Follow the Flow of Companies like Aunt Flow–Who are Breaking the Status Quo
Any day, at any point, 800 million people are menstruating–yet there is a lack of expanded research on and development of new, safer products they need. A worthy endeavor would be more research, development, and production of better period products to support, advocate, and care for menstruators and the world.
While one recent well-publicized UC Berkley study discovered lead and arsenic in tampons, it concluded that their toxic effect is unknown. Large corporations allow the uncertainty to continue, ignoring potential harm.
Companies breaking the status quo include Aunt Flow, Cora, Honey Pot, L. is for Love, and Organyc. Many consumers may not have heard of these companies and may have to be proactive in locating the products of these startups. Standard marketing practices also allocate premium shelf space to established brands, which makes new products more difficult to locate in a store.
Most of these new companies share a mission of focus on the health and equity of consumers while aligning with charity and social justice causes. Their package marketing slogans contain messages of commonalities of health, equity, and sustainability.
Honey Pot states that it works for “a more transparent world rooted in holistic solutions for total wellness…designed to give you a good day and even better tomorrow.”
L. is for Love promotes that it does “funding and product donations for non-profit community based organizations that increase sustainable access to period care products” and “provide[s] menstrual health education and employment opportunities.”
Organyc prominently displays that its products contain “no perfumes, dyes, wood pulp, or other junk.”
One standout, a Columbus, Ohio-based industry innovator, Aunt Flow, centers its beliefs on women’s health and equity. Its website poises: “Toilet paper is offered for free. Why aren’t pads and tampons?” Its solution, the creation of free product machines, has revolutionized the menstrual products field.
Promoting health and equity, the company offers superior products that promote sustainability, reduce environmental harm, and combat period poverty. One of the company’s main business interests has become being a retailer of these machines for companies to supply free menstrual products.
Partnered with eight different nonprofits ranging from ending period poverty to aiding unrepresented populations of women, Aunt Flow donates one tampon or pad for every ten products bought. In just 2023 alone, the company donated over 2.6 million products, compared to the well-known brand Playtex, which donated just over one million products since 2017. Aunt Flow uses organic cotton tampons with a cardboard, smooth-tip applicator for comfort without the plastic. Materials used from Organic Content Standard (OCS) farms degrade faster and are safer. Other period product companies source from these farms but mix in rayon and chemicals to create more effective, flexible, and absorbent products. Ingredients, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), however, are likely hazardous to human and environmental health.
Companies get away with allowing these in their products due to the FDA’s policy of voluntary disclosure of ingredients, even as researchers warn about possible negative effects. One study has shown traces of lingering chemicals in the body, but more research is needed to understand the effects ingredients have as they enter the circulation system through the highly absorbent vaginal mucosa. Ignoring the knowledge gap and concrete evidence of harm, many companies continue to use synthetic products.
Plastic, harmful to humans’ and the planet’s health, is featured prominently in the standard menstrual product industry. Plastic applicators for comfort are used even by sustainable companies like Cora due to consumers' preferences. According to a study about menstrual product’s impact, most applicators are 100% non-recyclable plastic, each adding two to three grams of plastic to the environment.
Since 1.8 billion individuals menstruate globally, 20 billion menstrual products are thrown into landfills worldwide every year. Aunt Flow touts that it has prevented 23,520,000 plastic applicators from disposal into the environment in 2023.
Elimination of plastics from its menstrual pads likewise has had impact. A study of conventional brands shows pads, including the wings, adhesive, and wrapper, are 90% plastic, the equivalent of four plastic bags and two grams of non-recyclable plastic.
Many of these new companies on the scene have made an impact yet have room for growth with challenges such as creating reusable menstrual products. Two sustainable companies, Cora and Rael, have taken a lead in that direction.
Partnerships across the industry are an important component for progress. Several local Columbus, Ohio companies have partnered with Aunt Flow, inspired to make change.
PromoWest Productions, a music venue company, has implemented dispensers in its bathrooms.
More companies should follow the lead of these new companies to support the 1.8 billion monthly menstruators in the world who have little choice in period products while waiting to discover if their health is at risk as they engage with potentially harmful products.
To improve consumers’ health and the health of the planet, companies might do well to follow the flow of Aunt Flow!
Jessica Alvey is an undergraduate at The Ohio State University studying Marketing and Design Thinking.