Sometime last year, I told everyone about the wonderful world that exists outside of traditional pads and tampons with my guide to Alternative Feminine Products.
Now, I hadn’t tried the newest additional to the market, leak-proof period panties. I decided to put it to the test and ordered a pair from the popular THINX brand. There’s an array of options when it comes to styles of underwear but I went for the hip huggers which are for “Heavy Day” use.
They arrived at my home in a cute little brown cardboard envelope on Monday.
Wednesday, I started my period. (Despite the fact that my Clue app said my cycle was due a few days later but that’s another story about my slightly unpredictable cycle, Hey Girl!)
I’ve never been so hype to see my monthly visitor, because I had my fancy THINX panties on deck and I just knew I was gonna stunt so hard!
So I take a shower and quickly put on my hiphugger THINX immediately after. This was around 10AM. The mail comes and I get the new pair of jeans I’ve been longing for. I put I them on too. (Why am I telling you this? This is important. “Follow me camera.”) IÂ continue to work until about noon and I realize all this time…on my heaviest day….
…I am completely dry.
At this point, I’m in awe of the sheer magic that is the technology of the THINX brand. I begin to wonder how could I live so long without this in my life and if I could build a time machine to go back into the early 2000s to gift this to my former self during my high school cheerleading practice. No More, I say! No more!
Things are going awesomely well so at 12:30PM (who am I kidding, it was really 12:55PM) I head to my 1PM orthodontist appointment because…Invisalign is life.
I’m still pretty chill and loving my life, so I then take my puppy, Patti Labelle, to a dog training class for 2PM.
….and that’s where the game changed.
I get out of the car and notice that my new jeans were now ruined. What happened to the leak-proof, “you can wear them all day long” promises, huh? Remember that, THINX?
I haven’t experienced a mess up that bad, while being completely awake, since maybe middle school. I ended up reverting back to my soft cups as soon as I got home. THINX boasts their underwear can hold up to 2 tampons worth of fluid. That’s about 8-16 hours of use if you’re adhering to the proper tampon instructions of changing every 4-8 hours. However, since I use either Diva Cups or soft cups and haven’t worn tampons for years, I don’t think I properly calculated the analogy.
To be fair, the website does suggest that you make a decision on whether to wear THINX based on your knowledge of your own flow. I’ve been menstruating since I was 12 and I thought I knew myself better than this.
There’s a part of me that wants to give THINX another try or maybe even try out the DearKate brand but there’s another part of me that is just….
Anybody else tried out what could’ve been potentially awesome THINX?
31 Responses
Most likely it’s too late for your jeans, but for the future: fresh blood is usually get away really well if you wash a garment in cold water with large quantity of dish wash (for washing by hand, not for dishwasher). Apply dish wash, soak for 10-15 minutes, gently rub, rinse, repeat. Old stains are much more stubborn, but soaking overnight might work.
I loved your post! Definitely humorous! I just ordered my first pair so I’m anxious to try them out next month. If any ladies want a $10 discount link for Thinx, http://fbuy.me/dKn5b
Unless they’ve come out with a jumbo size (not sure what that would even look like), don’t bother with the Diva Cup on your heavy days. At my worst I didn’t even bother with tampons because I’d saturate a super-plus in under an hour. Yeah, I had it BAD…
idk….it’s worth a try to at least TEST IT out….the soft cups were “ok”…I just had a slight “adjustment finding it” once it was in and pulling it out…I didn’t have any bleeding or leaks even with a panyliner (I used the softcup on my third day of my cycle…I think). I am going to try the Diva cup soon! 🙂
Hi, have you tried tampax ultra? Its a higher absorbancy than super plus. O.B. Also makes ultra tampons. Those two brands are the only ones that make ultra that ive found. ?
There are different bands on Amazon. I personally need an alternative besides Depend. Soft cups were “ok”. .
I almost brought the Diva cup size one and two but they both seemed way too small…not that I am trying to stick a tuppaware bowl up there. Well, Amazon has OTHER “cups”. I’m going to try something because I’m tried of wearing Depends. I will keep yall posted! 🙂
My “cup” came in the mail TODAY! I will keep you ALL posted on how it holds “up”! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I had SOME “issues” but I will keep trying!!
Thanks! YOU are.brave to. try THEM out. I.want to.try the Diva cuos….before my hysterectomy.for.fibriods…It’s too.MUCH.Drama for.me.monthly and.the fibriods cause me much.pain.and.bleeding. By the fourth hour, to be safe, change the item…like you said, know YOURSELF best.
Thank you for the review. Loved the humor. I’ve been curious about trying this underwear since I heard about it on IG. I’ll visit BGLH more when there are more articles about black beauty & lifestyle tips and less articles that are race baity and giving shine to misogynoir-ism.
I appreciate the review because I’ve been wondering about these and how well they work in real life. I went to the THINX site to check it out based on your review, and noticed that they recommend these as a complement to tampons/menstrual cups, not necessarily as a replacement (which is what I thought they were based on the blurbs I’ve read about them). In the image you posted above (the one with the red circle), the paragraph on the left says
THINX definitely eliminates the need for pantyliners, and will make a great back up to your tampon or menstrual cup. Some do choose to wear THINX on its own, but no one knows your flow better than you, so you’ll be the best judge of what works.
