Thinx Period Undies Are Great if You Don’t Dress Thotty Like Me
If you’re a girl, you’ve probably wondered about THINX period panties before.
First off, WTF are they? Why do you need different underwear for your period? Are they all granny panties? Are they washable?
THINX are basically underwear that replace pads and tampons. They’re made up of high-tech fabric which makes them absorbent and leak resistant, keeps them dry, and prevents the growth of bacteria, according to their website.
“THINX is made up of four bits of tech that makes ‘em anti-microbial, moisture-wicking, absorbent, and leak-resistant,” according to their website.
The idea is that instead of wearing a tampon, a pad, or both, you can just wear these special panties during your period instead.
Why would you want to do this? Because tampons are not exactly great for you, especially if you’re forgetting to change them frequently or are using non-organic types. Pads are just nasty and diaper-like. Also, tampons and pads cost money, but you wouldn’t dare ever re-use them (vom). In fact, you’ve probably heard of the recent backlash against the “tampon tax” which is a tax that doesn’t designate feminine products as “necessity products” therefore making them more expensive when in fact they are certainly a necessity for nearly all women at some point in their lives.
Thinx were either really weird, or really genius. While they gave me a granola-esque, all natural, “I don’t shave my armpits” vibe that isn’t really me, that didn’t mean that I couldn’t learn to love them. I decided to try THINX and see what all the hype was about. And by hype I mean all the controversy surrounding their ads that were almost banned from NYC Subways, which is ironic because I see a topless model with the words “Dream Big” on her boobs nearly every commute.
I got 10 pairs of Thinx, two in each style, all in black, because who the fuck wants to wear light colored undies on their period? These are also probably the first pairs of “traditional underwear” (a.k.a. granny panties) that I’ve had since middle school since I, like many other women, have learned to love the feeling of fabric wedged up my ass constantly.
Each pair had a certain “maximum hold” of blood, which was conveniently shown in tampon icons (poss a new emoji idea?). Except this wasn’t that convenient because it’s not like I measure how much my blood fills up a tampon, so I decided to “#knowmyflow” and go for it. I have a pretty light flow, save for the first day or two which are more medium, so I went all in and decided to only wear THINX rather than wearing the panties as a backup.
For the first day, I was a bit self conscious, and I wore black shorts just in case of any mishaps. My first days are my heaviest, so if I was ever going to have an issue, it would be today. You’d assume that to absorb the blood THINX would have to be super thick or diaper-like, but they’re actually not. They’re certainly thicker than your lace panties, but hardly. I definitely didn’t feel uncomfortable, and sometimes I forgot I was wearing them at all.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that I didn’t have any unsightly period stains anywhere by the end of the day. The only kinda weird downside is that when you wiped after peeing you also wipe up blood, which rarely happens if you’re changing your tampons frequently enough.
Since I got through the first day without looking like a bloody mess, I wasn’t too worried about the rest of the days. But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t have issues.
The main issue I had was with panty lines. As you can see in the photo above, all but one of the THINX styles are granny panties. They work totally fine under jeans or flowy skirts. I even accepted having panty-lines under my yoga pants and wore them to the gym, but when it comes time to rock a tight dress or a skirt made of thin fabric, they weren’t exactly going to work. I didn’t get through a whole week of just wearing THINX for the sole reason that I dress too revealing and that’s why I usually rely on nude colored thongs or no panties at all.
Yes, THINX does have a thong option, but because I chose to buy the undies in black, it still wasn’t going to work on my pastel colored pencil skirts. Plus the thong style is only said to hold half a tampon’s worth of blood, which would make me worry that my hot outfit would turn into a blood bath.
On the plus side, I ended up wearing THINX a couple times when I was off my period just because they were so comfy. I wore the high-waisted pair under a sheer dress since one of my regular thongs would be too scandalous. I also wore the short-style pair under my A-line skirt when it was windy af outside and I knew I’d be baring my ass to the world, essentially using them as spandex.
Two of my favorite things about THINX are that you stop wasting money on disposable feminine products (for the most part) and that you don’t have to worry about changing your pad or tampon throughout the day. You do have to pre-wash the panties before you throw them in the laundry, but that’s a one time deal rather than throughout the day, which I could handle.
Seriously, nothing is worse than finding yourself on an airplane or in a long class and realizing that you need to change your tampon but you don’t have another one in your bag. With THINX, this problem is mostly eliminated.
I say mostly because I don’t think I see myself ever completely saying goodbye to tampons. I’ll always keep a box handy for those times where I need to go commando under a slinky dress or I’m wearing something that shows panty lines. There’s also always the whole going to the beach/pool on your period thing.
But other than these instances, I’m definitely going to keep wearing THINX for future periods. What better way to evade the tampon tax and keep my lady parts healthier? Oh, and stop worrying about timing out when to change my tampon, cuz I’ve got way more important shit on my mind.