Feminine hygiene products mainly include sanitary napkins, panty liners, tampons, menstrual cups, feminine wipes or other vaginal health products used generally during menstruation, vaginal discharge or other bodily functions related to the vagina or vulva.
They can either be disposable or reusable. The sanitary napkins and tampons fall under the disposable category and menstrual cups and period panties fall under the reusable category of the feminine hygiene market. With the increasing awareness about personal intimate hygiene, the global feminine hygiene products market is expected to grow at a significant rate in the coming years.
Even though half the world population menstruates, it has always been considered a taboo to talk about periods or feminine hygiene products. With the changing times, some absurdity has been reduced around the subject, but most of it persists. Thus, there has been little or no innovations in the space for many years now.
The disposable segment of the feminine hygiene products market comprises the largest share. But the sanitary napkins and tampons are largely made out of plastics and synthetics like rayon and contain super absorbent polymers which are derived from crude oil. Some varieties are fragrant and are also dyed using chlorine. New studies have shown that using these disposable napkins may cause infertility and birth defects and can even cause cervical cancer. The prolonged use of sanitary napkins can cause the overgrowth of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in the vagina. This is commonly known as the shock syndrome which results in dizziness, fever and diarrhoea. Sanitary pad companies use a chemical called dioxin to bleach the cotton and the accumulation of the toxin in the body due to the prolonged use of sanitary pads over the years can cause serious health risks like pelvic inflammatory disease, altered liver function or ovarian cancer.
These products not only cause harm to the individual but due to the nature of the products, they also harm the environment. Since they also contain plastic, they cannot be recycled and might take centuries to biodegrade.
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