And in the FAQ, it says
THINX replaces pantyliners for good, and can be used in conjunction with tampons and menstrual cups. You know you flow though, so we suggest testing your own limits.
Just a heads-up for other women who may be interested in trying these. Forget what they say about 2 tampons worth or testing your limits (who wants to test their limits when it comes to their period?) or whatever, it appears these are best treated as replacements for panty liners, not for tampons/cups (except on very light flow days).
(I like that each purchase supports the provision of menstrual supplies to girls and women in Uganda, that is cool.)
I saw that after the fact and also mentioned it in the article. Unfortunately, all the writers of the previous reviews I read all used the THINX underwear as the ONLY protection so I was like, let me take this for a spin. But hey! You live and you learn! I do like the fact that they partner with Afripads.
Oh, I wasn’t implying that you left key info out of the article. I apologise if it sounded that way. It was only because of your review, which led me to visit the site, that I realised that despite the “holds 2 tampons worth” stuff, the safest bet is to think of these as pantyliner replacements. I learned something through your review, is what I’m getting at.
Also, I’m with you on the menstrual cups. Been using them for years, love them, am so thankful for them, can’t imagine going back to tampons or pads.
No offense taken at all here! #DIVACUPLIFE all day! I probably wouldn’t even know what to do with a tampon if someone gave me one these days…
Rinny your outfit/hair combo in this picture is GIVING.ME.LIFE.
http://i1.wp.com/bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/rinny-patti-labelle.jpg?resize=600%2C450
Totally off topic from the article but I just had to give you a shout out. Is this your new style? Seriously, love it.
Thank you! Lol! I’m learning to dress like the kind of music I listen to these days. Bobby Womack, Rufus, Tame Impala and the whatnots
I have to chime in. I have been a very happy Thinx user (exclusively) for the past 5-6 mos. And what I have to say is that along the line as what the ladies said below you have to know how heavy your flow is. Yes you could wear them all day if you are either at the beginning or end of your period when its usually lightest. But otherwise if your a heavy bleeder like I am (Im anemic because of it) then you have to change every few hours. Thats why the site says you should know your own flow. And that includes knowing how fast you go through tampons or pads. Have they been amazing even though I have to wash them like 3-4x a day? Absolutely. Ive only had one accident. Yes one. Do they feel more comfortable and carefree than pads or tampons? Heck yeah! Do they take an initial investment? Yes. But not having to constantly worry about buying or carrying pad or tampons causes these panties to more than pay for themselves. And virtually no more leaks is a miracle for me. It used to be a monthly occurence (several times each period to be exact). But best of all I look forward to my periods like..Well like I never have before actually. **Oh and by the way I dont work for the company. Just a very satisfied customer who hopes they stick around for the long haul 🙂
Nope, I’m not feelin’ you right now!
We black women bleed more than other women. We cannot abide by what the manufacters state as they are never talking about us.
Really? I’ll have to look into the science behind this.
Wow. This is all I found.
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/144/10/980.full.pdf
Nahhhh this just isn’t true
1) In the 15th- 17th centuries, when Europeans started going into Africa, they concluded that the women there menstruated far LESS than European women (which they then correlated with apes having no menses, meaning that African women were more similar to primates). You can find this in Carol Henderson’s “Imagining the Black Female Body” as well as Londa Schiebinger’s “Nature’s Body”
2) Race is not a genetic feature, it’s a social categorization in which whiteness is at the top of the hierarchy and everyone else is situated toward the bottom. This article explains the science: http://www.livescience.com/47627-race-is-not-a-science-concept.html
So to say that black people menstruate more than others is to imply that there’s something in our biology that causes this, but biological differentiation varies from person to person, not race to race.
(also thanks for this article! A lot of my friends have been looking into menstrual alternatives so knowing how this product works is super helpful!)
“We Black women bleed more than other women” naawww I do not believe that! prove it
With all due respect, I don’t buy this…
That said, I have always bled more heavily than what has been stated on various boxes. I blame that on fibroids though. In the approximately 8 years between my myomectomy and my fibroids’ return, I had “manufacturer-approved” levels of flow, lol. It was during that time that I first started using the Diva Cup, and if these panties had been around back then I would have tried them as well.
Now that I’m enjoying perimenopause (yes, I did say ENJOYING, lol) I’m not pressed to try new period technologies.
I hope the Diva cups holds up to.my extra super heavy days because of fibroids. It can.be a bloody mess with.tons of pain. Perhaps, no hysterectomy and wait for perimenopause too. : )
So how did the panties do in the wash? Or are they disposable?
You hand wash them as a pre-wash and then I delicate machine wash. Didn’t do too bad. I definitely wouldn’t say they’re disposable at $34 a pop! No, ma’am!
I dont like the fact to having to be washing out blood …ewwww!! Aint nobody got time fa dat!!
Two tampons worth is in and of itself an ambiguous statement. As a person who lives on O.B. at the moment, I’d have to know what the flow capacity of those ‘two tampons’ were. I can go through two ultras in 4 hours on a heavy day, forget anything lighter. These undies sound great for carefree lighter flow days and for heavier days in lieu of the recommended extra pantie liners, though. I want some.
honestly, on my heaviest day I go through like 4-5 tampons while awake (I sleep in pads on my heavy flow days/nights). I was waiting to see that around 2pm you changed your underwear lol