I had the pleasure to interview Amirah from Ditch The Rag for my YouTube channel recently. Amirah is a Science Teacher in West London and it became the norm for her to buy menstrual products for menstruators in her class. When she started using reusable menstrual products herself, she realised that there had to be a better way to get menstrual products to those who need it.

Amirah crowdfunded to raise the capital to distribute reusable menstrual care for menstruators on free school meals. As these are the menstruators that are at a risk of being negatively impacted by period poverty.

You can watch the interview on my YouTube channel below.

Interview With Amirah Ditch The Rag

First of all what made you decide to set up Ditch The Rag?

Well I started using the menstrual cup when I was travelling because I didn’t want take hoards of period products with me when I was away. Then whilst I was using the menstrual cup I thought why on earth am I buying and spending so much money for menstruators that I teach, when I could just give them a menstrual cup or a pack of pads and that would be it for the whole time they’re at school. It kind of became obsolete to me in that moment when I started using reusables, but prior to that I’d never used reusables. I hadn’t even heard of them.

So the term period poverty was new to me (forgive my ignorance), what does it mean?

So period poverty as a definition is the financial constraints that an individual experiences, that makes them unable to afford period products. When I started Ditch The Rag I got so many messages from people saying “Oh my god, this is amazing! You’re going to be carrying out this work in Africa” and I said “No, it’s a big problem here!” We forget that so many people in the UK are still living below the poverty line. So it’s basically where people are having to choose between food or period products and school students in the UK it’s 1 in 10, (pre-pandemic) now it’s 1 in 7 that are struggling to afford period products. I’m not saying it’s rife, but it’s more common than you would think. It’s not as bad as Countries like India, 1 in 10 can afford period products so it’s the opposite. It’s still an issue here!

As a teacher I would see it quite often but unexplained school absences where girls or menstruators just wouldn’t come in and we wouldn’t really know why, but when you kind of piece it all together sometimes the explanations are that they’re on their period and they can’t come into school because they don’t have any products. The way that schools were set up, now it’s slightly different but we used to have period products locked in the medical room, so they would have to go down and ask for the key. For someone who’s really introverted or shy, it’s still a taboo subject so you’re not going to go and tell a teacher you’re going to get period products! So I would just have a drawer and I’d show them where it was and they could go whenever, I wouldn’t ask questions but they were taking whole boxes. I thought this is a very very expensive thing for me to be doing and the school wouldn’t pay me back, obviously.

I know a little about this but what is the environmental impact of using disposable tampons and sanitary pads?

So disposable period products, things are changing although I was recently in America, not great for my carbon footprint. They have no tampons that have cardboard applicators, they’re all plastic. So each time you’re using a tampon and some of them are trying to green wash and say that they’re made from recycled plastics but how do we know, there’s no evidence that we can go down their supply chain and see if they’re doing it. So each tampon and each applicator that is plastic that doesn’t biodegrade, it’ll exist for hundreds of years and even then it’ll turn into microplastics. Then you have your disposable sanitary pads which have their waterproof layer which is plastic, in a pack of tampons they say that there’s 3 – 4 plastic bags worth in there. Then cotton which is one of the most harmful products that we farm with the dioxins, pesticides and all the chemicals that go into that. There’s a great tweet by Chrissy Teigen..

“Not to be all hippie dippy but it’s wild that we spray cotton with pesticides to keep up with demand then shove that cotton up our vaginas”

Chrissy Teigan

It’s so true and it’s not hippie dippy but disposable period products are not only unsanitary, they’re so bad for the environment – they do not biodegrade. They say that tampons are the 5th most commonly washed item on Britain’s beaches. I think it’s even higher than the plastic straws (turtles are dying) which is not as much of an issue. Saying that I do have a metal straw..

So we’ve discussed the environmental impact of using disposable period products but what are the health issues with disposable period products?

With the disposable period products, they say also to give you a metric and understanding of how much waste is produced they say 45 double decker buses worth of period plastic waste is produced each day. I don’t understand how there is that much space in the world to produce this much plastic, it’s excessive and that’s in the UK. God knows what it’s like in other countries.

