Tampons are nonexistent in the Philippines. Not even big supermarkets carry them. One time, I went to my favorite drugstore and if they had it and all I got was, ‘ano un (what’s that)’ with a puzzled look on the clerk’s face. So I proceeded to look around myself. They surely did not have any, not even the cheap ones that you can get in the boonies on another part of the planet. I settled for the cheapest nighttime pad they had.
For 23.75php, you can get Sisters Night Use Slim With Wings in a pack of eight individually wrapped pads. It has a net perforated top sheet and is 270mm long. It has the same gutter system that most pads have to contain liquid in the middle. It also said on the pack that it has ‘Super Gel to absorb liquid quickly deep within and turns it into gel for maximum comfort’. Since blood is as opaque as can be (not to mention gross), I cannot really see the gel magic so I did a little experiment.
I took a fresh pad and stuck it on the counter. I diluted some blue mouthwash in water for color and visibility and poured it over the pad. The pad felt damp in half a second. I pressed harder and waited for a gel-like substance to stick to my finger. Nothing. As I was about to toss it, I thought of getting a pair of scissors and cutting the pad in half. Viola! It did turn the liquid into gel! The inside of the pad looked like a packet of silicone gel drops. For something so cheap, I never thought it would actually do what it said it would. I have never felt so wise for buying cheap. Thanks, Mega Soft Hygienic Products. It is money well spent.
There is still a nagging question in the back of mind though. What is in the pad that turns it liquid into gel? It is a chemical that has adverse effects on my body that I will not know of? If you get something so efficient for so little dough, there must be a catch. In spite of that, I will still keep using it. We are all going to die eventually anyway.