As many of you know, I try to be as eco-friendly as possible. My monthly cycle is one of the ways that I can do that. By using menstrual cups and cloth pads, it saves the environment from having pads in the landfills. Not only is it better for the environment, but also for my body, since I am not coming in contact with any of the chemicals they put into disposable hygiene products. Chlorine, perfumes, adhesives….there just is no need for them, and making the switch is really easy!

Peepods sent me a beautiful cloth pad set to review. I received 3 liners, 2 regular pads and 2 overnight pads, as well as a wetbag to match.

The wetbag was made my Planet Wise, and I already owned a copy of this one, in blue. I really like the fact that it has 2 compartments, one for clean pads and one for used pads. The compartment where the used pads go is lined with PUL to keep it waterproof and odor free.

I tend to not use liners, so they will end up in my daughter’s “Coming of Age Stash” because they are a perfect size for a pre-teen girl. The liners are about 7” long and 2” wide at the narrowest section. They are made with a top layer of flannel, I think, from the feel of it; and a bottom layer of PUL. The core is made of organic hemp fleece.

It seems like all 3 sizes of pads are constructed the same way, just different lengths and widths. The regular pads are about 7 ½” long and 2 ¼” wide at the narrowest section; while the overnight pads are about 9” long and 3” wide at the narrowest section. They all have a print back sewn onto them, with snaps on the tabs to keep it in place around your underwear, as well as to fold them up and keep them closed when not in use.

Anytime you get new cloth pads, you are going to want to prep them, by washing them 2 or 3 times before their first use. You can use any detergent that you normally use, but don’t use any fabric softener, since that will mess up the absorbency of the pads.

If you are out and about and need to change your pad, just fold the used one up and snap it shut, then place it in the PUL lined section of your wetbag until you get home. I use a wetbucket method for my pads (and when I used cloth diapers for my kids as well, but we’re past that stage now YAY!), which means that I keep water in a small bucket by the toilet, and add a tiny bit of my detergent to the water. When I am done with a pad, I throw it in the bucket and swish it around a little (my buckets have handles on them, so I just pick up the handle and turn my hand back and forth a few times) until it is completely wet. I will do that for each change throughout the day, and then do a single wash at night so I will have clean pads in the morning. There usually isn’t a whole lot of water in the bucket, so I just dump the whole bucket into the washer, so I don’t have to deal with touching the dirty pads. To dry them, I just put them on low heat in the dryer, but you can also lay them flat to air dry. I don’t like the crispy feeling that air drying gives to my pads though, so I opt for the dryer instead.

The 2 regular pads and 2 overnight pads seem to be just fine to get me through one day and night, so if you don’t want to worry about having enough clean pads, I suggest buying a bit more. I have light periods, for the most part, so heavier periods will also require a few more pads. I suggest starting out with a dozen, but be careful, you will soon want every cute print out there! It becomes almost as addicting as cloth diapers!