But health benefits, so it’s not only the dioxin which is known carcinogen and effects your menstrual cycles. A lot of women and menstruators who switch to the cup will say that my period pains have completely gone, they’ve completely changed I’m so much more regular. It is the chemicals inside those disposable period products. Health benefits in terms of the cup, it doesn’t absorb on the moisture out of your vagina and it makes you less prone to infection and things like BV (Bacterial Vaginosis). When you put a tampon in it just absorbs everything, all the blood, all the good bacteria and it messes with the natural PH. The cup, it doesn’t do that and people think it’s dirtier, less sanitary but actually just washing it in warm water and reinserting it is far better for your vagina than the disposable period products. You’re less likely to get the irritation as well. So a lot of the menstruators who come to the workshops say that they can’t wear pads because they give them rashes, but because of the plastic layer it doesn’t actually absorb the blood so the blood is sitting there on the waterproof layer and that’s irritating their skin and giving them a rash. When they use the reusable pads, it’s like cotton so it’s just like wearing a pair of knickers with the fleecy side underneath. If you can wear knickers, you can wear these pads – it’s not going to irritate you in any way.

A lot of women are traumatised (even though they’ve had children) about inserting anything into their vagina because they’ve had such bad experiences with tampons. They say there’s no point in me getting a cup because tampons I find absolutely excruciating but I say just try the cup and give it a go and they’re completely sold once they’ve actually tried it because it’s not the same.

Tampons are so abrasive, when you put it in it can actually cause microtears which is why the risk of toxic shock is lower with menstrual cups. Because when you put in a tampon, you make those tears and they’re like mini open wounds and bacteria can get in there and multiply and then you have toxic shock syndrome. It’s still rare when you use a tampon but it’s more likely than with a cup because it’s not abrasive. The cup is really smooth (silicone) and soft. If you’re in an emergency say public toilet they say you can pee, empty in and put it back in. Ideally rinse it before putting back in but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t rinse it each time you reinsert it. They’re flexible, they’re fun, they’re like women!

I recently did a video on my channel about zero waste swaps that save money and I did include menstrual cups and cloth pads. How much money do we save from using reusables?

They say in the life cycle of your cup or pad, (they should last 10 years if you look after them properly) they say it saves £2,000 pounds. The average period is about £11 a month, the way they’ve calculated that is obviously an average – we’re talking pain relief, we’re talking period pants, all the additional supplies as well as your basic tampon and pad or whatever product you use. So realistic you’ll make your money back in buying them in the first 2 months. We actually have a question we ask our attendees after the workshop, about 6 months later – How much they’ve calculated that they’ve saved. Some people say I have no idea but I’ve definitely noticed that I have more money each month because some have 4 menstruators in the home and having to buy 4 packs of pads or 4 packs of tampons does add up.

The other thing is because the cup doesn’t have a string when you urinate you’re not going to have a soggy string and having to reinsert it, that’s why I swear menstruators go through so many because you don’t want to walk around with a soggy string.

They say it’s about £2,000 but self report from people attending workshops, they say within 6 months they’ve saved £60 so about £120 per year. On average a menstruator in the UK will spend around £5,000 on their periods in their lifetime which is like a car! I’ll take the £5,000 cash and use a menstrual cup!

Menstruation and vagina’s in general do seem to be quite a taboo subject. What are your thoughts on this?

I went to a girls school so it was never really a taboo in my mind, girls around girls, a dinner party with girls or around your friends – there is no limits to the level of gore and detail! I didn’t really process that it’s something you shouldn’t speak about with other girls but when I was around boys it wasn’t something that I’d talk about. I understood around boys it would be slightly hush hush. I had an older brother and my dad would buy my mum period products so I always knew that they knew about it but it wasn’t something that I would speak about in detail the same as I did with my female friends. There was a really nice quote I heard when I went to a period workshop once.

“Periods are not a secret but they should be private.”

You should be able to talk about your period but noone needs to know everything, unless you have that kind of relationship – then you’re going to share in that sense. They’re not a secret, people should know they exist. You can walk to the toilet holding a tampon or holding a pad but you don’t need to show anyone your dirty pad or anything like that – you’re not on a secret mission.

I think it’s something that we should be able to talk about, I don’t think it needs to go beyond what is a healthy and appropriate discussion but half of the problem is the taboo. Menstruators not asking for pads is because they think it’s embarrassing or it’s something that they shouldn’t be talking about and that’s what then poses the danger and threat of infection because these individuals aren’t asking for help. They’re then going to use unapproved methods to manage their periods like toilet paper, old dirty socks and rags. (Hence the name Ditch The Rag). So I think we do need to open the discussion but in an appropriate way, we don’t want to blow anyone’s minds, in an appropriate calm concise and controlled way.

