Tree Hugger cloth pads

I first got these because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about! Everyone on youtube and blogs were raving about them but they didn’t really look anything special to me on screen. I also wanted to give minky a try so I said why not.

The owner, crystal is a lovely lady, she is always happy to answer any questions you may have and replies to you really quickly! Also if there is a problem with a pad, like a snap breaks, she’ll fix it. I can’t stress enough of how great a business owner she is. Her design is a straight cut with triangle wings which works great for some and others, like me prefer a slight flare at either end so keep that in mind.

I currently own 4 minky pantyliners, 2 light/regular day pads 1 heavy day pad and 2 night/postpartum pad all in minky.

My favourites by far are the overnights, they are so squishy and comfortable. They aren’t something to be worn out of the house with tight jeans though!

The regular day pads are good also, they aren’t too thick even though they may look it with the fleece and minky, when you wear them you can tell that they are reasonable in thickness.

The heavy day pads I don’t like because they are too thick and too short for what I want in a heavy day pad, if you like shorter lengths for heavy days (9inches) then you might like these.

The pantyliners are good, I don’t wear them a whole lot because I’ve discovered I’m not a huge fan of minky, but if I was I would love these!

Tree huggers prices have gone up since I bought but to me they are definitely still worth it and aren’t the most expensive out there. I am glad I have these in my stash and wouldn’t get rid of them, I may even add a couple of overnighters to it someday and I might try out her bamboo top fabric.

Having said that, I do urge everyone to buy at least one tree hugger because for each pad that is sold, WeForest plants a tree. How cool is that! I love that this is truly giving back to the environment, and is bound to get more attention that cloth pads exist!

Pros

Very absorbent
pretty
No confusion with size and absorbencies, 1 size day pads and one size overnights (this is also a con)
Shipping prices are reasonable
Great customer service! She answers emails in a matter of hours
One tree is planted for every pad sold!

Cons
Can be on the expensive side
1 size for day pads
Only minky and a limited amount of bamboo velour for top layers
no way of telling absorbency other that by touch
Stitching can be very crooked!

Muffies cloth pads

These were the first cloth pads I ever tried!

I First purchased a set of 3 (overnight, regular and pantyliner) in the same pattern but with different coloured wings, after a few weeks when I realised I loved them, I bought a second 3 pack.

Now the overnights for me are anything but. Both mine measure 9inches more or less so I consider them a heavy day pad, the pantyliners I also don’t consider liners, they are absorbent enough for me that I could use on a regular day but a little too short at 7inches. I do like a 7inch liner but I find these too thick for everyday use. The regulars are indeed regulars they are relatively thin and are about 8inches long. The regulars and overnights contain pul but not in the wings. If I want pul in a pad I want it in the whole pad!

Since these are the oldest in my stash I can comment on how well they have stood up to the test of time. The overnights are gone a little stiff and crunchy and one has bunched up quite a bit and is uncomfortable, The regulars are in great shape and I use them a lot! The liners are so so, a little bunchy but still comfy, though they don’t get much use.

Since these were the first I tried, I will always love them, but I have since found other brands that I much prefare.

Would I recommend these? Yes and no. The regulars yes, but I wouldn’t recommend buying more than one night pad and one liner until you try them out and know if you find the thickness comfortable. I do think the starter kit is great value for money for anyone wanting to give cloth a try! They got me hooked and for that, they will always mean something to me.

Pros:

Lovely colours and patterns
Very absorbent
relatively cheap
The regulars are pretty trim.

Cons:

Not a great variety of sizes
A little cardboardy stiff
Can bunch up in the wash

Link to etsy shop

Ask me your questions!

Ask me your questions relating to cloth pads in the comments below or email me at myviewsoncloth@gmail.com

and I'll do a post answering them.

Blossom pads

I adore my blossom pads!

When I first went to check out the blossom pads site over a year ago, it was closed, I believe she was on holidays, so I waited anxiously (sad I know) for her to re-open and when she did she just offered up “seconds” and wasn't listing anything else for the next week or so, I really wanted the intro to cloth kit but I couldn't wait so I got one 8 inch moderate pad and one velour 6 inch pantyliner.

When I got them I had a hard time figuring out what was wrong with them, I still don’t know what’s wrong with my 8 inch, but there’s a teeny tiny bald patch on the panytliner that I would have never noticed if I did not know that it wasn't perfect.

I loved them right away, they were so so soft, the pad was so pretty and I loved the design; they have the soaker part sewn on top of the wings so that it fits in your underwear better and it prevents excess leakage onto the wings (and thus onto your undies) as it’s raised off the base.

