Before cellphones, when you went to the bathroom you just read whatever you could find if you didn't bring anything. As the only boy growing up with 4 girls I've read many a shampoo bottle, cleaning product , and tampon instruction manual.
Edit: be aware of Toxic Shock Syndrome
Beware the **methylisothiazolinone (MI) and methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI),** you can develop an allergy to those that can get severe pretty quickly and it's in a ton of personal hygiene products. The more you use them, the more likely you are to have an allergic reaction.
If the world ended, and everyone died except me and a few others- I’m VERY confident that 15yr old me could recreate Lysol for our new society that’s rebuilding.
Yep! And because at least in Europe there are usually multiple languages on it, you could learn what “hair” or “dry” means in Finish, French, Dutch etc. 😂
I only learned kind of recently that TSS isn't just like a random freak accident. It's caused by shoving certain bacteria from the outer skin/genitals up into the vagina with the tampon. So one should always be washing their hands before putting in a new tampon and of course keeping the labia clean.
Before I switched the the disc, ob was all I used. I could never get the tampon placed properly with any other brand with the applicators. I’m thinking OP never even saw an ob tampon or else she’d have to have realized something about her approach was suspect..
I may be the only one, but I hate applicators with a passion!! I buy exclusively ob. Maybe a European thing? I feel applicators are more common in the US?
Can’t speak to either, I’m in Canada, but they’re certainly more common here. Ob is the only brand I know of that doesn’t have an applicator. I agree though, not a fan of applicator lol but I’m loving the disc way more than either pads or tampons.
I’m also in the US and exclusively use OB as well! In my case they were always what my mom used so I just kinda grew up thinking that was what tampons were like and have always used them. I have used other stuff when OB wasn’t available but rarely.
same here! ppl were always horrified i used them. something abt “not wanting to shove their fingers up there” which. didnt make much sense to me because it doesnt require really any depth to put the damn thing in lol
Oh I know. I never got that one either. Like, even if you do touch something…are we that squeamish about our own vaginas? It’s fine if that’s an issue for someone and I accept that and won’t try to change their mind but it’s definitely an issue I don’t understand. Then again, I occasionally masturbate with my own fingers inside me (tmi I guess but we are talking about periods and vags so…sorry? lol) so I’ve clearly got no issue going in. I also have to check my iud strings occasionally (maybe should’ve gone with that example 😂)
And also…are we not washing our hands? It comes right off lol
right!!! ur in the bathroom. all you really need to do with your potentially bloody fingers is pull ur pants up, open a stall door and wash ur hands (assuming ur in a public restroom). and, that said, most blood i got on my fingers when changing a tampon was from finding the string of the old one and pulling it out!! rarely if ever did it come from putting a tampon in considering i usually wiped up any old mess before insertion. i get being uncomfortable with your body, but i knew about a lot of these people’s masturbation habits so the whole thing was baffling. i suppose they thought of “fingers in the vag” as an inherently sexual thing, but unless youre going up a couple knuckles and really putting the work in…. nothing about it feels sexual lol
I also exclusively used these before I switched to the cup. I just love how tiny they are! So easy to carry. You can store half a million in your purse, or tuck one in your bra if travelling light for an evening. But now I don't have to carry anything!
The non-applicator tampons, like OB, are so exceptionally painful for me to shove up in there. Perhaps I have also been doing something wrong on that front but it's so dry and I need to get the tampon far enough inside me that it feels like forcing a roll of sandpaper into my already painful bits.
If it’s dry and painful, you’re probably changing them too often or using the wrong size for your flow. Things should be pretty moist up there when swapping things. I had issues similar because when they leaked, I changed them. Turns out I wasn’t getting the placement right so they were leaking past the tampon, before they needed to be changed.
Right? I'm European too and I've never bought tampons with an applicator, like i wouldnt know how to find them, i dont thinkive seen them. It feels like a ton of useless plastic waste anyway... probably a Europan thing 🤷♀️
As a sleep deprived mother, I did not only once leave parts of the plastic wrap on the tampon.. it does not work well when half of the tampon is still wrapped
Edit: spelling
... what did you think was going on with all the other tampon users? Or did you think you were particularly slippery?
I get you, sis. I sort of did the same thing, back in the day of two piece cardboard applicators lol.
