There are two pits of sanitary napkins, and no girl is not crazy.

Lilac Life Research Institute with Original and Serious Study

Sanitary napkins, a product that accompanies women from adolescence to perimenopausal period, need not be said more.

I’m a little angry recently, because a video confirmed my concern about sanitary napkins:

I may have bought fake sanitary napkins.

Last week, the evaluation blogger "B Tai" released a video saying that three brands of sanitary napkins he bought from a free merchant of an e-commerce platform were suspected to be fakes after comparison.

As a daily necessities that women pay high attention to, as soon as the video was released, related topics went on hot search.

Image source: Weibo screenshot

As long as they are girls, they will care about the quality and experience of sanitary napkins. I know this time, and I have to learn to see if it’s genuine …

I’m sick of it. gif

The first pit of sanitary napkins: more fakes

I don’t know when I got caught.

—

Due to the low technical threshold and low cost of counterfeiting, news reports related to fake sanitary napkins are actually common.

In 2013, Fujian, Anhui, Sichuan, Hubei, Hebei and Zhejiang provinces jointly destroyed 43 fake sanitary towel workshops, involving 150 million yuan.

In 2016, Nanchang seized more than 10 million counterfeit sanitary napkins such as Hushubao, Qidu Space and Sophie. The gang has sold more than 300 million fake sanitary napkins in the past four years and flowed to all parts of the country.

300 million films, almost enough for 20,000 to 30,000 women to use for a lifetime.

Image source: Report screenshot

Just in 2023, the police in Banan, Chongqing also destroyed a sanitary towel counterfeiting and selling gang, involving more than 27 million yuan.

Women’s private parts are more prone to infection because of their physiological structure. The biggest hidden danger of counterfeit sanitary napkins is unsanitary.

Dirty production environment, unqualified raw materials, bacterial content is easy to exceed the standard; Inferior raw materials may also contain toxic and harmful substances such as plasticizers and toluene that exceed the standard.

This will increase the risk of infection, allergy and discomfort in female private parts.

Image source: Report screenshot

One of the most rude ways to judge whether sanitary napkins are true or false is to look at the price difference.

Cheap ≠ poor products, some domestic brands of sanitary napkins focus on low prices, such as Jieling, Shulai and Anerle, which are of high quality and low price and are well-known among netizens. On the contrary, it is a well-known big brand, with high fake profits and many fakes. It is extremely cheap and easy to encounter fakes.

In the video of "B Tai", the price of suspected counterfeit products purchased by a platform is 50% or even less than 30% of the original price.

According to many news reports, these fake sanitary napkins mainly flow to small and medium-sized supermarkets in cities and small shops in suburbs and rural areas offline, while online, they focus on using low prices as sales means.

If you find that a store’s sanitary napkin products are much cheaper than the official price, don’t rush to stock up. Some offline small shops and supermarkets should also be careful when buying.

A pungent smell, yellow color, lax sealing or tearing can all be signs of buying fake sanitary napkins.

But to be honest, some products can be confused with the real ones in appearance. These methods can’t completely avoid buying fakes. We can only try our best to find reliable channels, such as official flagship stores or platforms we trust.

Moreover, I believe many girls have the same problem:

Even if it’s genuine, it’s not very useful …

The second pit of sanitary towel: not easy to use

Each has its own slot.

—

In the evaluation of "B Tai", fake sanitary napkins have their own problems, and the performance of real sanitary napkins is not stable.

For example, to simulate the "dynamic absorption capacity" when a large amount of menstrual blood gushes out (girls all know that moment …), should it be leaked or not?

Image source: video screenshot of B Tai

The small partner of Lilac Life Research Institute has also done relevant tests before. The 420 mm plus long-night version may not be able to hold back the side leakage, so that menstrual blood will not flow into the sanitary napkin.

The demonstration effect of "a large amount can be absorbed instantly" in the advertisement is actually not realized because of the thick menstrual blood and the curvature of the ass.

Especially for a large number of friends, sheets are always dirty. I really blame sanitary napkins for disappointing.

In addition to leakage, sanitary napkins have many points for girls to vomit, such as:

Wings are always sticky, sticky to themselves and Mao Mao, but they don’t stick to underwear anyway;

Poor water absorption, poor water retention, slow menstrual absorption, and infiltration after absorption, and the private parts are always wet;

Cutting is not close to the body, can’t protect underwear, and doesn’t fit the ass;

The majority of women have been suffering from sanitary napkins for a long time, and the small wing design has been hot searched.

Image source: Weibo screenshot

Is there a perfect sanitary napkin?

Frankly speaking, no …

What kind of sanitary napkins?

Is it more comfortable to use?

—

We studied the national standard "GB/T 8939-2018" for sanitary napkins and found that there are many details that will affect the user experience.

In addition to the length and shape to buy according to their own needs, sanitary napkins also have several key points that will affect the use experience: packaging, mesh, absorbent materials, base film and adhesive.

Next, I will introduce the research results to my sisters one by one.

01

package

Good packaging mainly provides tightness, and pollutants are not easy to enter the sanitary napkin during transportation and storage.

Simple test:

Take a sanitary towel and rinse it under the tap for about 10 seconds (avoid the opening). Water intake means that the sealing is not good.

02

Surface material

The surface layer of sanitary napkins is mostly various non-woven fabrics. Take domestic mainstream brands as an example, their fabrics are mainly divided into three categories: pure cotton, soft cotton (mainly polypropylene) and dry (polyester or other chemical fibers).

