Not a step back in time but a positive step forwards towards our planet’s well being!

Even if you only use moons’ at night it will reduce the amount of sanitary waste we women produce with ‘disposable’ products.

We spend an average 6.5 years of our lives bleeding. Most women in the world have no access to the luxury of disposable sanitary towels and tampons but the average woman in the 'developed' world uses about 10,000 of these products during her life.

Taboos about menstruation have led to expensive, wasteful, polluting sanitary items, which bring unnecessary health and environmental problems. Moonshines are an alternative to disposable sanitary products.

Some environmental and health facts from the Women’s Environmental Network

The Facts

• Tampons and towels are NOT sterile, despite their glowing white appearance.

• It takes a tampon six months to biodegrade, a plastic sanitary towel liner lasts indefinitely.

• The plastic components litter our beaches, causing harm to coastal and aquatic wildlife.

• Flushing sanitary protection causes 75% of blocked drains.

• Dioxins released during chlorine bleaching and plastics manufacture have been shown to cause cancer, miscarriages and damage to the immune system.

Why?

I first came across cloth pads when I was researching alternatives to disposable nappies 14 years ago- I thought it was great- save money and the planet! (i've been using washable pads since then and have calculated that i've saved over £500- based on spending £3 per month on 'disposable' products!) My mother was horrified-it reminded her of the ‘rags’ she had used in her youth and the shame of trying to wash them, without anyone knowing, at the convent where she was schooled. I was determined to follow my instincts and use my washable pads anyway- it was the late 80’s and advertising was telling us to shove a tampon up us and get on with life- and my body told me to rest, regenerate and reflect while I was bleeding.So I made my own Moonshines- choosing pretty coloured and patterned cotton flannelette. They felt more like attractive underwear than a huge sticking plaster! For the past 14 years I havehappily bled on to my cotton pads, and washing them has helped me to reconnect to my cyclic nature.

Now my daughter is a menstruating young woman- I gave her a gift of Moonshines- at first she was unsure, having been given the free packs and the info (from a certain tampon company) at school and the slight brainwashing of ‘periods are dirty, blood should be hidden away’, but of course she had grown up with me as her mum and soon embraced her Moons- she even took them to a sleep over and soon her friends were asking me to make them- Moonshines were launched!