GladRags Gab

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

I have a way to fold my GladRags that I thought was unique. I remove my used pad and fold the long ends into the middle, essentially folding the soiled part onto itself. Then I use the wings to wrap up the sides and snap the snaps (upside down for them) on the top of this nice little package and it all seems very Japanese zen-like. One day I mentioned it to other GladRags employees and get a very blasé response, “Oh yeah, that way, nah I don’t usually do that.” So much for my brilliant discovery.

It worked, however, quite well when I backpacked in Nepal. I kept all the neat little square packages in a Ziploc until we camped in a place long enough for me to wash and dry them in a stream, or in one case until we got back to a hotel. In this instance, we happened to take a short flight and upon arrival in a small Nepali airport, my bag was searched. I think the man who searched the small canvas tote that I kept my GladRags in, including my Ziploc full of used but neatly buttoned up GladRags, was slightly more impressed with this innovation.

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Avid GladRags enthusiast Jenny Rose shares with us the story of the rag bag and her personal account of struggling with endometriosis (and a cyst named Janice) and the relief that she has found in GladRags.  Read on for some great takes on the 'Rag ~ Diana

My grandma Lucy, knitter and canner extraordinaire, sometimes mentioned the "rag bag” that she and her sisters shared.  In a household of women, it was a known secret – kept under the bed and well-stocked in a family of many teenagers close in age.  I don’t know if she and her sisters designed and sewed their own snapping pads or if the bag really was filled with rags as its name indicates (she died when I was 12), but I do know that she liked the quiet community it created in her childhood home.  While no one fought over cleaning the rags, she and her sisters did work together to find the best and most absorbent fabrics and argued over who got to use those rags when her period came around.

In my life, GladRags have been a savior.  I have endometriosis (and an ovarian cyst that I’ve carried for a year and a half and named Janice).  For me, this disease means really hard-to-control periods, near-constant bloating and pain.  Sometimes this pain translates to early-morning cowering on the bathroom floor – where my uterus seems to want to jump ship.  Disposables make me uncomfortable and self-conscious (and also wasteful), and other reusable devices are too invasive and sometimes painful.  When I discovered GladRags, well, I immediately saw a difference in my body.  Not only did I feel less self-conscious and “crinkly,” I also saw a marked reduction in pain.  Perhaps grandma was really onto something when she, too, sought out soft and cozy fabrics for her own monthly visitor!

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If you have ever wondered what a real person thinks about the Moon Cup (and not just one of us GladRaggers) you can check out Tracy's Moon Cup Diary here

Tracy offers a day-by-day account of what it is like to use a menstrual cup for the first time.  There are some ups and downs (and some hilarities) that I think will be helpful to any woman contemplating the leap to a reusable menstrual cup.

Just a disclaimer - yes, Tracy is a 'real' person and a 'true' supporter of menstrual alternatives, but she does stop into the GladRags office once a week to supervise the developmentally disabled work crew that comes in to help us out.  GladRags, upon Tracy's proposition, supplied her with a Moon Cup to help her with her diary, though none of us knew how it was going to work out (Tracy is a sponge and GladRag fan).  Read her diary to see what the final verdict is: http://mooncupdiary.blogspot.com/

Happy in autumn,

Diana 

I have had my keeper for the past seven years!!! wow, I can't believe it.  We have traveled through India, across the US, camping trips,music festivals, through bad breakups and happy reunions.  I had one episode on an Indian train.  It was awful and scary.  The toilets are just a hole through the bottom of the train and I emptied my keeper and it almost fell out of my hands to the ground.  But thank the lord I didn't lose my constant companion.  I am a singer/songwriter from Asheville, NC and sometimes I can't believe how much I love this product, it makes my heart swell with happiness!!!

Angi West

Thanks for sharing your story, Angi.  What a close call in India!  We all have our Keeper stories, huh?  My first time using a cup was less for menstrual purposes and more for taking a shot of liquor purposes! ~Diana

Angi's a beautiful singer.  Check her out on www.angiwest.com or on her myspace page.

Two of my favorite people, Ellen and Miguel, were wed in the most beautiful and intentional ceremony I have ever attended.  Last weekend I visited them in Olympia, WA and we clicked through their wedding photos, sighing with the flood of memories that rained upon us.  We happened upon the pictures of the happy couple washing one another’s feet in an act of humility and service (I know, your hand just went to your heart and you said, “aw, how sweet!”).  Ellen leaned over to me.  Conspiratorially she let me know that the cloth they used to dry their feet was none other than GladRags Organic Cotton Hankies!

Working at GladRags has its perks – I get free menstrual supplies for all my friends and loved ones.  Ellen received a gift of a Keeper Cup.  Not to leave out Miguel, I enclosed in the package the only thing in our stock that a non-menstruating person could also use, our hankies (I gave him a 3-pack cuz he’s just that special!).  That Ellen and Miguel put these booger bound cloths to such a special use makes me wonder… what else are GladRags users doing with their pads and hankies?

And, did they use sea sponge tampons for the foot washing?!

Peace,

Diana