Lunapads

I picked up a Lunapads flyer/handout paper at the Women’s Centre at UBC about 3 years ago where I’d go to microwave my lunch and chill out sometimes. They had some good posters saying “get off the tampon pony” or something to that effect and I know someone who got TSS so I have always been quite worried about it. I also wanted to cut back on disposable tampons and pads, plus the plastic crinkle of wearing pads to bed always felt a bit embarrassing. In any case, I finally went ahead and ordered the DivaCup and Mini Pantyliners kit and have loved it ever since. I really like the Leopard print Mini Pads cause they’re interesting and way more comfortable to sleep in than disposable pads.

I’ve been camping and traveling in Mexico with the DivaCup and never had any trouble cleaning and taking care of it. The picture of me is on the road to Baja, Mexico. My fiance and I drove our Subaru station wagon down there to go surfing for 2 months last winter. We camped in our tent every night, mostly in out of the way places with no toilets (maybe an outhouse) and no running water. I managed very well with my DivaCup and Lunapads and didn’t have to worry about packing out used tampons and pads, it was great! It’s actually been pretty awesome not to have to worry about finding the Spanish word for tampon to ask for them in Mexican drugstores (like i once had to do in Spain).

In any case, the Lunapads experience has been very liberating. It’s a nice way to take care of myself and the environment and seems to take the yuckiness out of my period (like when I’d worry about wrapping pads thoroughly so they’d be disguised in the bathroom garbage). Thanks again Lunapads and keep up your promotions, I hope lots of other girls will find the same solution as I did.

Flora S.,
Victoria, BC

The following is excerpted from today’s Vancouver Sun. Article and photo: Malcolm Parry.
THAT TIME OF THE DECADE: If ever a market were systemized and regularized, it’s the billion-dollar one for feminine hygiene products. Yet two Vancouver entrepreneurs, Madeleine Shaw and Suzanne Siemens, believe there’s more than room enough for their Lunapads firm to sell non-disposable products to women who would use them for some five days out of 28. In the U.S. alone, they calculate, the 73 million women who regularly use menstrual-period tampons will each flush 16,800 of them away. In 1998, the Franklin Associates waste consultancy calculated that 6.5 billion tampons and 13.5 billion sanitary pads were disposed of annually.

Those are big numbers for former fashion designer Shaw and chartered accountant Siemens’s six-person firm. Eighty per cent of their sales are via the Internet. “It’s a natural for our 100-per-cent-cotton products,” Shaw said. “A woman will say, ‘I’ve heard about cloth pads.’ So, she’ll Google it, and Lunapads will come up in the top five.”
“And there’s no shortage of people looking for green products,” said Siemens, who was controller at B.C. Gas before she met Shaw in 1999 as participants in the Vancouver Board of Trade and Volunteer Vancouver’s Leadership Vancouver program.

Shaw’s notion for Lunapads began in 1994. As a venture-capital student at the B.C. Institute of Technology, she won $1,000 for a business plan she wrote. “When women do shift to our products,” Shaw said, “we find their whole attitude to their period, their cycles and their bodies is greatly improved. I can show you hundreds of testimonials.” She can, too. Some of the many appear on the Lunapads website. They’re not prophets or proselytizers — just two young mothers who see society-wide ecological sensitivity bringing the market closer to what they offer. “I always thought Lunapads was a product ahead of its time,” Shaw said. “Then, two years ago, I realized our time had come.”

Mama Goddess Birth Shop, the online store run by our dear friend Nikiah (pictured here), is celebrating it’s 2nd birthday…and she’s asked us to help her celebrate!

We’ve combined our efforts to offer you some great prizes, but since it’s Mama Godess’s birthday, Nikiah’s the one running the show. Check out her News section for full details, or sign up to her newsletter for an entry form.

The contest is a all about a personal touch. She’s looking to have some fun with this birthday, so rather than just answering a question she’s looking for humorous stories you may have about parenting, being a mamma and Lunapads.
Send your stories to: nikiah@mamagoddessbirthshop.com

Two winners will be selected:
First Place will win a Lunapads Intro Kit.
Second Place will recieve a Moon Time Gift Pack from Mama Goddess.
Contest ends at midnight on November 30th and the winners will be announced in the Mama Goddess December Newsletter along with their ” humourous” stories!

Because we believe everyone needs a good chuckle, especially on their Birthdays!