These three fabrics have their own advantages and disadvantages:

Softness, skin-friendly and non-irritating: pure cotton > soft > dry.

Fast infiltration, no reverse infiltration and wear resistance: dry > soft > pure cotton.

The mainstream sanitary towel fabrics in the market have an obstacle that it is difficult to have both-skin friendliness and infiltration speed.

Soft fabrics, such as pure cotton, are more skin-friendly and less allergic, but the penetration rate of liquid may not be fast enough and need to be replaced frequently.

Dry fabrics are easier for menstrual fluid to seep down, less easy to seep back and more wear-resistant, but may bring discomfort in experience.

Which is better is not absolute. It depends on whether you care more about skin feeling or dryness.

Simple test:

Observing the surface of sanitary napkins, abnormal color, dyeing, uneven printing and pungent smell may be a signal of poor quality.

03

absorbing material

Absorbent materials are the soul of sanitary napkins, and good absorbent materials make single sanitary napkins have greater capacity and stronger water locking ability.

At present, there are two main materials used to absorb liquids in the industry: fluff pulp and polymer water-absorbing materials.

Fluff pulp is the most vulnerable part.

It is a substance similar to cotton wool made of pine and other wood, which has strong liquid absorption ability and is an essential raw material for all similar products except liquid sanitary napkins.

The cost of the new fluff pulp is relatively high, and there is no problem with the regular products. However, some lawless elements will disassemble the discarded sanitary napkins and diapers, recycle fluff pulp, mix them with waste paper and cotton, and add extra fluorescent whitening agents and essences to cover up the abnormal production of inferior sanitary napkins.

If the sanitary napkin filler is yellow and stiff, it may belong to the recycled inferior fluff pulp.

Image source: B video screenshot

Simple test:

You can just cut the sanitary napkin open and have a look. You can also use equipment with ultraviolet light, such as fluorescent flashlight, nail lamp, etc. When there is obvious fluorescence, it indicates that there are more whitening agents and the materials used are in doubt.

Polymer water-absorbent material, absorption up =

A kind of material with high water absorbability and gelation, which has very strong water absorption and retention capacity, can effectively help sanitary napkins to be lighter and thinner and reduce the humid and sultry feeling caused by reverse osmosis.

Many sanitary napkins will add polymer absorbent materials to fluff pulp, and the absorption capacity and speed will be improved.

There are disadvantages, too. After washing, the volume (thickness) will increase obviously, and it is uncomfortable to be stuck …

Before water absorption

After absorbing water

The liquid sanitary napkins that have been newly ignited in the past two years use a porous polymer called FlexFoamTM, which has strong water absorption and is lighter as a whole.

04

Base film and back glue

The bottom film is the plastic sheet at the bottom of the sanitary napkin, which affects the air permeability, while the back adhesive determines the firmness of the sanitary napkin.

According to the national standard GB/T 8939-2018, the peeling strength of the back adhesive of sanitary napkins (pads) is 100～800 mN, that is, it will not fall off at will, and it will not tear the base film when it is torn off.

Simple test:

Stick the sanitary napkin on the cloth naturally, and then take it off. You can’t drop it when you touch it. If the adhesive is too firm, you can tear the base film and blacken it directly.

In a word, there is no hexagonal player who is absolutely excellent in all aspects in the category of sanitary napkins, and the brands are still iterating from fabric to technology.

We can only prepare for two things:

Screen sanitary napkins that are more suitable for you, and do your homework on mesh material, absorbent material and adhesion of base film;

Cooperate with other products, such as sleeping pants, tampons, menstrual cups, etc.

Tampons are really a good helper to liberate menstruation! But if you don’t want to use tampons in large quantities, it’s worth trying on pajamas.

Image source: I took it myself

In addition, sanitary napkins should be hygienic, so be careful when purchasing. Try to go to a large supermarket offline, and don’t buy it in a small supermarket or shop; Look for the brand flagship store online, and be cautious when the discount is particularly strong.

From menarche to menopause, women will probably use 10 thousand sanitary napkins in their lifetime, and spend tens of thousands of yuan on related products.

As a necessity of life, I hope to have better and more affordable products on the market, so that every woman can really feel comfortable and at ease every day.

Scientific audit Wang Yao

Master of Textile Chemistry and Dyeing and Finishing Engineering, Donghua University

Scientific audit sun xinru

Master of Textile Chemistry and Dyeing and Finishing Engineering, Donghua University

Content planning feidi

Please contact dongyang@dxy.cn for cooperation.

references

[1] GB/T 8939-2018 Sanitary napkins (pads)

[2] Park C J, Barakat R, Ulanov A, et al. Sanitary pads and diapers contain higher phthalate contents than those in common commercial plastic products[J]. Reproductive Toxicology, 2019, 84: 114-121.

[3] Chen M, Luo Y, Fu J, et al. Reproductive health status and related knowledge among women aged 20–39 years in rural China: a cross-sectional study[J]. Reproductive health, 2020, 17(1): 1-10.

[4] The case of 150 million yuan extra-large fake sanitary napkins was solved.

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Author ZYing

The cover picture comes from the idea of the worm.

Original title: "The sanitary towel you bought may be fake! The two pits of sanitary napkins, no girl is not crazy.

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