Knowing what it is, is so important. I knew what a period was when I started my period but so many menstruators stories will be ‘I thought I was dying!’ because I was bleeding ‘Is this cancer?’. They knew what cancer was but they didn’t know what a period was. Just the existence of a period should be a basic understanding.

So your website is a charity, how does it work if people buy reusable menstrual products through you and how does the business run?

So when people buy the period products, we sell cups and reusable pads and the cup cleaners. The way you sterilise your cup usually in a pan or a bowl of boiling water for 3 minutes but some people’s other halves, family members can get a bit funny about the fact you’re boiling something that’s been in your vagina, in something they cook pasta with. The boiling water kills all bacteria! There’s no reason other then their own issue with it. So we now sell the cup sterilisers, it’s a little flatpack silicone big cup and you put your cup in there for 3 minutes. 100% of the profits will be used back into Ditch The Rag. A pack like this is what attendees get when they attend the workshop, which contains two pads and a menstrual cup and that gives a menstruator a hassle free period for up to 10 years. All the profits used from that will go back into Ditch The Rag to be able to purchase and post packs to menstruators in need. And the cost of these packs to give a metric is about £10 per pack, so £10 will give 10 years to a menstruator.

The feedback has been great! When I first started I thought is anyone going to get excited about period products but the first workshop I literally had girls come up to me in the corridors and say “Miss, I can’t wait to have my period! These are so cute.” I’ve made birch boxes for periods and they are lapping it up. I was really worried because I think periods are really cool and really fun. These prints and patterns I think are super cute but are they? Then menstruators were saying “I can’t wait to put them in my knickers!” So yay! It’s epic.

To be fair it’s done way more than I thought, I thought I would just do a small something at the school I worked in so long term it saves me money. But the traction I’ve got for it and the need which is both upsetting and also exciting because of the potential of the shift to reusable and the wider benefits are really exciting.

The business model is all made around getting those packs to the menstruators need them, not only crowdfunding because crowdfunding is great but you get to the point where I’ve literally asked everyone I know to give me money and they’ve asked everyone that they know to give me money. So I’ve tried to create more of a sustainable model where I can make money from the actual products I’m giving out. It’s a buy one give one so if you buy one cup we donate a cup to someone who needs one so I think it’s a nice premise.

What are your biggest tips to those wanting to use reusable menstrual products but don’t know where to start? (perhaps they’re intimidated by it)

To be fair, I was most definitely intimidated by it and I was so ill informed which is quite ironic now. I would say 1. research what’s available. There’s a great quiz on Put A Cup In It they’re really cool, they’re two women who write reviews on cups, they have quizzes and they’ve been on NBC in America. They are hardcore cup gurus, they have a quiz which you can go through multiple choice and it’ll give you the cup it thinks is most suitable to you. Your vagina, your cervix, your flow. I would say choose the one that they recommend and then do some research. We’ve got some great videos on Ditch The Rag but there’s YouTube for the different folds, how to get set up.

If you’re intimidated at first, start with the pads as see how liberating it is. I make jokes every period, look at me not funding the patriarchy, not buying period products! You’ll see that you start to save money and then look into the cup. Stick with it because it takes around 2 – 3 months for the cup to be fully integrated into your cycle so it’s not going to be an overnight thing. Some people take to it like a duck on water and they’re completely converted but other people have a tricky time with the folds. So sticking to it, be persistent and it’s definitely worth it in the long run. With cups they don’t need to pay for marketing because if you know someone that uses a cup, they’ll tell you every single day that they use a menstrual cup.

The cup, a lot of people will push it all the way up like it’s a tampon but it’s completely different. It’s a different shape and they have almost I would say a different function, the cup is literally there to collect period blood only. So the way you insert it, the way you clean it etc – you do need to do some proper research and sign onto one of my workshops. Otherwise you’re just not going to use it.

I used to be intimidated by period pants but I’ve recently bought some and written a Wuka Period Pants Review, if you’d like to learn more about reusable period pants.

I hope you enjoyed this really insightful and fun chat I had with Amirah, check out the Ditch The Rag Instagram account if you want to learn about this fantastic charity. If you want regular sustainable inspiration which is suitable for beginners, sign up to my monthly newsletter below.

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