Maxi Pad Basics for Men

That's not my shelf... seriously... LOL.

Hey again, I figured over the next few days I’ll try to cover some feminine hygiene product basics. Obviously this information may be a bit useless and simplistic for girls, but for the guys it will give you some ideas of how this stuff really works. Don’t worry, used products won’t be displayed on here for your sanity and viewing pleasure, lol. At some point I’ll probably get my lazy ass working and make a video demo of this, but for now, I suppose some pictures and text will have to suffice. Let me say upfront that whatever pictures I may use here are completely by nature of “best fit” and I’m not recommending or suggesting the brand of product that may appear. A maxi pad is a product intended to absorb the menstrual flow as it exits the body. Since every manufacturer uses different materials, simply put it, the pad usually contains an absorbent material intended to not only absorb the flow, but also to keep it in. The absorbent material is separated by a top cover (against the body) and is sealed with the lower cover which usually is the adhesive side (sticks to the underwear).

(Fig. 1) The package and contents of a Thin Maxi Pad

So today, let us cover the basics of Maxi Pads and the likes…

Thin pads seem to be the more popular type of pad since it is extremely comfortable.Suffice to say, thin pads generally do not have the absorbency power as that of its equivalent thick maxi pad counterpart. Some brands managed to get their pads extremely thin, quite impressive to say the least. For example, Laurier Super Slimguard 25cm  is only 1mm thin!

(Fig. 2) Wings secured to the panties

Since thin pads aren’t as thick and tend not to hug the body as much, girls I’ve spoken to will agree that they need to use better fitting panties to allow for a more snug fit and to ensure there’s no gap between the body and pad or else accidents are prone to occur. Anyways, to stay on track to keep this “basic” for the guys… a pad will usually consist of 1) a wrapper, and 2) the pad itself. Pads generally come in two flavours (or should I even use that word in this context?) with or without wings. Wings are the two flaps on each side of the pad which is wrapped on crotch of the underwear between each side of the leg. The purpose of the wings are two-fold, 1) to prevent the pad from shifting in the panties, and 2) helps absorb side leakage, as shown below in figure 2. To begin use of the pad, one must remove the pad from the wrapper and remove the necessary adhesive strips. It is hard for me to explain the strips simply because every pad is different, some have a singular strip and others, multiple. For pads that have an individual strip for the wings, it is preferable to place the pad on the panties first (after removing the primary strip) and then remove the strip for the wings and wrap it around the panties. This is purely a comfort thing and there is no “right way” of doing it since there are girls who simply remove all the strips and then place it on their panties. There are 3 options for the wrapper, 1) Insert a used pad for disposal, 2) save it for the disposal of the existing pad later, or 3) place it in the garbage.

(Fig. 3) The package and contents of a Thick Maxi Pad

Once the pad is securely in place, the girl can then finish the rest of her washroom necessities and leave. I’m going to highlight the fact that disposal of used products is also extremely important but I’ll leave that for another posting. With that said, if you refer to figure 3, note the difference of the size as compared to the thin maxi. Unfortunately, I wish I could’ve showed the depth a bit better. You’ll have to excuse the terrible resolution as well since I took the picture with my iPhone. Thick pads, while not loved by most, tends to be a very good solution for those experiencing heavy periods, want a closer fit to their body or security for night time. I did want to retake this picture using a thicker pad, only to realize I ran out… so… guess this will have to do. Anyways, you’ll also notice that this, not only being a thicker variant, is also a wingless pad. I’ve only know about 2-3 girls who prefer pads without wings, mostly because they say the wings bother them. I can agree with them that wings, brand dependent, tend to chaff against the legs, especially during rapid movement (such as sports). Regardless, looking at the shelves, I can say both winged and non-winged products still sell great, so either way, they provide a form of menstrual protection for girls. In terms of pricing, when comparing pads of the same brand and size, you will find that while they might be the same price, there will be higher quantities for those without wings (lower overhead to produce). Example being the Stayfree Super Maxi w/o Wings came in a pack of 24, yet the ones I bought on January 2nd WITH wings only contained 16.

The last part I want to highlight on for you guys is yes, brands do matter. You do really “get what you pay for”…. and dollar store pads definitely do not work well (great for creative arts… lol). Larger brands tend to use more proprietary technology, therefore the quality of the pad and the usage of the product tends to be better. Having looked at dollar store pads, they are usually a top layer with cotton stuffed underneath it. While this is essentially the “general idea of a pad”, poorly designed pads are accidents waiting to happen. The “stitching” and “pattern” of a pad make all the difference when it comes to how well it holds up when used. I have found with dollar store pads that after saturation, you will find that the cotton inside actually MOVES (separating, bunching together, shifting – all together yucky!). So before you go criticizing your female companion on why she has to buy the $5 pack instead of the $2 ones, that’s exactly why!

I’d like to hope that this guide will help some people, even if it’s ONE person, that’s a good enough reward! I tried to cover what came to my mind, so if there’s anything missing, please feel free to comment and I’ll try to integrate it into this post (or a future one)!