Before I had a chance to really use them I ordered the intro to cloth kit for teens, I got this one first as I prefare smaller pads. This is what I got:

This was only 11!! Plus shipping

into to cloth kit for teens

 Blossom pads are amazingly absorbent and I love that they have no pul or other unbreathable material in them. The only incident I had was when I thought my 8 inch moderate would get me through half a day on my heavy day oops but even then, it hadn’t really come through the back of the pad, just a little bit around the stitching and nothing on my undies so they really do have great absorbency! You can get the pads made in all flannel  (in a set of 3)or with cotton wings/base and a cotton velour top, I prefare the flannel which I was a little surprised at! The velour is definitely soft but I think I just prefare the basic flannel.

So then I ordered these, the intro to cloth kit, plus an 8 inch velour pad with super absorbency and an 8 inch pantyliner. When I received the super absorbency pad, it was marked as a moderate, the owner quickly sent me out a new one, even though the original one was probably still a “super” just marked wrong.

The pantyliner is a little long for me but it was worth buying to try out!

intro to cloth kit

Blossom pads has been closed for the best part of a year while she was on maternity leave, but she recently opened back up and I can’t wait to get a flannel 3 pack of her mini pads! They are so cute!

Blossom pad stash.

For the year that I have had them, they have held up pretty well, the pantyliners get plenty of use and over time have lost some of their softness and look a little old but that is to be expected!.

Summary:

Pros:

Super absorbent

Excellent design

Gorgeous!

Really comfy

No PUL

Lovely owner! She refunded me a little bit of overpaid shipping once which was very thoughtful, a lot of others wouldn’t

Really affordable!!

Cons:

Can’t really fold them small for travelling so a bigger wet bag is sometimes needed than usual.

Can feel a little bulky at times.

Limited options as far as materials, no flat cotton tops.

Stitching goes through to the back around the edge which may be a problem for some.

Lunapads Review

Let me first of all say, I have a love hate relationship with lunapads, there are things I love about the pads and the company itself (check there website and blog, they have a ton of info on lunapads and reusable pads in general and want to spread the word about cloth pads etc) but there are so many “little things” I dislike about them and that adds up to a big thing.

For those of you not familiar with Lunapads, they are a base and insert type of pad, meaning you have the base that you snap into your underwear and add inserts of top of the base (under ric rac bands) and you can just change the insert throughout the day, leaving the base in place for the whole day.

When I first heard of lunapads, they sounded great! I loved the idea of a liner on top of a base so they were easy to freshen up throughout the day. At that time I thought this idea was unique to Lunapads and maybe it was when lunapads started out? But there are other brands out there that offer the same “style” as lunapads (which I will talk about in another post)

They offer a free sample pantyliner to new customers; you just have to pay the shipping. You don’t get to pick colours or even what style of pantyliner they send you, I think they have 4 sizes. They sent me a teeny pantyliner in the print apple blossom which is exactly the size and pattern I would of picked, I was thrilled! It was soo soft and comfortable and a good fit for me, the only thing I didn’t like was that the wings were too big, when it was snapped into place, the wings sort of hung down between my legs and could feel the snap on my inner thighs, the option of adding an additional snap would solve this problem, none the less the liner stayed in pace well and i had no issues with bunching.

I had heard a lot of negative and positive reviews of lunapads, and one thing that was common throughout was the shrinking issue when they are washed. Even lunapads will tell you that they shrink. I’m a pretty open minded person and realise that nothing is ever perfect so when my liner shrank slightly it wasn’t a huge deal, it just doesn’t look as pretty but is very functional. The flannel top didn’t shrink just the cotton around and under it so it looks a little funny. I don’t know why lunapads don’t preshrink their fabric, it’s not that hard to do and the negative reviews thy get are mostly about shrinking and warping.

Another negative thing associated with lunapads is the price, one maxi pad with one liner insert is $16.00 (us) which is a shock to the system at first, but when you add 4 extra inserts to last you one day it brings it up to $29, so it seems very expensive, but it’s a 5 in 1 pad you have there! And should last you the whole day. If you were to buy a days worth (or 5 pads) from another brand it will be a lot more expensive. 5 10 inch blossom pads will cost you $50 for example. 5 treehugger in the same absorbency will also cost you $55! They are other brands that are more than $12 per pad so in reality you are actually saving buy using luna pads! I paid in € but it’s just easier here to use $ for quick comparison.

I’m saying it load and clear; Lunapads aren't “the most expensive” which is what I keep reading, it’s CHEAP!!

I decided to order the mini starter kit which included one maxi pad with 1 regular liner insert and one winged liner insert, and a mini pantyliner. This don’t seem to offer this kit any longer.