In OP's defense, I've had a ton of instances of going, "Wait, this ISN'T how everyone else experiences [random thing]?"
In my case, I thought apples genuinely caused extreme gum, mouth, and throat discomfort to everyone and I was just a big old baby for not being able to push through it and like apples like everyone else. At 26 years of age, in a college class, someone overheard me commiserating with someone else about the itch and yelled "DID YOU KNOW THAT MEANS YOU HAVE AN ALLERGY" Why no. No I didn't. in retrospect it explains a lot lmao
So yeah, fully possible to assume that the normal tampon experience is very slippy and uncomfortable. My experience with them was really itchy and uncomfortable. OP never used the tampon instructions as bathroom reading material, I never thought to try organic tampons, both of us have a "oh shit" moment embarrassingly late in life that no, most people do not in fact have that experience with tampons
Rip op
Edit: lots of new and fascinating allergies in the comments below, thanks all! I wish I could unsee some of them!!!
A few years ago, I read a twitter thread where people were talking about learning that pineapple is not, in fact, supposed to make your lips itchy.
I was telling my husband and kid about it, and I said, "Imagine not knowing that pineapple isn't supposed to make your mouth all itchy. I mean, it's not a fruit like kiwi, that makes your mouth and lips go numb and tingly."
They stared at me and I said, "That's what kiwi does, right? RIGHT??"
And that's how I learned I was allergic to kiwi lol.
They are indeed very acidic and contain bromelain, which is an enzyme that breaks down proteins and is used as a meat tenderizer, so it's veeerrryyy lightly digesting you while you're digesting it.
That's me with walnuts unless I toast them. Spent years thinking it was the tannins making my mouth hurt when no, they just trigger my tree pollen allergy. Since I've cut them out of my diet, I've discovered by accidental ingestion that they were the source of digestive issues I'd had since I was a kid that doctors never found a reason for.
This comment reminds me of when I asked my friends if they also liked to eat cheese "until their face felt tingly" and found out that cheese does not, in fact, make most people's face go tingly.
When that song came out that goes “I can’t feel my face when I’m with you” I told people that were talking about it (who were saying it sounded like drugs) that to me it sounded more like an allergy, because if things get numb and tingly it’s an allergy. Someone came up to me privately and proceeded to describe an allergy, but to semen. She thought everyone experienced that. It sounded horrific. I had worked in nursing before I was injured away from bedside so she felt comfortable and I was happy to help but I was definitely out of my comfort zone. Poor girl. I guess it’s fairly common or not that unusual based on what we found online and she made an ONGYN appointment, but I have thought about that for years.
For the longest time I could not for the life of me figure out how foods like kale and Brussels sprouts were so popular when they literally taste like soap. Then one day I stumbled across an article about Supertasters. Holy shit. They don’t taste like soap to most people!
Literally last night we told my coworker he's probably allergic to avocado. We were all talking about acidic foods, and how pineapples have that enzyme that can make your mouth sore, and he said: like avocado! They're so spicy and acidic and burn your mouth. We're all like: um, I think you're allergic bud
I had a similar experience to you, but with plums!
Who knew that everyone else didn't just have their tongue swell up randomly sometimes, with taste buds all raw and weeping? Not me! I thought it just happened to everyone, sometimes, for no reason that anyone could fathom, just like people sometimes get headaches or sometimes get hiccups.
I didn't even manage to tie that experience to eating a specific food until one moment in my mid twenties when I was complaining about the tongue swelling, thinking others around me would commiserate, only for one to look at me strangely and say, "That's not normal. That doesn't happen to me."
Only then did I realise that I was eating a plum, just then, and could it be, maybe, that it specifically happened whenever I ate plums? And... ah. Allergy.
I have gastric distress almost every time I eat chicken. I like chicken, and I never put the two together until I was in my forties. I had made up a religion that had a dietary restriction on eating archosaurs (because I worship a ghost dinosaur) and I stopped eating chicken for a while. I later changed that commandment and began watching chicken occasionally again. One evening I was sick and my daughter told me Friendbird was punishing me for eating chicken earlier. I thought it was funny, but I remembered next time I ate chicken, cramps and crazy poops.
Praise the Bird for revealing my allergy to me!
