A “brief” guide to underwear

If you're a cloth pad user who has experienced slipping, shifting, or comfort issues, the problem may not lie with the pads themselves. Turns out, underwear can play a big part in how your pads fit and whether they do their job right! If you’ve been having some trouble, read on – you may find that one of these aspects is the culprit:

STYLE

In general, bikini, brief, and hipster-cut undergarments work the best with cloth pads. The reason for this is the gusset (fancy term for the crotch part of your underwear). As you can see in the illustration, the gusset of those types of underwear is well-defined, whereas on a style like boyshorts, it is short and wide. The issue you may run into with boyshorts is that snapping a pad around the gusset means bunching up the leg openings, which can be uncomfortable.

FIT

I used to associate “period underwear” with loose, stretched-out underwear. Thing is, that doesn’t work so well with cloth pads! You’ll want your underwear to be fairly snug so that your pad will be right up against your body. This might mean investing in some new undies if your current ones are a little too big or if the elastics are worn out.

MATERIAL

It helps if your underwear is cotton or a cotton blend, because other materials tend to be overly slippery and don’t offer the friction that cotton does. Bonus: cotton is more breathable than synthetics, which is better for your nethers!

Ultimately, it comes down to a bit of trial and error. If you own a variety of underwear styles, you’ll probably just need to do some experimenting to see which work best with your pads. If none of your current pairs are pad-compatible, hopefully our tips will come in handy on your next shopping trip!

Watch our video below to see how our Day Pad snaps around bikini style underwear:

 

Prefer thongs? We have a Pantyliner for that!