I tried free-bleeding on my period

Periods suck. They’re inconvenient and messy at best, as are the options for dealing with them. Pads, cups and tampons, to name a few, all come with their advantages and their disadvantages.

I’ve seen a few things out there about the idea of ditching them all and just bleeding “as nature intended”. And I was admittedly intrigued, because who wants to fuss with all the hassle and discomfort of menstrual products when you’re feeling at your roughest each month?

Illustration by Daisy Bernard

Apparently periods are a common cause of thrush too, which as anyone who’s had it will know is hell, and maybe that’s down to the many layers of weird plastic-y fabric (seriously, what are pads made of?) we’re cramming in our pants.

So, intrigued by the idea of bleeding free, I decided to try it for my next period. You can buy special underwear online for free-bleeding. It’s supposedly thicker or sturdier or something. Some of it is even cute! However, due to an organisational issue, where I completely forget to keep track of when to expect my period, it came unanticipated and too soon for me to be able to stock up on any. But how much better can it be than standard cotton pants?

Day one

OK, first observation: It’s so much more comfortable. I would usually wear pads, which aside from being vaguely diaper-like, are uncomfortable and move way more than something that is literally taped to your underwear should. I know this is a reason that many people give for using tampons, but personally I find them more uncomfortable. So as far as comfort goes, free-bleeding is a clear winner for me.

The main concern I had about free-bleeding was obviously the possibility of bleeding through and ruining my jeans or having it become visible. To mitigate this as much as possible, I wore black jeans and packed spare underwear when I went out just in case. But I generally have pretty light periods so I was moderately confident that any issues that came up would be manageable.

Boy was I wrong.

No, I’m kidding, surprisingly, it was actually completely fine. I had no issues with bleeding through to my jeans or having to awkwardly change my pants at work. It was just fine. I guess the best way to describe it, is that it was just like when you wear a pad, except obviously, the pad wasn’t there. It feels a lot cleaner too. With other options, periods can feel a bit icky and everything down there can feel a bit off, but this just felt completely normal.

Day two

I’ve been talking to some other girls about it, and for a lot of them, they can’t understand how this could possibly work. For some of them, they have generally heavier periods and tend to soak through pads pretty quickly. On the other hand, I barely bleed; I buy the pads with the lowest absorption rating and change them based on how long I’ve been wearing it rather than because they’re soaked through. This is probably why I’m having success with free-bleeding – and why it probably wouldn’t work for everyone.

Day three

I worked out a little today, which is something I would usually avoid for the duration of my period. But I’d been so comfortable so far, with the period causing virtually no intrusion into my life, I felt much more confident about trying it. And it was fine, except for the fact that we’re in the middle of a heatwave and it’s about a million degrees right now. But from a period-related perspective, it was not a problem at all.

I didn’t have the awkwardness or the worry about pads/tampons shifting or being a pain. And by skipping the discomfort of wearing one of these, I was happier and therefore better able to approach this task. This is actually a general point; this process has made me feel a lot more confident and able to approach things as if the period isn’t even happening.

Day four

It’s basically over, and I can officially say that I am a complete convert. I bleed little enough that I can feasibly work with this method and frankly, if you don’t bleed a lot I highly recommend it; the comfort is unparalleled and totally helps ease any discomfort caused by having a period.

Illustration by Juliette Hayt

Obviously, it is pants-ruining, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t already have pants set aside for periods, so that’s really not a huge concern. It’s also going to save me so much money. Seriously, periods are an expensive hobby, and I now have a method that doesn’t cost me an extra few quid a month just for the privilege of vagina ownership.

I will still keep a pack of pads lying around, just in case I have a really heavy day, or a friend is taken by surprise, as I was at the start of all this. But they’re emergency-only, and I am a full convert to the ways of free-bleeding. It’s very freeing.

@TheTab