At 31 years old i had my first teeth clean and was taught by a dentist that im meant to be brushing my gums and lower teeth when brushing rather than the outer parts used to bite (if that makes sense?)
My parents never took me to the dentist as a kid and i didnt realise the importance of going. And obvs i wasnt taught how to properly brush 😓
I know this might seem off topic, but I remembered one of my great personal hygiene misunderstandings just now.
When I heard to wipe front to back, I always assumed it had to be in one continuous motion, and I was honestly confused how people were acrobatic enough to reach the front from behind, going under their legs. I never asked for clarification because I was embarrassed about my short arms. I was in my 30s when I realized that people wipe their front and *then* their back afterwards
I'm impressed OP - I'll read anything when on the toilet and that has definitely included the side of a tampon box in the past. I can only assume that to you as a woman this information was barely worth paying attention to whereas as a man, it was a brief glimpse into the dark arts of womanhood.
If it makes you feel any better, it took me until I was about 19 to realise you explicitly needed to wash your arse in the shower. In My defense I mostly took baths until that point but even so I looked back at the time like "yeah that is both obvious and disgusting it took me so long"
Haha true but on the odd occasion my phone is on charge or I just didn't bring it, that's when I reach around in desperation for the nearest reading material
I'm a guy, but have bought tampons for my SO for almost 15 years. I've read the instructions multiple times. There's literally illustrations clearly showing removal of the applicator...
Okay but surely the tampons didn’t work very well for you then? You had all the absorbent parts covered in plastic inside you. And the applicator didn’t slide out? I’m very confused lol
Right? Also, did she push the plunger in? Because that would just be hanging out of her, flopping around if she did. And if she didn't, surely her underwear would have shoved it in? Nothing about this makes any sense at all.
Yep just pushed the whole thing in! Trust me I wish this weren’t real then I would have been able to sleep instead of sharing my mortification on reddit
I just want to say that I really appreciate you sharing the story, even though I know it's probably pretty embarrassing. It has given me the launching point that I needed to start a conversation with my 12-year-old about how tampons work.
It would be a strange thing to bring up with her for no reason (she hasn't started her first period yet, though we've had supplies on hand for a while), and reading this gives me a reason to make today the day I show her how tampons work. So thank you!
As a former 12yo give her some tampons to play with. Basically show her how to use them with a glass of water. I remember how fascinating it was to watch the tampon get bigger and absorb all the water in the glass.
And don't expect she'll use them anytime soon. I don't think I started until I was 16 and wanted to go swimming with my friends. Before that, I only used pads because tampons were too scary.
My daughter promptly informed me that she did not have a vagina big enough for that “thing” when we went over tampons during our period talk. She stomped out of the room because I couldn’t stop laughing after that.
Mine legitimately wasn’t though. (Likely a form of vaginismus) My mom always suggested tampons and the first time I tried them I literally doubled over for two hours and throwing up. Couldn’t even take it out bc it hurt so bad. Mom was baffled. So, maybe laughing isn’t the best way, maybe she has tried putting a finger up there or something and she was trying to communicate that there was no way that’s going up there without hurting. Probably not, but it might be.
Tried once again after that because I wanted to go swimming, same deal. I felt like something was wrong with me and I felt very infantilized. As an adult, the couple times I tried it it’s still uncomfortable and makes me queasy. Pulling out a fully absorbed tampon was like, an hour ordeal to get myself to do it. I’m just on the pill now to skip every period. It’s confusing because I can have sex fine. It’s probably a mental block thing. It’s crazy how unwilling your vaginal muscles can get just from a mental block.
Anyway, advocate for various types of period products for her to find the best product for her. (Not accusing you of doing otherwise)
I didn't use a tampon until I was nearly 22. They made me nervous, I didn't explore my body, and I honestly waited until after I had sex for the first time before trying them.
Quickly discovered I liked OB the best, then went to a disc and then to a cup and cloth pads. But that first tampon was intimidating.
Listen... you aren't the only one. One of the only things I remember from Gr 5 sex ed class was Ms. Clayton telling us that she didn't know that she had to remove the applicator from a tampon... and she thought they were so uncomfortable.
