GladRags Gab

We like to hear of women doing awesome stuff in the world. It is just icing on the cake when they happen to enjoy the comfort of GladRags alternative menstrual products at the same time! Here’s a testimonial from one group of adventursome GladRags devotees:

We’re Rachel, Carla, and Jess, three botany field interns at Death Valley National Park. We plot vegetation throughout the park and spend most of our time in the wilderness. The menstrual cup makes our lives easier.
After spending a week or more in the field, the idea of carrying around our bloody disposable products in order to pack them out of pristine wilderness areas seems unpleasant. There’s the smell, which is not only foul for us, but also attracts animals like mountain lions and coyotes. We already have compost stinking up our gear. With cups, we don’t have to carry around a period’s supply of disposables in our already limited space and we don’t have to triple bag the used items with more disposable things to take home and add to our local landfill. As far as comfort goes, in the harsh desert climate the cup makes the most sense. The desert’s dry already, we’re glad we don’t have to shove dry tampons up our ‘ginas. Gladrags, thanks for offering us a great deal on menstrual alternatives. You’ve certainly improved our lives for the better!

The first truly rainy day of the season has arrived here in Portland and with that in mind, we’ve decided that we could all use something extra warm and comforting to snuggle-up to.

The Comfort Back Pac by Herbal Concepts is filled with premium flax seeds and all-natural aromatherapeutic herbs such as chamomile, lavender, spearmint, rosemary and valerian among others. These flannel pacs can be heated in the microwave as the perfect answer to those cold fall days and nights!

Purchase your Comfort Back Pac in the month of October and receive 20% off the regular price!

October Monthly Friend: Rose

Hometown: Boulder, Colorado
Current Location: Los Angeles, California
Age: 21
What she does: New to the LA area, she is about to attend the second round of an intensive program of acting classes.

Interests: Her many interests include reading and crocheting. She loves to go out dancing and sometimes bowling with her friends. And of course, true to the California girl she is quickly becoming, she loves going to the beach and shopping.
Dreams: Rose dreams of being a successful actress, accepting roles in which she can express the deep passion she feels for life. She wants to be financially secure and looks forward to traveling as well as getting married and having kids. She also dreams of paying her parents back for all their help. Roses also has a personal goal of writing a book someday.

How long she has used menstrual alternatives: About six months.

Reason for switching: Upon hearing about the various options available for her, they sounded better for the earth and also more convenient. Rose religiously uses the Moon Cup, as she was a loyal tampon user. She found the Moon Cup really comfortable as well way more convenient than tampons. She also uses the GladRags Pantyliners on occasion, but finds that she hardly needs to use them except for at the end of her cycle because her Moon Cup doesn’t leak or give her any reason to need a back-up.

Rose was so smitten with her menstrual cup at first use that she has recommended them to many of her friends. She says that not one of her friends had heard about menstrual alternatives, in fact many of them thought it was super weird. In the past few months she has convinced three people to try menstrual cups and they have all love them and would never go back to conventional menstrual solutions.

Former GladRags employee Diana, here. To give you all a glimpse into some of the expeditions upon which I have embarked since my departure, here’s bit about my most nautical journey to date – working as educator/deckhand aboard the schooner Adventuress.

The breathtaking vessel Adventuress is a 1913 schooner, currently underway in the Puget
Sound, educating all who climb aboard about environmental stewardship, nautical skills, communal living, and marine life. Participants in Adventuress sails are taught by crew about the benefits of plankton (they provide 2/3 the world’s oxygen!), shown how to tie a buntline knot, get to check out the living quarters below decks and, of course, must haul away on lines to raise the four sails of the ship: main, fore, stay and jib.

Cape Cod mamas ain’t got no pies
Heave away! Haul away!
They feed their children codfish eyes
And we’re bound away for Australia!

At first the sea shanties we sung as we tugged and pulled on the lines seemed a little silly, but they were invigorating during some challenging physical work. This good dose of manual labor, mixed with discussions of environmental education theory and the characteristics of chitons (super cool monopods found in the intertidal zone), gave great balance to life on Adventuress. My duties included helping to sail the ship and teach the curriculum of the environmental educational program, but I was the real student during my time on the ship. I came out of a month on the boat knowing more about sailing a tall ship, but I also was reminded of personal capability and empowerment.

