Is bringing organic to your tampons going a little overboard? Or should you be concerned about the pesticides inherent in the lowly cotton boll?
My loyalty to unadulterated, organic cotton began with those old commercials and the lilting, strangely plaintive melody: ‘The touch/the feel/of…cotton.’ Cue sad music swell: ‘The faaaaabric/of our lives.’Â
How I used to weep copious premenstrual tears for the beautiful couples snuggling in 100% Egyptian cotton sheets. At the sweet-faced grandma having her cheek lovingly caressed by a dishtowel. Our poor ephemeral lives — so short, yet led so nobly in humble cotton.
Manipulation, thy name is cotton! And it worked. I now bring the same desire for a better “lifestyle” to my tampons. After all, the industry sank a lot of money into those commercials to educate me.Â
But should I want organic cotton tampons? Is it healthier? What about that urban legend about asbestos in tampons? Is organic merely something to get my money by exploiting my fears about chemicals?
My own empirical, six-month long study using organically grown, pesticide-free tampons versus Playtex® has shown the following:
- With organics, my cycle shortens by an entire day. No kidding.
Hypothesis? Either it’s better absorbency, or it’s hello pre-menopause. - No worries about what chemicals might or might not be corroding my insides.
No more issue. - Organics last longer.
They seem to absorb more evenly, thus eliminating the wasteful, “I-just-put-it-in-but-hit-an-angle-and-now-it’s-lopsidedly-full” scenario. - I sure pay more for the privilege.
At my health food chain, I’m paying over $6 for twenty organic supers. Equivalent mass brands go for $4.29. Easy math: $24 dollars more a year.
Tampons are inside you approximately 48 days a year (4-day period). That’s 1440 days over 30 years of menstruation, or more than 4 YEARS of your life. That’s a lot of internal exposure to anything, let alone traditionally farmed cotton (where production can use up to 35 pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides). Rayon, another common tampon ingredient, also requires chemicals in its production. You may not be getting a lot of chemicals, but you are almost certainly getting something. Will it cause cancer? The FDA says no.
Interesting coda:
After watching my sister and I endure our share of gynecological troubles, my mother had her culprit: “It’s those tampons you girls use!” For years, I smirked at what I considered to be anti-tech hysterics. Now I wonder.
