GladRags Gab

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

I have always thought of myself a pretty eco-conscious person, but when I started working at GladRags, I realized that I hardly do anything GREEN aside from taking 5 minutes showers, turning the heat off at night, opening windows and doors in the summer instead of using an air conditioner, letting the rain fall wash my car, eating local and when I can afford it, organic. I got to thinking, and researching other ways I could live a more green, eco-friendly life… and this is what I came up with:

Change out your BULBS!

By switching your standard bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, you will be using less wattage, therefore saving money as well! These bulbs last about 2-8 years, are fairly cheap at most local building centers, and just switching out 5 of your household bulbs is like taking 1,000 cars of the road!  

Don't Eat Fast Food!

I know it's so easy, but most fast food chains use way too much packaging, do not use local meats, fish, fowl, or veggies, therefore not helping local farmers. Eat Local, Buy Local!

Drive Less!

I have made the commitment of walking or biking to work now that I live closer. Gas prices are out of control, and the emissions of our little fun toys are the single biggest cause of pollution. Get out of your car and bike, ride public transport, skateboard, roller-skate, run, or walk!

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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

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!

(more…)

Even before my cycle has completed itself, I am missing it. On these last days of trickling, I feel the tide turn. I’m moving out of bleeding time.

This time, on the heaviest day, I was at home with the kids all day. Tired from a recent rush of work and a few nights of hot, humid, not-so-great sleeping, I welcomed this rainy day with an indulgent long sit on the couch. I set no agenda for the day and put nothing on my list of what must be accomplished. I let myself lounge, let us all watch TV, eat snacks, read while they napped. Usually, it is so difficult to let a day be. Usually, I must get us out to the library or I must get the bathroom cleaned, or email five people. Oh, glorious heavy flow when we just were. This is what I am missing already, though the blood is not completely gone. I’m missing the deep settling into my body and my life with no other expectations put on them. I could keep this philosophy if I tried, but menstruating makes it so easy, I’m menstruating, that’s what I’m doing. And it feels like enough.

I’ve rinsed the pads, washed out the soaking pot and used the opportunity to clean the tub at the same time. See, I told you I’ve switched gears—I’m cleaning the bathroom. I’m wrapping up the washing and drying and folding and moving on to the next part of the cycle. Luckily, it will all come back around.

Michelle

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (my former employer of years gone by) has recently developed Lybrel, an oral contraceptive.  What makes Lybrel different from other combination estrogen and progesterone oral contraceptives is that Lybrel is taken 365 days a year.  No more of those sugar pills that give your body the necessary break from the outside hormones that it needs to have a monthly period.  Lybrel stops menstruation from occurring at all, which according to many doctors is a perfectly safe option.  According to Dr. Kurt Barnhart, Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Research for the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at UPENN in regards to Lybrel clinical trials, "It is our hope that based on these findings physicians will begin to more readily initiate dialogue with their female patients about continuous therapy — helping to eliminate the misconception that periods are a medical necessity and to emphasize the safety and viability of menstrual suppression."  Wyeth contends that women experience an increased quality of life due to not menstruating.  You can read an article about lybrel here: article

Wow.  Every day I am floored by the growing disconnect between the average woman and her body.  The natural cycles, which seem to have been working for the female body for thousands of years is all of a sudden deemed unnecessary by the medical elite.  We all know why we menstruate.  In the typical situation, each month the body prepares for the possibility of pregnancy by delivering an egg from the ovary to the uterus.  In preparation for the egg, the uterus builds up a nutrient rich lining.  When the egg is not fertilized, the lining sheds, hence menstruation.  It is a natural cycle, the ebbing and flowing of hormones.  Personally, I become suspect when medicine attempts to eliminate a natural function that serves its place in the balance of our bodies.  If it ain't broke, why fix it?

In addition, I wonder about the motivation behind the new drug.  Bleeding is gross and bad and we should feel bad about it right, so let's just make it not happen?  Are we going to get to a time when all women who are not trying to get pregnant medicate themselves so that they don't menstruate?  Will it become even more of a taboo to be a bleeding person?  I mean, it is already something that people have a hard time talking about and most of us do it.  What happens when most women don't?  Will those that chose to still bleed become ostracized and will menstruation become even more of a shameful activity? 

-Jodi Nan 

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.

So, my friend Miguel called me up Sunday whilst I was mid-move (new home is NoEPo with a deliciously quick walk to work).  He was letting me know that his vegan momma - of greater Dallas, Texas no less - had just picked up one of my most favorite books, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World!  Oh, how I envy her fresh vegan cupcake eyes.  When I bought this gem of a baking guide, I literally baked up 5 separate recipes within 7 days.  I feared a life of unsatisfying sweets as I embarked upon my vegan foray, but Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero showed me the way of cholestorol-free delight.  The smores cupcake is the most decadent one I have yet to bake, with a pho-buttercream frosting that puts every cow to shame.

Veganism is a fun challenge.  It requires creativity to find tasty culinary creations in a non-vegan culture.  This was one of my motivators for trying out the plant-based diet.  Luckily, Isa Chandra Moskowitz exists because she sure makes it fun!  Vegan with a Vengeance taught me not only how to spell 'vengeance' but also that Isa is probably the cutest, funniest cooking writer (and so clear - really good for the non-cooks, i.e. me, out there).  Her Post Punk Kitchen show is perfect for those requiring a visual and Isa just came out with a new one-stop vegan cookbook, Veganomicon. 

Mmm… cupcakes.

Paz,

Diana

Here's a sushi tutorial - vegan style: