Lets talk about periods. Many of us have them monthly (if you're female of course, if you're male I'm not sure why you're reading this!), but they're not something we particularly want to talk about. This isn't the sort of product I usually feature on my blog and I promise this isn't a review (that would be all kinds of too much TMI!) but I want to introduce you to the brand Veeda in case you haven't come across them before. I first read about Veeda over on Hayley's blogLondon Beauty Queen and because this is something I feel quite strongly about I left a comment regarding how I feel about tampons. Veeda read my comment and contacted me regarding their products. What I particularly liked about hearing from Veeda was that although they asked if I would be interested in featuring their products on my blog, even if I didn't want to do this they still wanted to send me some products so I could try them myself.
I was very surprised to discover that Veeda was created by two men! A female friend returned home from Australia to Brazil and couldn't find any natural tampons or pads to use. Spotting that there was a gap in the market worldwide, they set up Veeda. Smart guys!
What makes Veeda different from the brands you already know is that their products contain 100% natural cotton with no synthetics, chemicals or dyes. Other brands use blends of bleached cotton and/or synthetic materials and can contain dioxins, pesticide and herbicide residues, synthetic chemicals, artificial fragrances and dyes. What I didn't realise, although to be honest I've never actually checked, is that brands don't have to disclose their ingredients, so even if you did want to know what a particular brand of tampon is made of, you might not be able to find out. As Veeda products don't contain any of the things mentioned above it reduces the risk of irritation, allergic reactions and also Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS).
TSS is caused by a bacterial infection and this can lead to things like kidney failure, collapse of the lungs and even cardiac arrest and this can occur in just a matter of hours. The viscose rayon found in many tampons promotes the production of the toxin that can lead to TSS and 50% of cases of TSS are associated with the use of high-absorbency tampons. However, there hasn't been a single case of TSS when using 100% natural cotton tampons
The only time I have ever used tampons was on holiday as a teenager if I had my period. As soon as I started on the pill (to control acne) in my mid-ish teens I switched to using this to make sure I didn't have a period while on holiday and have never used a tampon since. The reason for this is because a relative on my mums side of the family suffered from TSS. This was many years ago now but I remember my mum warning me about tampons when I hit puberty and telling me about my relative. I'm a little confused now because I was sure my mum told me something about doctors telling her there was nothing they could before she was then approached by another doctor asking if he could try something. This was something to do with whale semen, or something along those lines, and that this saved her. When I asked mum again recently about this she had no memory of this at all! So I'm not sure if I've imagined this, but when I did a Google search I did find some articles from the 80s talking about TSS and sperm whales. Anyway, my relative is still alive but she did lose some of her toes and has to walk with a stick because this effects her balance.
If you're interested in trying out Veeda for yourself if you hop on over to their website here it cleverly detects your location and lets you know the nearest store where you can find their products. I was pleased to see my nearest store is a smaller Boots about 10 minutes drive from my house, so you should be able to find them in your local store. I'm also pleased to see that prices are very reasonable (on the Boots website ranging from £1.85 to £2.85) so you're not going to have to pay through the nose for the privilege of a natural product.
Will you be giving Veeda a try?
