Some products show up everywhere: subway ads, Instagram, celeb endorsements. With this series, we're testing such products to conclude one thing: Does it live up to the hype?
Thinx Period Panties, the brand that makes managing that time of the month less of a headache.
Menstrual-management products have been dominated by two options for far too long. If you weren’t into wearing adult diaper-like pads all day, then uncomfortable, hard-to-insert tampons were the only other option. Thinx Panties offer period management that feels natural, is sustainable, and furthers a mission to make feminine products accessible to all.
- Instagram ads
- All-inclusive commercial
- Podcasts
I’ll just come right out and say it: Periods suck.
And it doesn't help that, over the last two decades, my flow has changed. Between birth control, having a child, and generally getting older, my period is not the same as it was. In an effort to adapt to my bodily changes, I have tried my fair share of period-management products out there. I grew up strictly wearing pads because all of the girls in my high school said only certain kinds of girls wore tampons. By college I realized that was stupid and hopped over to tampons and thought I’d found the promised land!
After having a baby and switching my birth control to an intrauterine device, though, my flow changed dramatically, and tampons simply were not cutting it anymore. Nighttime was like torture, with at least two middle-of-the-night bathroom trips. Sleeping over at my mate’s house required me to pack several pairs of back up underwear, a box of tampons, and a package of overnight, extra long, winged pads. I tried to give the cup a go, and while I like it for the most part, it was messy and I feared the suction would dislodge my IUD birth control, a risk I refused to take.
I saw the modern, clean ads for Thinx Period Panties online and on social media as well as a ton of general coverage about them. I watched a video of a girl trying them out and rolled my eyes instantly. How can a pair of padded underwear last all day? Won’t the blood start to pool? How could two tampons’ worth of blood be absorbed in a single pair? I bleed like a wounded cow for at least 3 out of the 5 days of my period. How could panties that are comfortable also manage to absorb all of that?
I had so many questions and even more doubts.
When that time of the month circled back around and my Flo app notified me of my impending doom, I broke out the Thinx Panties. Firstly, I would say to size up. The website has a sizing chart and I thought I measured around my hips and bottom correctly, but I could’ve totally benefited from a size up. I ordered the Hi-Waist cut because it seems to be the most comfortable cut for my body type (I left hiphuggers in 2009) but they are available in various traditional underwear cuts, including thongs (genius). The panties have a soft, pantyhose-like texture to them, with the middle part being padded to absorb fluids. If I didn’t know they were period panties, I would assume they were super fancy underwear, which is perfect for sleeping over a spouse's house and not wanting to announce that your Aunt Flo has arrived.
The first two days of my period are very light and the website outlines the different ways the period panties can be used with one of the suggestions being for light days. I, of course, wanted to wait until my most treacherous period day to see what these things were really made of. Day three of my period rolled around, and as expected, Aunt Flo came to show out. The website suggested to pair the panties with other period products like the cup or tampons for heavier-flow days, which was similar to my usual game plan — except I’d typically rock the bulky pads that had to be changed throughout the day along with the tampons.
The first use, the panties did exactly what the website said they would. I felt dry, the blood did not pool, there was no odor, and aside from them being too tight due to my own mis-measuring, they were generally comfortable. At the end of the day, I rinsed the panties out in the sink (if you don’t like the sight of blood, then ... sorry?) and hung them up to dry. If you wanted to wear them again, you can do a thorough hand-washing and allow them to air-dry for the next day.
Thinx’s mission is even more impressive than their actual product. Millions of girls miss school and put their lives on pause in detrimental ways because they lack access to basic feminine care products that they need. Thinx donates their products to organizations that help young girls and women manage their periods so that they can succeed in life, while also erasing the shame that comes with having a period.
Now that I am two periods in with the Thinx panties, I see what the hype is about. My flow is personally too heavy to wear them all alone but they are perfect for added protection that doesn’t require using disposable, landfill-clogging pads. I feel confident and secure wearing the Thinx panties and not like I need to check the butt of my pants to see if I’ve leaked and no one told me. Periods still suck but they suck a whole lot less knowing that I can sleep comfortably, enjoy adult sleepovers confidently even when my Aunt Flo comes as a plus-one, and live freely instead of being chained to my cycle.
You’re allowed to hate your period and love your body. Thinx period panties aren’t a magical pill that will make you love bleeding for days on end — but they have made managing my period far easier.
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