Until recently they were considered a niche product and one that came with a high price tag, but these days, period pants have gone mainstream, and are readily available to buy on the High Street.

What Exactly Are They and How Do They Work?
Period pants are a sustainable alternative to other period products like tampons, pads and menstrual cups. Unlike pads, period underwear can be worn for up to 12 hours at a time and are reusable. While they look and feel like normal underwear and come in a variety of different styles, period knickers absorb your flow, whether heavy or light, as well as other fluids like vaginal discharge.

There are many ways to support yourself whilst on your period. While a balanced diet, enough sleep, regular exercise, and supplements such as Cleanmarine PeriodPlan, play a part, period knickers could also make your life easier. But what are the pros and cons?

Pros
1. Absorbent
There’s a belief that period underwear is similar to wearing a pad. But in fact, these are cotton or poly-cotton blend knickers with highly absorbent layers sewn into the gusset. The absorbent layers are thinner, move more easily with the body and are more likely to stay in place than pads. They can be worn for up to 12 hours at a time.

2. Suitable for Different Types of Flow
Period knickers have been designed to be suitable for a variety of different types of flow – whether it’s a heavy day or the time of month when your period is trailing off. They typically have a three-way gusset system – a layer next to the skin that draws away moisture, a middle layer that absorbs blood and an outer layer with an anti-leakage membrane.

3. Can Be Worn While Exercising
Unlike a pad, period pants move with the body because and are therefore less likely to leak while you’re exercising.

4. Better for the Environment
They can be used up to 50 times and could last as long as two years, which is not only more economical than other sanitary devices, but better for the environment. In Ireland, it’s estimated that 260 million single-use period products are used annually. That’s over 700,000 period products dumped in land fill each day. What’s more, period products make up a fifth of all plastic waste found on beaches.

Cons
1. Period Pants Are Expensive
Prices of period knickers vary. In Penney’s’ they cost E14 and in Marks and Spencer E24 for a pack of three for example, which makes them more expensive than other period products. The number of period knickers you’ll need for an average period depend on your cycle and could be as little three to five or seven to 10 per month, which all adds up.

2. Tricky to Change During the Day
Working remotely from home is one thing, but if you’re out and about or going straight out after work, you’re going to have change your period knickers and carry around the soiled ones for the rest of the day or night.

3. Possibility of Odour
Let’s be real about blood – it smells, and when left for long periods of time and especially in hot or sweaty environments, it becomes even more odorous. You might not notice the smell of your own blood, but chances are, others will.

Period undies need washing
Unlike single-use sanitary products, which are thrown away after use, period underwear requires care. Users are advised to wash them out in cold water before putting them into the washing machine along with other clothes. This can be messy and especially when your period is heavy. The advice is to wash them at low temperatures as the synthetic fibres used in the gusset can degrade into microplastics which eventually leak into the sea. What’s more, given their porous nature, they take a longer to dry than ordinary underwear.