3 Easy Product Swaps to Protect Your Reproductive Health
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I don’t know about you, but I spent my teen and early adult years thinking very little about how the products I put on my skin or in my vagina would affect my health. Lotions and butters moisturized my skin. Tampons kept me from bleeding into my panties. Anti-perspirants discouraged sweat from saturating my armpits. There’s more happening when it comes to the products we put in and on our body. With our skin being our largest organ and our vagina leading us to our womb center - it’s far more important than many of us once thought or were ever told - to pay closer attention to what we use and make productive changes to encourage our reproductive health. Many skin and vaginal products are laden with chemicals that are not only unnecessary for our bodies, but disruptive to the natural production and rhythm of our hormones - with the potential to cause irreparable damage to our reproductive system.
Swap your tampons for a menstrual cup.
I was introduced to the existence of the menstrual cup right before the birth of my fourth child. My midwife asked what I would be using once my period returned and I told her tampons. She asked if I’d considered a cup and #1, I was like, “a cup? What is that?” And #2, after she explained I was like, “ew?” She challenged my response, asked me why I felt that way and I said “it just seems gross to put my fingers in my vagina while I’m bleeding and a whole cup is just supposed to be sitting up in there?”
I have come a mighty, mighty long way.
My introduction to the cup gave me a greater intimacy with my own body, allowed me to understand my cervical position during my period, up to twelve hours of protection with each insert, freed me from monthly tampon purchases (your cup will likely last for years!) and from pulling more absorbent than I needed tampons from my vagina at any given time, and most importantly - freedom from toxic chemicals. Even if I’d decided to switch to organic tampons to avoid unnecessary chemicals - I was also now free from perpetual vaginal cotton stuffers.
Give yourself time to find the right fit for you. If one doesn’t feel best, try another brand. It took three cups before I landed on one that felt just right for me and my contour. For the record, I use period panties with my cup for additional security during the first couple days of my period and definitely recommend them when you’re first learning to use a cup, it may take you some time to figure out proper/best positioning for you to ensure a leak-proof fit.
Swap your store-bought lotions and butters for home-crafted moisture.
Making your own skin moisturizers is super simple and you’re able to control exactly what goes onto your skin and experiment with butters and oils that feel most moisturizing and smell most pleasant to you. You can gather your favorite raw moisturizing butters like shea, mango, or cocoa and add coconut, avocado, or other oils and bring them together over a double-boiler, let it cool, and whip it for your own easy butter. Adding a little vitamin E and tea tree essential oil can help keep your product shelf-stable and you can experiment with scents by adding your choice of essential oils. Skip the cocoa butter if you’d like your homemade butter to smell just like your favorite essential oils. If all of this sounds a little less easy, consider supporting this small, Black + woman-owned business on Etsy that makes fabulous skin and hair care products from raw materials. Love her stuff!
Swap your anti-perspirant for a salt stone.
I read a research article many years ago that linked a possible connection between the usage of certain products (specifically those with aluminum-based compounds) to breast cancer and underarm products were quite prominent in the list of you might want to skip applying this on your body. Underarm salt stones are super affordable (I’ve had mine for years) and work astonishingly well! The mineral salts discourage growth of odor-causing bacteria and keep you smelling like the queen you are. They’re totally easy to apply - just start with clean armpits, wet the stone, and give some good swipe coverage all on and around your pits, and voila - funk protection! For potentially high-stress situations, I keep a “clean as I can” deodorant on hand - but almost never need to use it.
Have you made swaps for products you’ve once routinely used for the sake of your reproductive forward health? Recommend something? Let me (& others) know in the comments below!