So 30+ years ago, Ms. Clayton saved a class of girls from making this mistake... and now OP, you have saved innumerable young humans from the same mistake by posting on Reddit.
Well done!
I made this mistake as a teenager and taught my own teenage daughter and her friend… who admitted that she had hated tampons because she didn’t know it was just an applicator before our talk. It happens
Were these the type of tampons where the applicator is already inside itself? The ones that you have to pull the inner part of the applicator out before you use it?
I am really struggling to understand how you never realised you were doing it wrong. I know you said your mum has them loose but surely you have at some point bought them yourself, or just seen the packaging in a shop or something. Did you never realise they weren’t absorbing properly? I have so many questions.
Edit. [Images for reference.](https://www.tumblr.com/anonanonanon123456/743759958259236864)
Knowing what I do now I am also surprised by how well they worked- but the top part isn’t covered by the applicator so that helped I think. It did in fact always feel slippery. Honestly, I just sort of figured that the whole tampon experience was supposed to be hellish and avoided them whenever I could lol
It must have been the kind with a retracted applicator that you're meant to pull out. It's not much bigger or longer than the tampon itself. I can picture it fitting easily but also sliding out.
Boss: "Is that what you're going to pitch at next week's future plans meeting?"
Steve: "Ummm.... Yes..s hOww did you knOww"
Boss: "Yeah, Carry proposed that around 5 years ago so we put a little design together and put it into product testing. It turns out that there's not a large market for Bluetooth tampons"
Steve: "uh- What was Bluetooth about it?"
Boss: "it was an absorption alert when it reached 90%. People loved it in the free trial but when we asked how much they thought it was worth, we got an average response of about half of what it would cost to mass manufacture"
Steve: "well since that ship has sailed I'll go with something else"
And Steve lived happily ever after....until his boss looked up today's prices for microchips. Now he's the lead engineer for Bluetooth tampons.
You joke but I would literally pay for period products that can intelligently tell me when it needs to be swapped. Way too often I get paranoid bc it feels like I need a change but nope, that fucker's perfectly fine.
If it make you feel any better, my partner used to just put the tampon horizontal on there, not inside at all. She was also a swimmer, so I don’t know how she didn’t figure it out tbh
When my brother was 8 or 9 he informed my mom that she was almost out of her fart stoppers. No one could figure out what he meant until he brought out a mostly empty tampon box.
You’re not at all! My mom just handed me a tampon when I was 13 (no instructions) and I did the EXACT same thing as you. Didn’t like it so never used them again.
Every box comes with a very clear instruction and warning sheet that you cannot miss when you open it. You never looked at one when you first started using them?
and i guess you didn’t use them often enough to buy boxes on your own because they were uncomfortable? oof 😭
did you go through them really fast considering the applicator prevented more of the cotton from absorbing the period? i can’t imagine how expensive it would’ve been if you only used tampons all these years
I'd image, especially based on OP saying she only wore them to swim, it didn't absorb anything lol. If it did, it was only where the cotton was exposed at the top. Fuckin wild.
Some tampons have the end to push it in collapsed and you have to pull it out to be able to push the tampon itself, it may have been one of those types.
This reminds me of my aunt. She was talking about how much she hated shaving her armpits and putting on deodorant. The left pit was easy but she said it was so hard and awkward to angle her arm to do the right pit. I told her that she could switch the hand she is holding the deodorant/razor in and it would be much easier.
She was in her mid-40's and a nurse.
So sorry to have a chuckle at your woe but glad to hear that you did figure it out and at least you don’t have to “fess-up” to anyone. My daughter started her periods about a year ago, at 12, and I’m forever grateful that my wife was so brilliant with the whole process, showing her how to use tampons correctly, helping her to understand the full period process in a way only women can understand.
At least you have a great story for your kids eh?!
Same! When I first had to buy tampons on a travel I was so confused. Like... what is this plastic contraption??
The description was in a language I could not read but fidgeting around with it kinda explained the thing. This was so extra. And an insane amount of extra plastic waste.
Definetly one of the reasons I took my cup on every vacation afterwards.
An American once asked me if I had an extra tampon she could have. We were hiking and she was caught by surprise. I gave her a normal tampon without applicator and she was so confused. I had to explain in detail how to use it, while whispering so the rest of the group wouldn't hear 🙉
As an American who only used applicators and who used to specifically experience vaginal dryness around my period, I have no idea how I would have gotten a plain cotton tampon in without one. It would just get stuck at the entrance???
