I was having lunch with a friend when he asked me a lot of interesting questions regarding period and period products. At some point, we ended up wondering why people would still use products that contain chemicals in any shape and form. And our talk left me wondering. It is true: How can it be that some people are still fine with chemicals inside of their underwear? I kept this thought with me for days, and to be honest, it was quite hard to find an answer.
Most of the period panties contain biocides and that has obvious reasons: If you promote a product filled with blood to be able to be used for around 12 hours, obviously you need to add something.
Otherwise, the warm and wonderful surroundings of our vulva would probably create a nice little ecosystem for unwanted bacteria. And if in the next step, the product can just be washed cold, well - nothing can get really clean. So again: Chemicals are needed. But in my understanding, they shouldn't be welcome at all.
The job of biocides is to kill bacteria.
But, biocides don't care at all what kind of bacteria they kill. And as probably everywhere in our body, there are good and bad bacteria. But biocides want to get rid of all, e.g. the super important lacto bacilli that protect the female genital tract through the production of lactic acid responsible for low vaginal pH that inhibits sexually transmitted pathogens.
Another interesting fact I recently figured out: After washing period panties three times, half of the biocides get already washed out. But where do they land? Of course, in the water where they can have a huge negative impact. Might be good for your body, as after washing reusable period panties for a while most of the biocides might be gone, but then we end up again at the beginning: Running around in bloody underwear for the whole day?
Don't get me wrong, but there is a reason that there are no chemicals in nookees at all. Quite the opposite: I am as picky as it can get when it comes to the quality of the certified fabrics.
