Trade To Aid Reusable Sanitary Pads Review

Reviewed by J Wright

I’d given a little thought to trying reusable sanitary pads some time ago so it was useful to be given the opportunity to try them out for this review.

Trade To Aid provide an ethical way to buy a product which then supports other women in the world.  These products reduce single-use plastic and exclusively use recycled PUL for the brightly coloured outside waterproof layer which protects your underwear. By using the pads far beyond the life cycle of a disposable product you should be able to save money and save the planet a little bit too.

The website tells us that women use around £13 of sanitary products each month. I would have said less and research suggests part of that research outcome is made up of comfort costs. So let’s say it might be £5-£7 instead. This pack at £29.99 should become cost effective after 4.5 months. And with care it could be reused for years.

It has the shape of the average sanitary pad with wings, except the wings have double sided poppers so the pad can be fastened with the waterproof layer on the outside, or fastened in reverse around the gusset of your underwear and held in place with the water proof layer facing your undies. There’s also a waterproof bag in which you can keep the pads that need washing or transporting your clean pads ready for use. Ideally I suppose a bag for each would be useful.

In this pack there are two long and relatively thick pads, two medium sized and two smaller and thinner pads. It’s easy to imagine these can be used at different times within a woman’s cycle and potentially at different times of day. I tried the longer and thicker pads at night, definitely a good trial because this is often where a product such as this could fail. In this case the Trade To Aid pads did exactly as I needed, with no leakage and no uncomfortable feeling. They are long enough to give confidence at the front and back and thick enough to have adequate absorption for hours of sleep. In the daytime I tried the medium and long ones. I was a little leery of the thickness of the longer ones in the daytime whilst wearing closely fitting clothes. But the medium sized pads were comfortable and I didn’t feel they were visible.
Because they’re fleecy surfaced the pads are absorbent and keep fluids off the skin. I never felt wet or uncomfortable using these pads.

I was curious about how absorbent they were exactly so I followed the instructions on the box for handwashing. It was soon clear that they are really good at absorbing menstrual blood. There was more than I expected from one pad. This is something we usually pay no attention to as long as the product does its job. In this case the evidence was clear. However, there was little to indicate it as the blood had soaked through the surface fabric and was held inside, there was little to see on the outside, making it look like there was little to absorb. It had soaked up plenty. There was no leakage at all.

I followed the washing instructions for best care for the product and I also tried machine washing some of them and now they are thoroughly dried I can’t tell which were hand washed and which were machine washed. They scrub up well. It’s important they are properly dried in order to do their job and store well, but on that note the website does say not to tumble dry them which could affect the poppers which are made of plastic. I put mine on a radiator overnight and they seemed thoroughly dry the next day.

Given the volume of products we get through each year I can see the potential to save money as well as waste and plastics with just one box. If they are washed daily during my cycle I can see that this could get me through without any additional products. However, for ease of drying time, spares and general preference I would rather have 12-18 pads in total.

Another advantage I could perceive is for those who like to wear liners. This would remove the daily use of disposable liners. And for a young woman who might start her cycle anytime, or someone with unpredictable periods – having these on removes the worry without the wasted product. Then again those approaching menopause with irregular cycles and random bleeds, this would mean you would always be covered without daily disposal of a product which perhaps wasn’t needed that day. The potential for those savings is enormous.

The only thing I wasn’t keen on with these pads is because I’m accustomed to disposable items. Many feminine hygiene products boast odour control or light perfume or that fluids are ‘locked away’. When we get down to brass tacks – blood smells. There is less odour control within these products and I noticed it right away. I don’t think it would matter at all if you change them regularly, which we all should anyway. Again this would be another good reason to have several sets. Technology might have given control of the smell of blood but it comes at cost to your purse and the planet. With a regular change this won’t be an issue.

It’s good to know to that the use of cotton means better period health for you, reducing the chance of infection and discomfort. Also the bamboo charcoal and recycled plastics keep the pad functioning exactly as it should.

Trade To Aid is a non-profit initiative and each purchase means a woman somewhere on the planet who might face poor education about her own body, or period poverty, the chance to have the same comfort and control as you, the purchaser. This could be in West Africa where the company aid women, or perhaps in a refugee camp where many of their products are directed.

If you’re thinking about trying them you can find out more about caring for the Trade To Aid pads at https://www.tradetoaid.org/ and you can return any unused products if you’re unhappy with them, there’s a 30 day satisfaction guarantee, no questions asked.

Your postie doesn’t need to know about it as you’ll receive your order in discreet packaging and there is free UK delivery.

Rating: 4.5/5

RRP: £29.97

This product can be purchased from Tradetoaid.org here.