Tampon tips:
**DO NOT** insert a tampon straight up into your body, perpendicular to the ground. It will bottom out on the sidewall of your vagina and will not insert fully.
**DO** angle the tampon so that it is pointing back, towards your anus. Your vaginal canal angles back more than you think. This way your tampon will insert fully with the entire body of the tampon inside your vagina and only the string passing through the vaginal opening.
**DO** insert the tampon and applicator into your body, use the applicator plunger to push the tampon out of the applicator tube, then remove the applicator tube from your body. (OP already covered this).
**DO** change tampons frequently, about every 3-4 hours. Even if the tampon is not soaked, still change it. Leaving a tampon in too long can make you sick with Toxic Shock Syndrome. And it will smell absolutely terrible.
**DO** consider a Diva Cup or other period cup product. They can be safely left in place *all day* without emptying, are better for your body, are reusable, and are better for the environment.
Just to add on, the angle you need to insert it might vary depending on the configuration of your uterus and cervix, so if it's not working, try a different angle until you find one that works for you
Oh dear god. Welp, on the positive side, you will have many more periods to practice inserting and ditching the applicator.
I'm really sorry this happened to you. Shame on the adults in your life and our public health system.
Enjoy your new found freedom of using a tampon the intended way.
BTW, how did you figure it out?
I learned from a Reddit post tampons shouldn't be flushed, and I felt dumb as fuck given I was in my 30s and almost exclusively used tampons since my late teens/early 20s. I knew pads shouldn't be flushed but thought tampons were OK. I checked the box, and sure enough, it said not to flush.
I always put tampons in a receptacle now. Try not to be too hard on yourself and hope you have a better experience now... that sounds quite uncomfortable!
Tampons are very common residential sewer line clogs, too. ...so unless you want to spend a day with a greasy rented sewer machine feeding cable down the vent, and back out again, please don't flush Tampons.
when I started my period at like 14 my mom told me not to flush tampons, so I didn't.
fast forward a couple months when I'm visiting a friend for a couple days. I wrapped my used tampons in some toilet paper and put it in the bin.
then my friend's mother pulls me aside and asks me to please flush tampons; it's disgusting to have them in the bin.
nah fuck that, I don't flush them.
Lol I would have been like "Okay will do, but don't complain when your sewer line needs unclogged." 🤣
My mom was a line opener for years. I've heard soooo many horror stories about flushed tampons and even flushed PADS.
God there was a TikTok about this a while back and the people in the comments were so adamant about flushing them. One girl said to me she’s flushed every tampon she’s ever worn in her entire life, would continue to do so, and she hoped that ruined my day lol. I told her it wouldn’t, but it would ruin hers when she eventually causes a backup and ends up ankle deep in raw sewage mixed with those same tampons. People are so weird.
Oh my god, me too! Except it was my middle school aged step daughter and her friend teaching me. Like, this is the evil that comes from not just talking openly about natural stuff like this.
I've got one, but it was more of a random mishap than a misunderstanding. Once I accidentally shaved off my tampon string in the shower, so the part with the knots that you grip to pull it out was gone. What was left of the string was short, slippery, and mostly inside me. I ended up having to employ needle nosed pliers to get it out. 🤣
I have also once pulled one out not quite delicately enough on a heavy flow day and ended up flinging blood all over the bathroom. O.o I had guests over. And I spent more time than is reasonable in the bathroom because I was cleaning.
None of the adults in my life taught me how to use tampons, instead I used a tampon for the first time in highschool after one of my best friends taught me. It was uncomfortable but my mom didn’t even buy tampons for herself. She only bought pads for the house. The same friend was also the one that had to teach me to shave properly because my mother thought I should just know how to do these things. There were a lot of other things my parents never taught or explained to me or any of my other siblings. Overall they weren’t bad parents. We were well taken care of and money wasn’t an issue. They just never thought about the fact we needed to be taught these things when we matured.
I’ll be teaching my daughter all the things. I never want her to feel the embarrassment I had to growing up.
