I have to admit when I was younger I really didn’t care much about what company I bought my sanitary products from. I just went into my local supermarket every month and picked the brand I liked best. I didn’t think to research more about the company I was buying my pads from. But as I got older I started to take notice, I began reading more and more articles about ethical and sustainable period products who were also mission led and it really got me thinking. Why didn’t I research what was in my pads? How were they made? Where did all the profits go? I also began to realise how privileged I was to even be able to do this. I could spend time researching period products and have CHOICES. Yes choices- that word right there is incredibly powerful. Having a choice on period products is a luxury that not every girl has. Actually even being able to afford any period product is something that many girls struggle with – period poverty is very real and its only in recent years that the mainstream media have began to shine a light on this issue. Imagine being on your period and not having a pad or tampon. Imagine trying to go to school or work like this? Imagine how hard that must feel.

Buying a period product that also makes a difference to another human being is a very powerful thing. Lilypads mission is centered around this. The profits from their reusable pads go towards their main mission of helping to fund sanitary products for girls experiencing period poverty around the world. Their journey began in rural Kenya where they discovered that many were being forced to engage in transactional sex in exchange for pads just to remain in school. From their they begnn to work to provide access to products and education to communities around the world. They partners with organisations on the ground who know the people and the problem so well ensuring all their work is unique to the community it is based in. Learning about this back story changes everything. We as individuals have the ability to make a difference -purchasing a reusable pad from Lilypads ensures no one is disadvantaged by their period. Buying a pad can literally change a girls life and that can only be a good thing.