What is your first thought when looking at the following pictures?

Stayfree sanitary pad top layer

Anion  sanitary napkin top layer

The first one definitely looks nice. When seeing it, craftsmanship came to my mind. But is that really a quality? Have a closer look. Doesn’t it look like plastic? The top layer of a sanitary pad should most of all feel soft, absorb well and be healthy. Synthetic materials are obviously not healthy. They can cause rashes and irritations. Cotton won’t look as nice, but is definitely the most healthy and that is why one of the most important things to look for when choosing a sanitary pad is to make sure the top layer is made of cotton.

The second point is the absorbency. The plastic top layer will not allow the thicker parts of the discharge to get into the pad. It will just stay there, on the top of it, and the plastic will make it turn into something sticky and nasty.

Cotton is definitely not only much more healthy, but will also feel softer. Of course that also depends on the way it is manufactured. The top layer of the Anion sanitary napkins produced by Winalite is made of premium quality cotton, feels very soft, absorbs well and is very comfortable.

So we’ve seen how important the package of sanitary pads is. It has to be sealed to protect the pads from contamination. And today we’ll go one step forward. We are going to open the package, take a pad out and start to analyze it. We are actually going to open not only one package, but several of them from different brands, and we will compare them.

Watch out! Sealed or not, we’re coming in!

Sanitary pads are not as simple as it may seem at a first glance. They are made for the most complex beings in this universe, and consequently they are complex themselves. They are made of several different layers, each with different characteristics and for different purposes.

The top layer is very important because it is directly coming into contact with a most sensitive part of your body.

Have you tried to see how different brands of sanitary pads feel? Run your fingers over them. Some of them feel so rough that you don’t want to put them on. And it’s not only about how they feel. It’s what they are made of! Many are made of synthetic materials and contain chemicals, so no wonder many women complain about skin irritations and rashes after using some pads. And these synthetic materials pads do not only pose risks for our health, but they are also not good for the environment.

I tried some of the most popular brands on the market: Always, Stayfree, Kotex. All of them feel rough in comparison with Love Moon Anion Sanitary Napkins produced by Winalite. If I were to grade them on a scale 1 to 4, where 1 is the best, according to the quality of the top layer, I would give Stayfree a 4, Always a 3, Kotex a 2 and Anion a 1.

If you run your fingers over the surface of a Stayfree pad you will see it is very rough. I ripped the top layer off to be able to see better what it is made of, and to me it looks like plastic. The label doesn’t say what it is, and I assume that if it were some quality material, they would say it because it would be to their advantage. Always feels smoother, but it doesn’t say what it is made of either. Kotex feels softer and it also mentions on the label that the top layer is made of cotton, which is an important detail to be taken into account. Anion feels the best -very soft and the label also shows that the top layer is made of premium soft cotton.

Next thing we will look at will be the absorbency level. I did some tests and the results were quite intriguing. I will tell you more and also show you pictures in the next post.

Ruth Taylor