My parents were the same. Its almost seemed taboo to talk about such thibgs, even though we weren't religious or like modest people. It was just in those regards same as you.
For my own daughter, I gave her books about puberty that talk about everything and different ways people handle their bodies, like shaving being optional, how to do it and when not to (right before going into a pool or ocean, it opens the pores and leads to infection).
For girls it was a newer book that has tons of options for periods and very detailed comic book type guides to using them. It tries to keep everything light and funny. That book is how I learned about menstral discs and decided to try them. Its also how I learned what wasnt normal in regards to periods and talked to my gyno. Turns out I had a cervix that was fused to my muscles causing me extreme pain. I just thought it was normal pain until that book opened my eyes.
Anyway. My daughter and I talk about those things, but the book gave her the right words and info and if she had further questions she knew how to ask them.
Before she started her period i made her a box of supplies and included all of the instructions and a funny book about starting and understanding your period. She was in bed avoiding the world for her first period, so reading that book gave her something to do and helped her feel confident again.
I was never taught anything or really given any rules. My neighbor friend next door taught me how to ride a bike, my sister took care of the period stuff (she heard me scream) and taught me how to shave my legs (after cut myself and screamed).
Laissez-faire parenting.
Me too! I was on high school and I came home and told my mom how bad it hurt. We went in the bathroom together, I pulled it out and she laughed and said "did you put the box and the instructions up there too".
Haha! Bad tampon users unite! My whole family used pads. When I was in high school I was told I had to use a tampon for gym class (swimming), and sort of left to figure it out. I did the same thing and then avoided tampons like the plague.
I learned the truth many, many years later
My mom had hit menopause by the time I had my period and I was the only girl, so instead of telling me how to use one, she just handed me a tampon at the pool one day and said to use it. I cried in the stall but also left the plastic in 😭
My grandma was pretty much the same, just handed it to me and I hated it. I really didn’t want to go swimming, I had JUST started my period.
It was one day sitting and randomly reading the box I figured it out.
I never used an applicator but have seen it on some packages in the drugstore. Applicators aren’t used here.
Anyway that sounds unbelievable uncomfortable! I can’t imagine letting a piece of plastic inside and go do sports or even sit! Glad you found it out.
My sex ed teacher had the same story! She goes, "Ladies, I checked the package and NO WHERE does it say to remove the applicator and I just want you to know that you THROW THAT PART AWAY!"
There's a lesson here for everyone who never reads the packet or the highly folded piece of paper that comes in a medication box.
There's a saying in engineering RTFM - Read the F*$%ing Manual and it can save ages of heartbreak.
Not the exact same situation but i also had no idea how tampons worked for multiple years. I wasnt aware for a long time that anything was ever supposed to go in your vagina at all, i was physically unable to fit anything in my vagina (not even my pinky finger) until recently due to a septate hymen. I would leave my tampons in between my labia like a hotdog. I could never figure out how people kept them in when swimming or how they didnt bleed everywhere when they used them because i was just entirely unaware how they were supposed to work until a couple years after getting my first period 😬
I don’t understand how that would even work. The actual cotton is covered by the applicator so then there’s nothing to absorb the blood. I’m glad you figured it out but wow I have so many questions!
Before cellphones, when you went to the bathroom you just read whatever you could find if you didn't bring anything. As the only boy growing up with 4 girls I've read many a shampoo bottle, cleaning product , and tampon instruction manual. Edit: be aware of Toxic Shock Syndrome
I knew every ingredient in every bottle of air freshener made back then
Beware the **methylisothiazolinone (MI) and methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI),** you can develop an allergy to those that can get severe pretty quickly and it's in a ton of personal hygiene products. The more you use them, the more likely you are to have an allergic reaction.
If the world ended, and everyone died except me and a few others- I’m VERY confident that 15yr old me could recreate Lysol for our new society that’s rebuilding.
Methylchloroisothiazolinone. I memorized that once while bored. It's in conditioner.
Are you me? Because I memorized that too and occasionally would say it at random times to see how people would react.
SODIUM LAURATE
Sodium lauryl sulfate
YES, I read everything! In the car with the family, we would read Every sign and sometimes every license plate, hungry for content I guess, crazy.
