Wouldn't it be so great if instead of wearing tampons you could wear pants that soaked up your period blood so you never had to worry about that weird bit of compressed cotton you'd inserted into your vagina leaking all over your pants? We have to admit it wasn't something that had ever crossed our mind before but now, with the introduction of THINX, the period pants that absorb excess period blood, we're kind of warming to the idea.
Developed by three friends from New York, THINX came along after one of the girls wore white to a meeting and, for want of a better word, perioded all over her skirt. What she needed, she thought, were a pair of pants that would stop this happening. And so, the girls set about creating pants that absorb errant period blood and stop you from leaking all over the shop. These would have been really helpful that time in Year Nine Biology thanks girls but hey, better late than never.
Even better, they're doing the whole thing in conjunction with AFRIpads, an oragnisation that creates washable and reusable sanitary towels for girls in Africa who, without the proper resources are left to use whatever they can find as sanitary products to help them get through their periods. Millions of girls around the world miss school and end up dropping out because they don't have proper access to feminine hygiene products and the girls behind THINX are keen to help out with this. In fact, for every pair of THINX pants bought, they'll donate 7 AFRIpads to the women who need them.
So how do these magic pants work? Well, the girls have spent three years developing them and they've come up with a thong, that holds half a tampon's worth of blood, some midi-hipster type briefs that hold a whole tampon's worth and some big old granny pants that hold up to two tampons' worth of blood. Plus, they've used some magic cloth that means that unlike using pads, where you feel like you're sitting in a big pile of gunge all day, THINX pants still make you feel dry. Which sounds like witchcraft to us.
They're $24 for the thongs (£15), $29 (£18) for the midi ones and $34 (£22) for the bigger ones. But hey, if you think about how much you spend on all those pants you period into every month accidentally, you're probably going to end up saving money.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.