How Cloth Pads Changed My Period

If you are new to TCS-eco, you might not know that my history with cloth pads began long before I started designing and selling them.

My periods started around 1993—although, according to my children, 1993 is a date I have simply made up because surely nobody can be that old.

Back then, my period was fairly predictable:

Light → regular/heavy → very heavy → regular → light → finished.

Five days. Done. See you again next month.

At some point, without me really noticing when it happened, everything changed. My cycle became three days of mehspotting, followed by around a day and a half of absolute flooding, before returning to more meh.

On the worst days, leaving the house meant wearing a super-heavy tampon with a night-time disposable pad as backup—and still worrying about leaking.

“You Don’t Release Eggs Naturally” 

AKA :- Anovulation

When I was about 24, I decided something clearly was not right and went to the doctor.

I had to spend a month having blood tests so they could check my hormone levels. It actually took two months because one of the blood vials was missed. At the end of it, I was told that I did not naturally release eggs and would need medication to kick-start my cycle properly.

Naturally, I asked the obvious question:

“So, no eggs means no babies?”

I was told yes.

I went home, told my boyfriend and, after getting over the shock, we carried on with life. We enjoyed exactly one month of completely fear-free sex before my next period disappeared.

Because I was pregnant.

Apparently, my body had not received the memo.

The pregnancy was not the end of the world, but my strange and inconsistent periods remained a mystery.

Years of Cramps and Unpredictable Bleeding

Roll forward another eight years and I have had a Mirena coil, followed later by a copper coil because hormones and I are not good friends.

My periods were still inconsistent, and the cramps were terrible. As I got older, the pain became worse.

But I never went back to the doctor.

Why?

Because it was “just a period.”

That is something so many of us tell ourselves. We put up with pain, flooding, swelling, leaking and planning our lives around access to a toilet because periods are supposed to be unpleasant.

Then I Started Making Cloth Pads

In 2013, I began making reusable cloth pads.

And, obviously, if I was going to sell them, I had to use them myself.

I made a few pads, bought some from other makers and started experimenting with different fabrics and absorbent materials.

My first cycle using pads made with the right materials was genuinely life-changing, (the first time was not, but thats another story).

I started with a liner because that was normally how my period began. Then I had an extremely heavy day. It eased overnight, became regular for another day and then gradually became light again.

My original period pattern was back.

Even more surprisingly, my cramps were almost completely gone and I did not feel nearly as swollen.

For the first time in years, my period felt manageable and predictable.

“Mine Changed Too!”

At the time, reusable-product Facebook groups were thriving. I excitedly posted about what had happened, and other women began sharing their experiences.

Hundreds of people joined the conversation. Many said their periods, cramps, irritation or general comfort had changed after switching from disposable products to cloth.

From my training as an immunologist, I started to look at the “ultra absorbent layer” in a very different way. I realised, in some bodies, that synthetic moisture-wicking barrier could be interpreted as a foreign surface, potentially triggering the same protective immune responses the body uses when it thinks it is dealing with a pathogen, even when there is nothing harmful there. It made me question whether some of what we are told is “normal period discomfort”, including heaviness, cramping and exhaustion, and the very “ultra absorbent layer” technology many brands promote, might be playing a bigger role than we realise.  When I first started my period we didn't have chemical period pads it was the thick Dr whites.

I cannot scientifically prove exactly why my own cycle because i'm not a billion dollar company making millions off woman needing more products if they bleed more... but I know how much mine changed and I can see a scientific reason for it, from my educational and former working environment, everyone’s body is different. What I can say is that the difference I experienced was real and it completely changed the direction of my life and my business.

Sadly, those amazing Facebook communities are now much quieter. Changes to the algorithm mean group posts are not shown to people in the same way.

But my goodness, those were the days.

Why I Still Believe in Cloth Pads

My personal experience is one of the reasons I have spent more than a decade developing TCS-eco pads, I may have a pretty standard period now, but I remember will never forget the fear during that super heavy day where I feared leaving the house, that lead me to create pads and period pants specifically for extremely heavy flow, where in most cases our pads hold double the amount of a disposable equivalent and most "extremely" heavy flow reusable pads.  Just because they say it doesn't mean they are!

Switching to cloth pads might not transform everyone’s cycle in the way it transformed mine. They are not a treatment for an underlying medical condition, and very heavy bleeding, worsening cramps or sudden changes to your cycle should always be discussed with a healthcare professional.

But cloth pads can offer a softer, more comfortable and reusable alternative to disposable products.

And sometimes, finding the right product can make a much bigger difference than you expected.

Saving the planet one leak at a time.