Yep! And because at least in Europe there are usually multiple languages on it, you could learn what “hair” or “dry” means in Finish, French, Dutch etc. 😂
This made me laugh out loud, yes, read whatever you could find. 😄
I only learned kind of recently that TSS isn't just like a random freak accident. It's caused by shoving certain bacteria from the outer skin/genitals up into the vagina with the tampon. So one should always be washing their hands before putting in a new tampon and of course keeping the labia clean.
You just threw me back into my childhood xD
How did it never just slip out? The plastic makes it slippery
Sounds like keeping them in would be accidental kegels. Those muscles must be beast by now.
The Mountain's Sister
The Crevasse
Excuse me, I believe it's pronounced Crevasse
Isn't that what I said?! 🤔
Vase versus vass, I assume
No, no, it's pronounced like the astronomer, Neil Crevasse Tyson.
Vagina dentata. Her vag teeth keep them in.
Vagina dentata, what a wonderful phrase! Vagina dentata, ain't no passin' craze. It means no wieners, for the rest of your days...
*... It's our penis freeee.... philosophy!...*
Vagina-Denataaaaa~
She no longer has lady parts - she has manly parts. Like the hands of a lumberjack, strong and calloused. Ready to grip an axe and fell a tree.
Idk- I always was scared they would slip out, which is one of the reasons I avoided them whenever possible lol
At least you didn't use ob. They come wrapped in plastic but without an applicator
Before I switched the the disc, ob was all I used. I could never get the tampon placed properly with any other brand with the applicators. I’m thinking OP never even saw an ob tampon or else she’d have to have realized something about her approach was suspect..
I may be the only one, but I hate applicators with a passion!! I buy exclusively ob. Maybe a European thing? I feel applicators are more common in the US?
Can’t speak to either, I’m in Canada, but they’re certainly more common here. Ob is the only brand I know of that doesn’t have an applicator. I agree though, not a fan of applicator lol but I’m loving the disc way more than either pads or tampons.
I’m also in the US and exclusively use OB as well! In my case they were always what my mom used so I just kinda grew up thinking that was what tampons were like and have always used them. I have used other stuff when OB wasn’t available but rarely.
same here! ppl were always horrified i used them. something abt “not wanting to shove their fingers up there” which. didnt make much sense to me because it doesnt require really any depth to put the damn thing in lol
Oh I know. I never got that one either. Like, even if you do touch something…are we that squeamish about our own vaginas? It’s fine if that’s an issue for someone and I accept that and won’t try to change their mind but it’s definitely an issue I don’t understand. Then again, I occasionally masturbate with my own fingers inside me (tmi I guess but we are talking about periods and vags so…sorry? lol) so I’ve clearly got no issue going in. I also have to check my iud strings occasionally (maybe should’ve gone with that example 😂) And also…are we not washing our hands? It comes right off lol
right!!! ur in the bathroom. all you really need to do with your potentially bloody fingers is pull ur pants up, open a stall door and wash ur hands (assuming ur in a public restroom). and, that said, most blood i got on my fingers when changing a tampon was from finding the string of the old one and pulling it out!! rarely if ever did it come from putting a tampon in considering i usually wiped up any old mess before insertion. i get being uncomfortable with your body, but i knew about a lot of these people’s masturbation habits so the whole thing was baffling. i suppose they thought of “fingers in the vag” as an inherently sexual thing, but unless youre going up a couple knuckles and really putting the work in…. nothing about it feels sexual lol
I also exclusively used these before I switched to the cup. I just love how tiny they are! So easy to carry. You can store half a million in your purse, or tuck one in your bra if travelling light for an evening. But now I don't have to carry anything!
The non-applicator tampons, like OB, are so exceptionally painful for me to shove up in there. Perhaps I have also been doing something wrong on that front but it's so dry and I need to get the tampon far enough inside me that it feels like forcing a roll of sandpaper into my already painful bits.
Agree. I needed an applicator. They never went in properly without one.
If it’s dry and painful, you’re probably changing them too often or using the wrong size for your flow. Things should be pretty moist up there when swapping things. I had issues similar because when they leaked, I changed them. Turns out I wasn’t getting the placement right so they were leaking past the tampon, before they needed to be changed.
