime I see a guy buy the pads, I want to give them a round of applause. But I think that’ll embarrass them even more LOL!
Aghhhh! It does, it does make me uncomfortable to say the least! Initially my dad used to buy those for me when grocery shopping for the month. I was embarrassed for him but I couldn’t do it myself. I know, crazy story :/
Anyway, looks like the discomfort/embarrassment will never go. I’ll have to train myself to lift it and put it in the cart like a box of cereal or something 🙁
I grew up in a conservative country thanks to my dad travelling everywhere and they used to put it in a brown bag! The shame! The horror! When you brown-bag something, you automatically drop it to the lowest levels of *disgust* and *I aint touching that*.
I am sure I am talking about sanitary pads and not condoms. 😐
LOL! You totally cracked my up Rage! I can’t believe they brown bag your pads! I mean, they’re just pads right? Not embarrassing at all, but a necessity! So sorry it’s made you feel that way about buying pads 🙁 I actually quite enjoy looking at all the new designs and models – especially when they promise better absorbency. We could all do with that right? 😉
I actually couldn’t give a hoot about buying it. I have a lot of guy friends and since Sunway Pyramid was so near my Uni, we’d go out for lunches and I’d hop into the store to get sanitary pads and walk about with them WITH my large shopping bags filled with pads.
My mother, however, is a different story. She’s so hush hush about everything intimate about being female that I have to hang my lingerie in a specific way even in the privacy of my bathroom.
You know, my late gran wouldn’t even let us wash our undies in the communal laundry so I had to do them by hand 😛 Funny right, how we all evolve? 🙂
When I was younger my dad was always sent to the shop to purchase this for mum, my younger sister and myself. These were the Kotex brand that came in a box – and it was an unspoken understanding back then that the shopkeeper would wrap the box up in paper before putting it in a plastic bag. I have never been shy about purchasing them later in life when I was away for studies and now when I do my monthly grocery shopping – I take requests from my two teenage daughters who have their preferences!! Glad too that my hubby is more than happy to buy these for us when we inadvertently run out! He thinks it takes a ‘real man’ to be able to stand in line with sanitary napkins tucked under his arm and thus has no problem buying it!!
Your husband deserves a round of applause! He’s right – not many men want to stand in line with packs of pads in hand, especially when it’s a product that’s 100% for women only! 😀 I think it’s quite funny how pads was always a bit of a taboo thing until they hit the supermarket shelves I suppose. These days, everyone seems to manhandle them at the cashier with no problems, and I’m glad there’s no more brown-bagging of pads!
Me? Never! Haha but I do know what brand and type I already like so it tends to be pretty quick since I only ever pick out the same packet!
And Whisper! It must be a Malaysia/Singapore thing since my mum used to buy that brand all the time! (I was even started on Whisper branded pads – TMI? I hope not!)
Anyway, I am now a loyal Libra brand fan! The super thin + smaller sized pads fit me best and the cotton lining is much more gentle on my *ahem*lady bits than the plastic lining on the old Whisper pads (I haven’t used Whisper in a long time so I’m not sure if the lining is still plastic!)
Yes I think Whisper is a SEA thing. I don’t know why. I remember the first time I went overseas, I panicked because I couldn’t find Whisper in the UK. So I picked up Always, because it looked similar (and I have to say that pads in the UK are incredibly expensive! I used to bring a year’s supply 😛 ) and then I later found out that in the rest of the world, it’s branded as Always. I never quite understand these branding things LOL The lining is still plasticky but I like the dry feeling (TMI?) as compared to some other cottony ones I’d tried before. Not sure if we get Libra here though!
I’m one of those people who would stand at the aisle, calculating price per pad, comparing brands, etc. Speaking of guys buying pads, it reminded me of the show Kopitiam where Rashid Salleh’s character tries to hide the errand from the rest, but they could hear him ask his mother on phone, “wings, or no wings?” in the pilot episode, ROFL.
I do like Libresse because they don’t have little square backing paper for the adhesive under the wings (that a lot of brands do, which creates such a mess), it’s just the one long rectangle backing paper (or not) for the bottom.
Speaking of prices, I also wasn’t the only one who went nuts stocking up before GST kicked in because sanitary products are not on the zero-rated products list (grr) and the aisles in the pharmacies looked like a tornado came through…
I kinda wished there were adhesive free pads so they don’t ruin underwear (if you know what I mean?). I remember using Kotex in the States which didn’t have adhesive under the wings, but worked like velcro.
