First, before I share Alesia’s guest blog post, I’d like to share my side of ‘the story’.

My eldest daughter began working outside of the home several months ago. Well, shortly after she came to me one day and shared that she was going to start using disposable pads instead of the cloth. This really saddened me. My girls were my main inspiration for making beautiful, comfortable, cloth pads! It is no coincidence that I started making them for myself, and then her, exactly around the time she began her cycle. When I learned about the chemicals and the dangers of disposable pads, how could I continue using disposables knowing I had FOUR girls who would think disposables were the only way to go? I had problems with endometriosis years before and if there was ANY chance at all that I could keep these types of health issues happening to MY girls, I was at least going to try my best!

But, at the same time, I believe in letting our children make their own decisions when they are ready and trust that at her age of 19 years, by now, I’ve shared enough information with her through her life time that she has enough wisdom on her own to make her own final decisions on how she lives her life. So, I helped her look around for some disposable pads that seemed they’d be the trimmest, softest, and most comfortable. I even found one brand geared to teens and another that were created with organic disposable materials. If she was going to use disposables pads, I wanted to make sure she at least had what seemed the best I could find! No matter how much I hated the thought of her using disposable pads! It seemed so very, very, unnatural for me! ha!

The proceeding guest blog post from Alesia is her side of’ the story’. 🙂

For me, there was never a choice to make. Cloth or disposable pads? There was never any decision, or contemplating which I would use. It’s always been cloth.
I used disposable pads for only one cycle, right before my mom started making cloth pads. Right from the start, I disliked them. Uncomfortable and stiff, they all seemed the same.
So, when we got into making cloth pads, I was more then thrilled to make the change to cloth, with no intentions of ever going back to disposables.
That was six years ago. I’ve been a cloth pad fan ever since and had absolutely no intentions of going back to disposable pads.
But, when I started working a few months ago, I thought disposables would be a better choice. It would be easier when I was at work and I could just throw them away afterward. I then started buying boxes of disposable pads of different kinds.
I now have boxes of disposable pads, and over the past little while, I’ve found myself making small alterations to the  disposable pads I use. Such as, cutting off the wings because they make the pad feel bulky, or I dislike the paper feeling of the sides against my skin. I’ve even cut into the pad to make them more contour. But of course…that didn’t work and the absorbency was gone, and the pad was then useless.

The one thing that threw me off right away was how much I was spending on something that was just being thrown away. I even ended up getting to the point where I was only using disposable and no longer cloth for my entire cycle.
That was several months ago, that I made the switch back to disposable pads.

I even started carrying a little pair of scissors around in my purse with me…so everytime I needed a new pad, I could pull out my scissors and make any alterations I needed to. So quite often, I found myself sitting there, a pair of small scissors in one hand and a chopped up disposable pad in the other, working away trying to make them slimmer and more comftorable. Not exactly ‘easier’ for work after all!
I then started to realize, I could make all the alterations I wanted to those pads, but they still never made me happy. They were all the same. Stiff, rough and uncomfortable. They may have been a bit thinner then some of the cloth pads I have…but they also leaked easier, and I was getting fed up with it.
After taking scissors to yet another pad, and yet again, trying to alter it to suit me and keep me feeling comfortable, and failing yet again, I decided to just go back to cloth. It was then that I realized exactly how much I love cloth pads! The rough, stiff feel of disposable is NOTHING in comparison to the soft feeling of minky or velour and windpro. The flat, square shape of disposable pads is uncomfortable and irritating. Where as the contour, slim shape of cloth is more comfortable and most of the time, I forget I’m even wearing a pad!
I am now back to cloth and I definitely have no intention of going back to disposable! I guess my boxes of disposable pads will be sitting in the cupboard for a while…because I definitely won’t be using them again!
If you enjoyed reading Alesia’s blog post, you may also enjoy reading the novel series she’s writing.
You can find her, and her writing of The Extra-Ordinary Series on her writing website here: http://acwillard.com/