GladRags Gab

We love to hear from our customers!

Read what Teresa from Oakland, CA had to say about her experience with GladRags: 

"Hi! I just wanted to fire off a quick testimonial. GladRags are a wonderful product on a number of levels. I am a new customer and have been using GladRags for about 3 months now. I am delighted that I am no longer putting disposable products into the environment, and I feel that the use of your product has improved my health and my comfort when having a period as well. The design is genius and well-executed; and you're absolutely right about cold water soaking doing the job, much to my amazement! And, it really isn't a lot of extra work. In just 3 months I've developed a simple routine to keep things flowing (please excuse the bad pun). The biggest challenge was finding a place in my small apartment to put the soaking container ! Thank you so much for working out this "technology" so that it was there and pretty well perfected by the time I was looking for it! Good work!"

Thanks Teresa! 

After reading Ellen's story (see below), Talia had her own sad tale to tell.  Read on!

It was just yesterday that I finished my first period fest with my *new* mooncup. So of course, the next thing to do? Sanitize via boil-age. Well, the water was just taking forever to boil. I decided to go downstairs real quick and planned to quickly return to the kitchen and tend to my newly clean lil moo'cup.

2 hours later.

The water boiled, evaporated and is nowhere in sight. My poor moo'cup is no longer with us. It is now a charred mess that thankfully did not lead to my house burning down.

 I suppose excessive boil-age is not covered under the guarantee warranty??

; )

Editor's note: Boiling your silicone cup is a-ok (just don't let the water boil off!) but it is not necessary for sanitation.  The vagina is strong and can accept foreign objects that are not entirely sterile…

Saturday was a sad day for an alternative menstrual product user.  I found myself unexpectedly bleeding… shows you how "in tune" I've been with my body as of late… and had to resort to using the two pathetic little OB tampons I had hanging out in my bag from years past… shows you how often I clean out my bag. When those quickly ran out, I resorted to the plastic pads my grandmother had sitting in her bathroom drawer.  I don't enjoy pads much… apologies to the 'rags… and so bemoaned the fact that I didn't keep my Keeper with me when traveling.  duh.  I eventually made my way to the local grocery store to get something that I wouldn't have to adhere to my underwear.  Alas, more OB tampons it was.  I look forward to the day when alternative menstrual products are not so alternative and I can find a Keeper in a Chicago suburbian Jewel.

- An email sent by Diana's great friend Ellen - teacher, friend, wife and person extraordinaire

I stumbled upon the GladRags website about 2 years while 'mindlessly' looking up cloth diapers on google.  I don't even have kids yet, but I grew up on cloth diapers, and want my kids to do the same.  Even though I had always known diapers were bad for the environment, I had never even thought about how pads were just as bad!  I had also started boycotting tampons around this time b/c one of my friends who is a pediatric nurse had a patient with toxic shock syndrome and it freaked me out.

Once I started using GladRags (1.5 years ago), I never looked back…I love them!  Maybe it's just in my head, but I think having a completely cloth pad feels so much cleaner b/c my skin can breathe, as opposed to a disposable pad that has the plastic-like lining that sticks to your underwear.  They have cute designs, prettier flowers, etc…I feel great when I wear them!  And all of my friends are getting hooked on them too…!

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Amy over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess recently answered some interview questions on her blog sent to her by another blogger.  She asked if anyone else would like to be interviewed and I said, "Yes!"  So, here are her questions.  And, my answers.  Enjoy!

Oh, and if any of you, my fellow bloggers, are interested in my sending you your own individualized set of interview questions for your blog, drop me a line.

1) Would you mind telling me (and any other newbies) a bit about yourself and your background?

Sure thing!  Well, first off, my name is Diana.  Hello.  I began this life in the state of Massachusetts, dreaming of leaving home to travel and do my own "thing".  I did and now I am very happy.  After Spanish speaking in Latin America, attempted Japanese in Kyoto and various other jaunts around this fascinating planet, I moved west.  I currently reside in the extremely livable and generally happy Portland, Oregon.

Various other tidbits - I am the youngest of 7 children (can we say Irish Catholic?!).  I like exploring a variety of cultures (including, for example, woodworkers) and finding out what makes them tick - more or less.  I started eating vegan some months ago and enjoy delving into whole foods cooking and reaping its delicious benefits.  I like my friends, but who doesn't?  Children are amazing.  I don't think it's ok for a person to say that they don't like people.  I really enjoy my alone time.  Oh, and tennis and snowboarding and walking and laughing.

2) How did you first get involved with GladRags? 

I have to say that I was primed for the 'Rags before I started working here.  It all began in Costa Rica.  I was at a birthday party and my friend whipped out this interesting little device - looked like a shot glass.  So, we used it as a shot glass.  We were doing what we knew.  Anyway, turned out to be her new (a.k.a. unused) menstrual cup.  The seed was planted and I bought myself a cup and a cloth menstrual pad.