LOL You know I just watched most of Season 1 of Kopitiam on my trial subscription of iflix and I totally remember that episode! Did you watch it too? 😀 I haven’t tried Libresse but you know what? I hate that silly piece of paper too! I found that most of the Whisper packaging from overseas didn’t have that, but the local ones did. So complicated sometimes 😛 I’d already got a ready stockpile so didn’t stop up pre-GST but I can imagine that additional burden on us. As if we didn’t have enough burdens already! 😛 I’ve never tried non-adhesive pads, but you have me intrigued! Does it require special undies?
No, doesn’t require special undies but they miraculously don’t budge without adhesive. Dunno how they work – friction and static energy, maybe?
Speaking of Libresse, you just yank the colour wrapper and you’re ready to use – no need to peel tiny squares of paper off the wings and what not. The only brands I don’t buy anymore are the Guardian and Watsons in-house brand ones; those are pretty sucky and not worth the price paid 😛
I found Kopitiam on iflix too, but kinda wished there was also other shows like Jangan Ketawa, 2+1, etc… But didn’t binge watch the entire series (writing got a bit crappy…), just the first and last episodes. That scene about the pads was one of the few things I still remember and laugh at all these years later, besides how skinny Douglas Lim was back then.. :/
Ok that pads without adhesive is absolutely fascinating! Hope I’ll be able to try them some day 😛 I didn’t watch all the eps either. Kopitiam was a good series, but watching it and the over acting was quite torturous 😛 I don’t think I ever watched the last few seasons so I watched the last ep to see how it wrapped up and then realised there was a whole new cast of people I had no idea about! I haven’t subscribed though I might soon just to tide me over the Raya break LOL
Interesting topic! I buy this without much thought, or my boyfriend will ask me what I use and add to the grocery shopping. We’re all humans and it’s an essential item, like toothpaste so I don’t think anything of it.
Good on you! I too think we shouldn’t be embarrassed about it but I suppose different cultures may result in us behaving differently 🙂
I can’t remember if I was embarrassed about it in my teens, but then I haven’t felt embarrassed about it for a long time, because I consider it to be in the same family as toilet paper. Nobody gets embarrassed about buying toilet paper cos it’s just a necessity item, right? And I have also ever spent time calculating price per pad in the supermarket aisle, but nowadays I just go for the brand I like: Laurier for pads and Carefree for pantyliners.
I’m all for Carefree for pantyliners too! 😀 But I don’t get the scented version. Why do I need scent?! 😛 And toilet paper – that’s the other thing that can get expensive doesn’t it? I stock up too whenever I see a promotional offer. Never sniff at a sale on toilet paper I say! 😀
Hehehe I guess I can stop feeling kinda bad for asking you to lug Tesco Value pantyliners for me from Malaysia. This is a good question; if you asked me this many years ago, I would have said yes. It’s not so much of picking and choosing feminine hygiene products; it was more of the men who would be ringing up my purchases.
As I grew older, the feeling of embarrassment went away. If I get any sort of reaction from male checkout staff, I get snarky at them. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I remember buying condoms once and I got such a look from a male cashier. I stared him straight in the eyes and said “WHAT?” He was shocked at the fact that I wasn’t embarrassed. Why should I be?
Now I’m the one who would stand in front of the feminine hygiene aisle, looking at the cost per pad/tampon, calculating which ones are cheaper, which ones are on sale. Have to lah, expensive being a woman wei. 😛 Tim doesn’t give two hoots about buying tampons/pads for me either. He’ll even call me on the phone and ask “EH WHAT BRAND ARE YOU LOOKING FOR AH? WINGS? NO WINGS? TAMPONS YOU WANT SUPER OR NOT?”. Kekekeke!
Haiyo woman, it can’t possibly still be bugging you?! But no, it was no trouble and you were right, they were exceptionally good value and good! But I don’t go to Tesco very often so I stopped buying them. Thanks for reminding me though – I’ll stock up next time I’m there LOL! 😀 I actually am amused when I see the discomfiture of the cashier. Really, if they want to be uncomfortable ringing up a purchase, then you can’t be a cashier! But that was a good response you gave him – so what right? You’re not stealing anything – just buying condoms. Grow up 😛 Oh and Tim is officially a “real man” by JackieA’s husband’s book! 😀 Good for him!
