Sasa Hong Kong – Sanitary Napkins From Asia

Feminine Hygiene treasures from Hong Kong to Canada!

So here it is everyone, after a very long wait for a delivery promotion to be offered through Sasa (Hong Kong) I finally bit the bullet and bought from sanitary napkins that are usually only offered in Asia!

For those who are also interested, it just so happens that they extended the offer and only for 2 more days (expires Jun 13) – Sasa is offering worldwide shipping for free on all purchases over $19USD. My order came to 20.50 which is pretty damn good 😆 For those who don’t want to navigate through the site, you can directly make your way to the feminine hygiene category. Of course the site company doesn’t ONLY sell feminine hygiene products so I  would recommend you browse the rest of the site to see if there are things that suits your needs. After all, normally with shipping nearing $20 on a single order (unless you break the $100 free shipping mark), it’s really a good promotion whether or not you decide to buy some feminine hygiene products through them! This will particularly appeal to Canadians as we seem to have a tough time getting a hold of international products whereas in the US they have some really nice import-product sites which only ship to the continental US.

In this order, I made the following purchases:

2x Laurier Safety Guard Slim Night 30cm (8 piece)

1x Laurier Super Guard Heavy Night 34cm (8 piece)

1x CENTER-IN FUWA FUWA TYPE Napkins with Wings (Night) (11 piece)

1x Laurier Safety Guard Slim Wing 22.5cm (20 piece)

I have already done some preliminary testing on the products, but I definitely waiting for some of my girl’s periods to come around, that way they can do further and more detailed menstrual testing! The first one I tested definitely didn’t make it onto my “love it” scale unfortunately. However, I won’t spoil the fun of saying which one it was that didn’t make the cut, but rather, release reviews slowly and as time permits.

You may notice my lack of updates, but seriously, I don’t like it either. Adult life is not really fun 🙂 Luckily, my girls will be more available as summer as arrived and they will be on break or at least on a lighter (haha) course load… or well, at least for the ones who are still attending school… for the ones who are like me and working, it makes no difference!

The great thing about products from Asia is they tend to fall under 4 categories instead of 3 that are offered regularly in Canada.

Canada:

– Pantiliner
– Ultra thin
– Maxi

Asia:

– Pantiliner
– Ultra thin (Day-Use)
– Slim (Day/Night-Use)
– Maxi (Day/Night-Use)

Most of the ones I have ordered in this shipment fall under the “slim” category… where it’s not paper-like thinness, nor is it the full bulk of what we consider to be ‘maxi’ here.

So this post is just a nice little teaser… how long I’ll be teasing for 😛 I don’t really know… but at least for anyone else who’s interesting in putting in their own order will be happy to know they have a few more days to take advantage of this fabulous shipping offer. Otherwise, you can sit (really) tight and await my next review for one of these lucky products! I have to admit, the shipping speed was pretty good (I just went with the regular service, not the expedited) and I luckily didn’t get nailed at customs for any additional fees (since they would only be allowed to charge PST portion of the HST duty due to all my items being classified as feminine hygiene products) since they probably would only get a few dollars for all the paperwork involved. It only took about a full business week to get to me, from Hong Kong to Canada, ON.

Unicharm Sofy SOFT BODY FIT 29cm Super Night Guard Review

So today I snuck down to SaSa, a cosmetics and Japanese-import store to purchase Unicharm’s Sofy: Soft Bodyfit Super Night Guard 29cm Sanitary Napkin. You may wonder why I said “sneak” and it’s mostly because SaSa is right underneath the building where I live, making it quite a dangerous venture for running into family… LOL, how can I even explain why I’m buying pads right? It’s not like bebe is here with me where at least I have a reasonable excuse 😆 Oddly enough, I just noticed that the package I got has only 11 pieces while the site says 14… oh well.

Sofy Soft Body Fit Sanitary Napkin 29cm - Package Front

Sofy Soft Body Fit Sanitary Napkin 29cm - Package Rear

Sofy Soft Body Fit Sanitary Napkin 29cm - Package Side

I don’t understand Japanese, so I had no idea what everything on the package really says. Hell, I can’t even read the pad instructions on how to use and stuff, so it was all a guessing-game. I was quite surprized that a pad designed for overnight use didn’t have wings, but it wasn’t until later on when I noticed the amazing absorbency that it made sense why it didn’t need wings for it to be effective (or at least the regular side-wings). This pack as HKD$21 or about $2.75CAD. Since these are imported from Japan, I can understand the slightly higher cost for a HK-made equivalent.