 I was a little surprised by how thick the pad base was, they look so thin on screen. Adding a liner makes them a little too bulky for my liking, it’s hard to explain, not just the fact that they are a little thick, they are just a little uncomfortable for me, BUT I did get used to the feeling and then it was fine. I now sometimes prefare a thicker pad. On this order, I noticed the stitching was not that great, and after the first wash there’s a little bit of fraying due to them being overlocked, they won’t fall apart or anything that bad!

mini starter kit

mini pad and insert

I then got the mini pad, thinking that because it was smaller it would be more comfy for me but it was the same just shorter which I kind of say duh to myself now! I added 2 extra liners to my purchase. Now here’s where I come to another little thing I don’t like, the pack of 2 liners where not the same size or width as each other and neither of them were the same size as the one that came with the pad, one was in no way symmetrical either, it’s no big deal but it’s a little annoying, when there are other small things you don’t like, lunapads are a big “small” company so they isn’t really a reason why these things should happen. This is supposed to be an 8inch pad but it shrank to 7inches when I washed it which is too short for me for any sort of flow. I’m not sure if I’ve ever even used it?

2 mini liner inserts.

All of these were purchased as maxi inserts.

I also own a few pairs a lunapanties, some where bought directly from lunapads and some I got from feminine wear (I don’t think the sell them anymore) I love these for overnights and everyday underwear! I plan on getting more.

I’ve summarised the pros and cons to make for easier reading, it may sound like I don’t care for lunapads so much, I do, but i want to give precise reviews and pick out every little thing, as what may not bother me too much, could irritate the heck out of others.

As I said at the beginning, I have a love hate relationship with them but I DO love them and will probably get more at some stage! I have my eye on their overnight pad.

Pros of lunapads:

Great customer service
very absorbant pads and pantyliners
pretty fabrics
fast shipping
Great company ethos
Works out very cost effective
you can customize your absorbancy by adding more liners
They air dry really fast after washing, so you could use the same liners the next day easily if you wished.

Cons:
Not the best construction wise
teeny fiddly snaps get annoying!
Wings too long
Shrink and warp

The inserts pill up quite a bit.
Not much consistency in terms of size and shape.

Why I switched to cloth pads- warning, may be some tmi!

I remember a few years back I came across a blog post from a lady who used reusable pads complete with photos of her handmade pads, they were nothing fancy but they did the job for her. I was grossed out to say the least! Why would someone want to touch and wash there own period blood?! I also thought she was just too "cheap" to buy "regular pads"
Fast forward a few years and well I'm glad to say I'm no longer so naive and judgmental. For a start "regular pads" are in fact washable and that it's the disposable that are gross when you really think about it!
I have very irregular periods, I could have 2 in one month, none in others etc so often when aunt flow would arrive I would have no disposables in the house having used them all up just 2 weeks before so I could end up in a tricky situation!
I decided I needed something that I would ALWAYS have in the house that would do me a couple of hours until I got to buy stuff.
I don't know what changed my mind about washing my own bodily fluid off cloth, maybe just general maturity? but I went in search of that blog post I had seen a few years previously about the lady making her own pads and went and searched reusable pads, cloth pads etc and all these companies, blog posts, youtube videos all came up showing these adorable thin and comfy looking pads. I was intrigued! Everyone who tried them didn't have a bad thing to say about them. Even then, I had no intention of using them full time but once you try it, there's no going back! I have fibromyalgia and i found some information on the benefits of using cloth with this condition. At this point I decided to give it a real go and use cloth full time. The main benefits of changing to cloth is,  the environment, saves money, more comfortable and convenient. For me the main reasons are the convenience and comfort and knowing that there is a reduced amount of chemicals being put into my body (did you know that disposables are full of dioxins! Yuck!) ; but it also made me really think about the environment, all those plastic pads just being dumped every month is not good. I'm not going to turn into some "tree hugger hippie" but having decided to switch to cloth pads has really make me look at my life and how much waste I still produce even though I already did my best to recycle where I could. It's like the start of a new journey, one that I look forward to!

I will do some reviews here on the blog soon on some of the different brands I have purchased and tried.

Party in my pants pads arrived!!!

How quick was that?! I picked the cheapest shipping option which is the longest at an estimated 4-6 weeks, well I got them in 5 days! (inc weekend)

Here they are:

I ordered the free sample liner. I picked the demi liner in cotton fabric and they pick the pattern, can't argue with that since its a freebie (you do have to pay shipping on it though) I must say, I don't think I'll be a fan of the cotten, it's a bit stiff and feels a little harsh, I know it is only a liner but the cotton doesn't really feel like it will absorb anything, seems more like discharge would sit on top but I'll let you know when I try it out!

I also ordered the overnight pad, in flannel and it's sooo much softer than the regular cotton. It is pretty big, I don't think I was expecting it to be that big lol it's just over 12 inches and it costs $13.99 or €10.70
I really like this one, I love the print and it's very thin!

I got an addition snap added in each pad for a small extra charge, it will be handy if you wear different styles of underwear.

All in all I'm very happy so far with these products and the service. I'll do a review when I get to use them.

Talk later!