menstrual pad hack

[darkoshi]

I prefer menstrual pads that have wings. But nowadays most companies make the wings long and narrow. Those kind of wings tend to come unstuck* and then they start sticking to my skin instead. Ouch. This hack prevents that: cut a notch in each end of the wing to make it shorter on the part that folds over.



*You have to fold a long narrow flap onto a curved surface; of course it's not going to stick well that way. What are the people who design these things thinking?

Comments

[marahmarie]

Probably designed by men *rolls eyes*

I'm pretty sure everything that pisses me off, especially if it's online, was designed by them, too.

*imagines self at Always™ board meeting confronting some male pad designer, shaking an open pad in my fist as I go*: "Have you ever had to wear one of these fucking things?" I mean, seriously.

Your hack's brilliant but I'd never have the time, patience nor dexterity for that (my hands shake) so yeah, it'd be nice if they could just be designed that way. Maybe we should start a letter-writing campaign to all the big pad manufacturers?

[darkoshi]

> Maybe we should start a letter-writing campaign to all the big pad manufacturers?

I figure I'm probably the exception in being annoyed by this; they probably designed them that way based on some kinda feedback from women?? Maybe it's just the kind of underwear I wear, or whatever, that makes the unhacked wings not stay stuck for me?? Do you have the same problem?

I'm usually an exception in regards to the things I have issues with, so it doesn't seem worth it contacting the companies most times.

But who knows, if other people see this post and if it gets a lot of positive feedback, then contacting the companies would be something to consider. But I'm not holding my breath! :D

I just thought maybe a few people who come across this will find it useful. It didn't occur to me for years, that I could fix the problem with a couple simple snips of a scissor (or with a few tears of my fingers, when a scissor isn't available - but some pads don't tear as easily as others).

[marahmarie]

I think there's a good chance if it annoys you and me (it does) then it annoys if not all women who use such pads, a lot more of us than you suspected. I'd put a pretty good multiple on "two people who randomly met on the internet both seeing this as a problem and having the same problem with it" because the odds are in our favor.

I imagine if I had a (fairly well-known) Twitter account and posted this sort of thing to it responses in favor/describing similar might go on for days so yeah, I can definitely see some life to it.

To get at the technical aspects a bit, based on your picture, your wings are wider than mine are. If I were to make the same snips I might get a more adherable shape but it'd be on a narrower strip of adhesive so might not be as effective or might come loose quicker. So the notches would not only have to be cut in consistently but wing widths might also have to be made consistently wider for it to work (best).

Definitely a cause manufacturers should take up; I'd imagine their arguments against it would mostly boil down to "we'd have to re-tool machinery and/or waste more product" but they don't really have one, otherwise.

(This reminds me...and I wish there were a way to say "Stop me if I've told you this before", because maybe I have) of the time back in perhaps the mid-aughts when I wrote to Irish Spring (my favorite soap at the time; it's so strong I can't even use it anymore) and asked them to make a unisex body wash out of the stuff. They wrote me back that they had no interest in starting such a product line. Said product line was on the shelves maybe less than five years later, so what they likely had no interest in was "paying me for the idea". :))