From the look of the pad as described on the outside of the package, I had thought it was going to be quite puffy and thick, but that was not the case. I will seriously have to hand it to Sofy, this pad has a right to say it’s a soft body fit because it really is amazingly comfortable – soft against the skin and flexible enough to conform with body contours. At first I was worried it might be flimsy because of the “feel’ of it, but I was proven wrong by excellent pad-technology. The pad for a mere 29cm and slim profile can hold quite the large amount of fluid without carrying the Kotex 41cm sized pad. The coverage area is less, so this pad would be excellent for even day-use for heavy flow-ers, without bulk and excessive length. It feels heavenly against skin and is not abrasive or so soft where it causes irritation or itching.

Sofy Soft Body Fit Sanitary Napkin 29cm - Pad in Wrapper (Front)

Sofy Soft Body Fit Sanitary Napkin 29cm - Pad in Wrapper (Rear)

The pack wrapper is very silent, using cloth-like material where it minimizes pad-opening noise. The material is light enough where the imprinted Sofy branding shows through the wrapper via the wrapper-attached adhesive. The pad is extremely light to hold and more impressive is that the pad wrapper ITSELF feels very comfortable, let alone the pad. Even though Canadian Kotex uses the same idea with the cloth-type wrapper, it is still fairly rough to rub against, but the Sofy wrapper is so soft you could sleep on it! I was a bit intimidated by the thickness of it (as much as I love thick pads), but isn’t show very well because I didn’t take a side-profile shot of it. The sticky tab is labeled with the model length of the pad (290) and can be used to reseal the used pad for disposal.

Sofy Soft Body Fit Sanitary Napkin 29cm - Pad Full View

Sofy Soft Body Fit Sanitary Napkin 29cm - Pad Front Closeup

Sofy Soft Body Fit Sanitary Napkin 29cm - Pad Rear Closeup

Unlike what I’m used to seeing, this pad does not have side-wings, but still retain its rear-wings. I’ve never actually seen this design before because it’s usually an all-or-nothing situation, has wings or does not – rather than keeping the rear wings. To be honest, I am starting to think this is ingenious, because side wings can often chafe against the side of the legs and this can be avoided by using rear wings, since they fold towards the rear-crotch of the underwear, thereby reducing regular contact against the inner thighs. Also, I have found these rear wings hold just as -if not better to secure the pad to underwear. Also, rear wings definitely help with sitting as it still provides a comfortable “landing” for the butt and an excellent cushion for the pad pushing up against skin. I did find however that without side wings, there was a small scenario of leakage towards the side where wings normally would be – although I’m not sure if even the side wings would have really prevented that.

The raised core while looking lumpy is actually extremely comfortable… think about sitting on a fluffy pillow, it is so beautiful! The pad stays close enough to the body to absorb flow quickly, while giving plenty of breathing space and comfort. The well-spaced holes on the pad also help lock in and distribute flow quickly, avoiding that damp and uncomfortable feeling of flow “pooling” at the top layer. This is one of the few pads I’ve ever tested where squeezing of legs together and lots of sitting/standing hasn’t caused rapid bunching and flow “coming back up” (yes yes, gross), because most pads are quite prone to leakage under those conditions. Even when the pad is quite saturated, it keeps its form and has not disappointed me yet under testing. The side channels are definitely able to keep flow in the middle of the pad! As flow begins to accumulate and pushes the side channels absorbency to the limit, it pushes begins to distribute the flow towards the rear of the pad.

Sofy Soft Body Fit Sanitary Napkin 29cm - Pad Wrapper Remainder

You might notice an adhesive that’s just hanging from the left side of the above picture, it actually is a release for the rear wings and detaches from the sticky part of the pad as you open the wrapper, therefore eliminating the need to hold garbage other than the entire wrapper as a whole. Kotex White and other pads have wing tabs where you need to dispose of separate and “comes apart”, creating extra garbage you have to manage and manipulate. This wrapper design allows for a single movement opening and then disposal with little management of the resulting garbage. The only downside about the smoothness of the pad wrapper is that after you roll the pad up in the usual “egg roll” form, the old pad might actually slide out completely from the edges if the stickiness of the pad is gone. Obviously this is not exactly appealing if you are not a fan of menstrual fluid all over your hands. 😀 I even rolled it up extra tight, but because of the material, it wasn’t rough enough to prevent the old pad from shifting from side-to-side in the wrapper.

For a non-winged NIGHT USE pad, I’m quite impressed. I had high hopes for Sofy pads and they sure as hell didn’t disappoint me. The price point is definitely higher, but the quality and length-of-use is great. The fact a 29cm length pad is putting up a good fight against a thicker, 41cm pad just makes my jaw drop. The packaging for all the pads and individual pads are quite cute and the colouring scheme suits my taste 😛 I think in a purse or pocket however the pad might be a bit revealing because it can be quite thick due to the way it is folded on top of itself. Also because the material tends to be soft and thus susceptible to being puffy, it might come off as being larger than it really is when fully extended.

I love Sofy pads and plus, they have great commercials with cute girls 😆