In the event you’re searching for a interval care product that’s each sustainably made and protected to make use of, a brand new Black-owned model has entered the chat.
Greatest Periodt, a model by Gayneté Jones providing two totally different sizes of menstrual cups, is now obtainable at 3,000 CVS shops nationwide. Devised with Black girls and their flows in thoughts, Greatest Periodt’s cups differ from a few of the preliminary cups to hit the market. Jones has thought of all issues — from fibroids to heavier flows to even interval poverty — that affect Black girls and women disproportionately.
Jones first launched the model in 2020 throughout lockdowns, when she personally wished for a extra sustainable method to interval administration. At the moment, she recalled not wanting to enter shops as incessantly and in addition cataloging a rising listing of issues she didn’t like about menstrual cups then in the marketplace. A light-weight bulb went off when she obtained her interval whereas having numerous conversations with fellow feminine entrepreneurs.
“My interval got here on, and it hit me like, ‘I wish to change every part I hate about menstrual cups that I used previously,’” Jones, a former non-public banker, instructed theGrio. “I knew with a menstrual cup, it’s higher for the surroundings. It saves you cash. You aren’t continually buying interval merchandise. So I stated, You understand what? Let me create a listing of all of the issues I hate about interval cups and attempt to change that with certainly one of my very own.”
Greatest Periodt was born. It has since entered the market with two totally different sizes of menstrual cups within the model’s signature shade of lemon yellow.
“And, in fact, I knew that whereas interval cups had been going to be the very first thing we created, by all means, we had been going to be a menstrual care firm,” Jones continued. “I all the time say it’s the genesis of a mega model. Interval cups simply occur to be what we begin with.”
Greatest Periodt joins a number of different Black-owned manufacturers within the private care aisles of shops nationwide and on-line. One of many first was Honey Pot, launched by Beatrice Dixon in 2012, which provides natural menstrual care merchandise corresponding to washes, wipes, pads, and extra. Since then, increasingly more Black-owned female care manufacturers have cropped up, providing a large, numerous vary of merchandise.
In 2019, Abigail Murdock based Her Juice Bar, a model centered on concentrating on vaginal well being for ladies of all ages, particularly as they age. There’s additionally Niima, which provides natural pads, and Ebi, which provides postpartum care merchandise. In the meantime, Moozii, based by Tiffany Johnson in 2020, provides female care merchandise like interval underwear, cups, razors, and panty liners.
Beneficial Tales
Ruby Love, based by Crystal Etienne in 2015, focuses on interval underwear, and Kushae, based by OB-GYN Dr. Barb and Kimba Williams, focuses on female hygiene merchandise like washes and protecting pores and skin balms.
Past having Black girls founders in frequent, these manufacturers additionally all largely share prioritizing security of their product ranges, which has change into essential as longstanding main manufacturers are more and more being referred to as out for poisonous chemical compounds and metals of their merchandise.
“The issue [is] even past simply the merchandise themselves,” Jones stated when requested about current research revealing heavy metals in tampons and pads. “It’s simply the shortage of analysis accomplished on all female care merchandise generally, and simply girls’s drugs generally … As a result of even with these research displaying that there’s chemical compounds and toxins, and heavy metals present in tampons, we nonetheless aren’t certain what the implications of these chemical compounds are within the tampons.”
She famous that specialists and physicians have had combined reactions to the brand new findings, with some suggesting there will not be any implication in any respect.
“However we don’t know. So due to that, it’s actually irritating as a result of we have to get extra analysis accomplished, and to be able to get that accomplished, we’d like somebody on the again finish who can push for it,” she added.
Jones famous how these merchandise don’t simply come into contact with girls’s vaginas; they’re additionally in touch with the physique’s largest organ, the pores and skin. Her cups, she stated, are created from medical-grade silicone and are fully protected for the physique and pores and skin.
After releasing her cups in two sizes, Jones stated shoppers can anticipate “distinctive” menstrual merchandise, together with washes, that they haven’t seen in the marketplace earlier than. Finally, Jones is aiming to create a model that helps individuals have their finest intervals. When requested how she would describe somebody having their “finest interval,” she stated, “In the event you can overlook it.”
Jones describes a interval that’s so nicely managed in terms of ache, merchandise, bloating, and comfort that it’s forgettable.
“To me, that’s a superb interval,” she continued. “That’s your finest interval.”
