All my period-having people... thoughts on period underwear?

[meridamulan3264]

Hello, community!

As a period-having person who is tired of wasting money on pads, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about spending some money on a pair (or three) of period underwear like Thinx that will hopefully save me some money and the environment some plastic in the long run. That said, I have soooo many questions about them before I want to spend that kind of money, so I was hoping this community could help me out! (Oh, and full disclosure: my friends have recommended things like menstrual cups and flex to me, but I have a condition that makes insertion really painful, so that’s a no-go. But I appreciate the thought.)
My questions:
—Do they actually not leak, even with a very heavy flow?
—How do they handle clots, as opposed to just liquid blood?
—How many pairs do you actually need to pull off a pad-free period?
—Overall, if you have a product like this, what brand and model is it specifically and do you think it’s worth your money?

Thank y’all so much! Can’t wait to see what you have to say!

[Sam W]

Hi meridamulan,

Great questions! I've used period underwear before, although my go-to is washable pads (the underwear came from Lunapads, the pads from Party in My Pants and Lunapads). In my experience, clots tend to sit there or squish down, the same way they do with a disposable pad. I pair mine with a cup, so I'm not the best person to speak to what happens with them on a really heavy flow day.

In terms of how many you need, it depends a lot on how heavy your flow tends to be and how long your period tends to last, as well as how easy it is for you to do laundry or wash something (like underwear) clean by hand.

[Heather]

Period underwear is my FAVORITE. I'm now at the end of having periods, so they don't get much use anymore, but for the couple decades I was able to have them, I have loved them.

Lunapanties (from Lunapads) have always been my go-to. I know the women who run that company, so that's a big part of it, but I didn't always. I also like what they offer better than the newer-edition alternatives, which, IMO, I found more expensive and too thin. The other thing I like about theirs is that some of their styles are made to work with liners you can just add and swap out as needed during the day.

As to how many, like Sam said, it really depends on your flow and the number of days. But with the styles with the liners, so long as you're able to do some laundry in the middle, I'd say that 3-4 pairs of the underpants and then 6-8 liners would totally cover you.