Hyderabad: With more and more women taking to eco-friendly menstrual hygiene products, entrepreneurs in the city are responding to this rise in demand by producing green sanitary pads, tampons and menstrual cups. Though priced a bit higher than their plasticky counterparts, the products are made using natural materials that don’t affect the body negatively or the environment for that matter.
Founded by Anju Arora and Chirantana Kar in 2019, one such homegrown business, The Period Hub, is all about sustainability.
“Most women are unaware that commercial feminine hygiene products are made of 90 per cent plastic, which never biodegrades. That means this waste generated by women could add up to millions of non-biodegradable garbage in the environment. Not to mention, the chemicals used in such pads can also be harmful to a body,” explains Anju Arora, who has worked in the menstrual health space for over six and a half a years now.
Anju, along with her partner, Chirantana who is an environmental engineer and a water, sanitation and hygiene expert, decided to create products that targeted every need of a menstruating woman.
The products cater to any one from a girl experiencing her first period, a woman who has just given birth to a woman dealing with the onset of menopause. “There are massage oils, heating pads, roll-ons, creams apart from reusable pads and menstrual cups on our platform,” says Anju.
Most products are manufactured by licensed vendors under their brand. What one can choose from are cramp relief and period essentials kits that contain anti-cramp PMS roll on with therapeutic Borage oil and Clary Sage herb, Chamomile tea, lemongrass and honey soap.
This apart, they offer reusable cloth pads and biodegradable disposable pads, panty liners, natural ingredient rich period washes, chemical-free disinfectants and detergents, period balms for pain relief and rashes and snuggle bags. The reusable cloth pads are made with nine layers of absorbent greige cotton flannel fabric.
“The snuggle bags meant for pain relief can be used as heat compress on your abdomen, back or any area. The cloth pads and heat bags are made by rural women in Bhuvanagiri in Telangana. After we started working with them, they themselves have switched to using reusable cloth pads,” shares Anju. The company has now scaled up to countrywide delivery operations and caters to a demographic of 20 to 40-year-old age group of women.
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