I Thought It Was Just a Pad. Then I Learned the Truth.

When I first learned that a single sanitary pad can take 500 to 800 years to decompose, I felt a knot in my stomach. Multiply that by the billions of pads and tampons used every year—and suddenly, my quiet monthly ritual felt tied to a much louder, long-term environmental crisis.

For so long, periods have been something we hide. Wrapped in polythene bags, spoken about in whispers, passed down with inherited shame. But what also gets buried is this: our menstrual choices are directly connected to the health of the planet.

Many period products like pads, liners, tampons are made with synthetic materials and treated with chemicals that harm both our bodies and the Earth. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals like phthalates, parabens, and PFAS (yes, those “forever chemicals”) have been found in them. These not only mess with our hormones and reproductive health, but they also seep into our ecosystems, lingering in soil and water for years.

That’s why I'm creating a Global Sustainable Period Product Survey through my organization HealCycle (www.healcycle.com). It’s a small action, but one that contributes to building an open-sourced database that can help others choose better—for their health and for the planet.

If this resonates with you, take 3 minutes to fill out the survey I made and :

👉 https://forms.gle/2XwoVLVqdMry4jY46

Because menstrual health and planetary health are interlinked and it’s time we talk about both.