Adventuress prides itself of the empowerment of its students. Many are nervous to be entrusted with tasks aboard a ship, especially if they have never sailed before. But the attitude aboard this schooner is: no new skill, unknown concept or uncharted land is out of anyone’s reach. I was at the bottom of the totem pole, skill-wise, on the boat and I was humbled, but I was then given the opportunity to learn boatloads (literally) and remember that my capabilities know no limits!

One of my most rewarding accomplishments coming out of the month on the Adventuress was the conversion of the majority of the female crew to reusable menstrual products. The sailor ladies received a big package from GladRags full of pads, sea sponges and cups – they really live the light footprint that they teach.

Sailing the seas in GladRags style,
Diana

Name: Tracy P.

Hometown: Portland, Oregon

Age: 22

Profession: Vocational support staff for adults with developmental disabilities

Interests: Knitting, spinning, music, bicycle rides, friends, coffee, animals, reading, etc

Dreams: In first grade, my teacher had my class all create pictures of ourselves performing our dream jobs. I drew myself in overalls, boots, and a floppy hat standing at an easel and painting a portrait of a nearby pig. It was captioned “Farmer/Artist.” I think I’m still pretty into that.

Number of years/months using (appreciating) menstrual alternatives: About a year and a half using alternative menstrual products. Much more than that wondering about/appreciating them.

Reason for switching to alternatives: It makes so much more sense! Better for the environment, better for my body, better for my bank account.

Favorite thing about alternatives: Reusable menstrual products required me to get to know my body in a way that disposables can’t. I’ve gained a greater appreciation of my menstrual cycle since using GladRags and the moon cup.

Funny anecdotes?: Never chop up a big pile of jalapenos with your bare hands. Especially if you’re going to have to empty your moon cup any time in the next 24 hours.

When possible, the GladRags team loves to make donations. Jessica Morell contacted us because she uses our book, Passage, as part of the curriculum in her work as a sexuality educator. In this case, we were able to donate quite a few copies of Passage. We’re very pleased to hear that GladRags plays a positive role in such important work. Thanks for the kind words, Jessica!

“Thank you to GladRags for the excellent design of an ancient technology! As an early self-awareness/sexuality educator it is wonderful to be able to share with young women a safe, eco-friendly and cute-as-a-button option. The middle school girls love the fun colors and environmentally safe design. I appreciate having such a sane choice to share with them as they learn all about the magical mysteries of their cycle.” - Jessica Morell, MiT the RISE workshop Reproductive Information/Scientific Education

Hey Everyone, Elizabeth here, GladRags’ elusive third team member.  I’ve been elusive because I’ve spent the past two months out of the office traveling through 28 states via bus, train, bike, car and plane. The primary impetus behind this adventure was an 1800-mile bike ride from New Orleans to New York City called Wanderlust . Wanderlust is a story collective and bicycle caravan. We pedaled 40 to 60 miles a day for about six weeks; listening to stories and observing how communities in the south and northeast are working to expand access to reproductive health care, defend reproductive rights, and promote reproductive justice.  The trip was motivated by the belief that sharing stories is a powerful way to create awareness and foster social change.

Needless to say, it was a life-changing experience in just about every possible way.  I got to connect with activists from all over the country and see what the movement for progressive change looks like on the ground in those places.  More than anything, I think Wanderlust was a fabulous opportunity for me to practice wholly embracing adventure when it comes my way.  Traveling with 11 other women by bicycle, you learn quickly to expect the unexpected; there was always a flat tire to be fixed or a dramatic change in weather to send us scrambling to protect the bikes and gear. For a person who usually relishes routine, it was exciting to learn that I can happily cope with and even meet unexpected challenges with gusto.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in a trip like Wanderlust. I seriously recommend that y'all out there seize the opportunity to do something that maybe other people think is crazy, but you believe in passionately, you won't regret it.