Amazingly my husband is more comfortable buying napkins for me than when i do it myself! Here in the US most napkins come in Large sizes. I’ve also noticed they are 6x more expensive than the prods we have in the philippines! I can get the best brand there for a dollar! I buy the cheapest ($3) and thankfully better than the $7 ones, can’t imagine spending that much on sanitary pads!
I don’t cover my pads like some people but they are sold near the men’s razor aisle so i do still feel a bit embarrased about it.
Funnily enough, I noticed the same thing. Sanitary napkins are significantly more expensive in the Western world and much much cheaper here in Asia! I wonder why though, unless it’s mostly manufactured here maybe? I’m guessing you do a big haul every time you are back in in the Phillippines? 😀
I’m not embarrassed at all! As a woman, why should I? It’s completely natural.
In fact there was once I wanted to try out tampons, I even asked my friends through a Whatsapp group conversation where everyone can see (all are women, of course). Ended up, we all discussed about which brand has the best pad and tampons.
I love using tampon actually, less mess I would say. =D
LOL Yes, when I wanted to try out a tampon, I consulted my friend too! I’m ok with both but I still prefer using a pad. Tampons make me feel uncomfortable for some reason >.<
Hmm as a guy I don’t really give any care or deem it to be weird or “un-natural” but that may be because I have lots of friends who are girls hmm. Anyways, I don’t know about the feeling of embarassment of ladies/girls when buying their lady stuff but it might be similar to the embarassment that I’ve experienced when buying anything cosmetic related either in drugstores or (especially) departmental stores. Often in departmental stores, I’ve often ask the SA to color match me for the foundation or concealer than I might get. Every so often, people will walk by and just stare at me or give me ‘that’ look as if to say”guy? Makeup? Wha..srly?”. It just..makes me… uh.. ranted it on my blog just to make sure I was sane lol. Anyway, it sometimes just gets to me and makes me insecure about my passion and sometimes embarassed when people just walk by > stare > whisper to their children (happened mostly in Malaysia). Uh. Sorry for getting off-topic, just figured I’d share.
Haha I’m sure your girl-friends are happy that you don’t act funny if/when they need to buy their monthly supplies! 😀 As for men and makeup, I think it’s just to do with social stigma or conventions. I’m not sure how it is overseas, but over here, it’s quite uncommon to have guys buy makeup unless it’s for their female friends/relatives. In fact, other than the male SAs at the beauty counters, I’ve never really seen men wear or buy makeup here! So I’m sorry to hear you get a hard time about it, but who knows, with changing social conventions, it might soon be an acceptable trait – after all, I’m sure cosmetics companies want to capture that other 50% of the market too right? 😉
I am a grab and goer- not out of embarrassment, though when I was younger I used to find it an embarrassing purchase. I simply know exactly what I am looking for, and being a native New Yorker also only know one speed. So once I locate it I take off again.
I will say, one sure fire way to cure your embarrassment over feminine hygiene products is to have to buy diapers for a parent. Way more embarrassing.
Ouch that is true Jayme. I had to buy a pack of adult diapers for my late gran once and it was an uncomfortable experience I agree! Most of the time, I’m a grab-and-go too – once you know what you want, more speed, less haste!
Great question! For me it’s just part of life and my husband feels the same way. But my husband will also come into Sephora, Nordstrom etc with me and doesn’t feel the need to go elsewhere if I’m shopping for beauty products, clothes, shoes etc. I do the same for him. Maybe it’s different for us since we’ve known each other since the age of 3 and have witnessed just about every single embarrassing event a person can go through 🙂
Aww it’s so sweet that you’ve known your husband since you were 3! I’m sure there must be a story there 😀
I confess! I’m one of those terribly embarrassed women you spot at those aisles! I think it partly comes from being in a conservative family and also partly remnants from that awkward, thin-skinned period known as my teenage years (alas, those are now many, many years ago). I’ve only managed to overcome my embarrassment at pharmacy cashiers recently – I can finally look at male cashiers in the eye when ringing in my purchases. My favourite brand for pads is Laurier. Whisper tends to irritate my skin, not sure why. The Laurier slimguard series is soft and really absorbent despite being really slim..
Yay for baby steps to overcoming the embarrassment 🙂 You know, I started out wearing Laurier many moons ago, but I didn’t like them because they didn’t make the super thin versions. I don’t even know if they do now! But I’m trying some from Sofy which are super cheap (I got them in Bangkok) and they work really well without irritation too!