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I'll be making Walnut-Cheddar Harvest Loaf, vegetarian gravy, brussel sprouts, and cabbage salad to take to Thanksgiving this year.  The Harvest Loaf is from the really old cookbook, Diet for a Small Planet . My copy was used when I bought it and now it is totally ratty because of all the use I've given it. The loaf makes a great entree for those of us not indulging in the big bird.  When I've got time and want to impress friends I wrap it in phyllo and it's quite a presentation. 

While I'm cooking I'll be thinking about all the things I'm thankful for this year.  My healthy family, my wonderful friends, the chance to have had three art exhibits this year, and all the wonderful women I know though working at GladRags - customers, co-workers, store buyers, brokers, suppliers, competitiors/compatriots.

Best wishes to everyone for a safe, happy holiday.

-Brenda 

 Walnut-Cheddar Loaf

45 min 15 min prep
2     tablespoons olive oil
2     cups yellow onions, chopped
1     cup black walnuts, coarsely ground
1     cup cheddar cheese, grated
2     tablespoons lemon juice
2     eggs, beaten
2     tablespoons nutritional yeast
1     teaspoon caraway seeds
1 1/4 cups cooked brown rice (1/2 cup uncooked)
    salt
    pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350.
   2. Saute onions in olive oil until translucent.
   3. Mix with remaining ingredients, salt and pepper to taste and put in an oiled loaf pan.
   4. Bake for 30 minutes.

What about that 'ick' factor of reusables, huh?  We all know that they are far from icky and closer to FANTASTIC but do you remember a time when you didn't think so fondly of your GladRags?  Here's what Elise remembers.  ~Diana

Hard to say what changed my mind about the "ick".  It wasn't one thing and somewhat coincided with starting a compost pile, recycling, eating more whole natural foods, organic gardening, and being a Mom…all things that have to do with preserving the environment for the future, and being less self-conscious but more conscious of the world around me.  I still have my original Keeper (and so does one of my sisters who I got started on GladRags too).  I can't go back, of course.  The Keeper is so great for everything from hiking and camping to business trips.  I don't need a box of supplies, but just some negligible space in a purse or carry-on.  Thanks for great products that last and last.  Certainly money well spent.  Hopefully, I can continue the trend–my young daughter recently asked what that isle in the supermarket was for, and I told her many women use disposables they buy each month instead of the things I have…she wrinkled her nose…"oh, they just throw them away?" (maybe that will be the new ick factor some day)

- Elise 

Remember last Monday when I let y'all know about The Virtuous Consumer by Leslie Garrett?  Well, Garrett featured GladRags and the menstrual cups in her book, as well as a quote from me (Diana) in that book.  And Garrett, in her multi-media-ness, also hosts a radio show on CHRW in London, Ontario.  Boldly bringing menstruation and menstrual alternatives into the media, Garrett invited me (Diana, again) onto her show to orient listeners to the world of reusables.

It's about time the dialog got ON AIR!  Take a listen here. And be patient - there's some music before the menstruation talk and commercials. 

Then it's all about that great period talk!

~ Diana

Take a few minutes to read E.McKibbon's beautiful words.  She tells us of the various transformations she has undergone in how she thinks about her body, menstruation and nature.  There are some great insights here - grab a cup of coffee. ~Diana 

I'm writing to say that I love your products. But I also appreciate that you give people the opportunity to talk about the wrongly- tabooed subject of menstruation, for long ago, it was something to be respected and honored.

I use your Sea Pearls tampons and your GladRags. I have never been a woman who thought periods were disgusting or a hindrance to my life-quite the opposite actually. When I was in my early teens, I looked forward to starting my period, and when it came at 14, my mother took me to our local gourmet market. She bought me a special sandwich, a piece of chocolate cake, a bouquet of flowers, and my first box of pads. I felt so special and womanly.

A few years later, I went on the pill. My period lightened significantly and only became a symbol of not being pregnant. I didn't think too much more of it than that. However, as I got into my early twenties, I became much more aware of nature. I surfed, I hiked, I lay on the beach and listened to Mama Ocean's waves, and I began to have an intuition that being on the pill was not for me.

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You know when you watch an enlightening documentary on some social ill - global warming, the state of US health care, violence in the US, political corruption - and you are all worked up about the injustice and just can't wait to do something? But wait, there was nothing IN that documentary about doing something; there was just a whole ton of stuff to bring ya down.

Well, I like Leslie Garrett's approach in The Virtuous Consumer better. In this book, Garrett gives readers the practical tools to take those much needed steps towards environmentally-friendly living. We know that global warming is a problem and now we're going to do something about it. But we didn't learn our bad habits in a day and they certainly won't be changed in a day. Garrett is patient with us and encouraging with her easy tips.

From 'Eco-Chic' to 'Celebrations that Save the Earth', Garrett schools us in sustainability. She even interviewed me about GladRags and other menstrual reusables (my name's in the index and everything). I'm one of her Virtuous Consumers Next Door and I, a bit to my embarassment, tell of wearing sea sponge tampons when I wore a dress to a wedding that didn't quite allow for - ahem - GladRags supporting underpants(!).

Read more about Leslie Garret on her site www.virtuousconsumer.com and pick up your own copy of The Virtuous Consumer - make me famous!

Blushing,

Diana