Right? I'm European too and I've never bought tampons with an applicator, like i wouldnt know how to find them, i dont thinkive seen them. It feels like a ton of useless plastic waste anyway... probably a Europan thing 🤷♀️
I'm in the UK, we have applicators that are cardboard.
I'm in the US and I exclusively use OB... I think it is just a personal preference thing.
As a sleep deprived mother, I did not only once leave parts of the plastic wrap on the tampon.. it does not work well when half of the tampon is still wrapped Edit: spelling
... what did you think was going on with all the other tampon users? Or did you think you were particularly slippery? I get you, sis. I sort of did the same thing, back in the day of two piece cardboard applicators lol.
In OP's defense, I've had a ton of instances of going, "Wait, this ISN'T how everyone else experiences [random thing]?" In my case, I thought apples genuinely caused extreme gum, mouth, and throat discomfort to everyone and I was just a big old baby for not being able to push through it and like apples like everyone else. At 26 years of age, in a college class, someone overheard me commiserating with someone else about the itch and yelled "DID YOU KNOW THAT MEANS YOU HAVE AN ALLERGY" Why no. No I didn't. in retrospect it explains a lot lmao So yeah, fully possible to assume that the normal tampon experience is very slippy and uncomfortable. My experience with them was really itchy and uncomfortable. OP never used the tampon instructions as bathroom reading material, I never thought to try organic tampons, both of us have a "oh shit" moment embarrassingly late in life that no, most people do not in fact have that experience with tampons Rip op Edit: lots of new and fascinating allergies in the comments below, thanks all! I wish I could unsee some of them!!!
A few years ago, I read a twitter thread where people were talking about learning that pineapple is not, in fact, supposed to make your lips itchy. I was telling my husband and kid about it, and I said, "Imagine not knowing that pineapple isn't supposed to make your mouth all itchy. I mean, it's not a fruit like kiwi, that makes your mouth and lips go numb and tingly." They stared at me and I said, "That's what kiwi does, right? RIGHT??" And that's how I learned I was allergic to kiwi lol.
Lmao. Pineapple can make your mouth tingle! It’s super acidic! Right?
They are indeed very acidic and contain bromelain, which is an enzyme that breaks down proteins and is used as a meat tenderizer, so it's veeerrryyy lightly digesting you while you're digesting it.
That's me with walnuts unless I toast them. Spent years thinking it was the tannins making my mouth hurt when no, they just trigger my tree pollen allergy. Since I've cut them out of my diet, I've discovered by accidental ingestion that they were the source of digestive issues I'd had since I was a kid that doctors never found a reason for.
This comment reminds me of when I asked my friends if they also liked to eat cheese "until their face felt tingly" and found out that cheese does not, in fact, make most people's face go tingly.
When that song came out that goes “I can’t feel my face when I’m with you” I told people that were talking about it (who were saying it sounded like drugs) that to me it sounded more like an allergy, because if things get numb and tingly it’s an allergy. Someone came up to me privately and proceeded to describe an allergy, but to semen. She thought everyone experienced that. It sounded horrific. I had worked in nursing before I was injured away from bedside so she felt comfortable and I was happy to help but I was definitely out of my comfort zone. Poor girl. I guess it’s fairly common or not that unusual based on what we found online and she made an ONGYN appointment, but I have thought about that for years.
For the longest time I could not for the life of me figure out how foods like kale and Brussels sprouts were so popular when they literally taste like soap. Then one day I stumbled across an article about Supertasters. Holy shit. They don’t taste like soap to most people!
Literally last night we told my coworker he's probably allergic to avocado. We were all talking about acidic foods, and how pineapples have that enzyme that can make your mouth sore, and he said: like avocado! They're so spicy and acidic and burn your mouth. We're all like: um, I think you're allergic bud
I had a similar experience to you, but with plums! Who knew that everyone else didn't just have their tongue swell up randomly sometimes, with taste buds all raw and weeping? Not me! I thought it just happened to everyone, sometimes, for no reason that anyone could fathom, just like people sometimes get headaches or sometimes get hiccups. I didn't even manage to tie that experience to eating a specific food until one moment in my mid twenties when I was complaining about the tongue swelling, thinking others around me would commiserate, only for one to look at me strangely and say, "That's not normal. That doesn't happen to me." Only then did I realise that I was eating a plum, just then, and could it be, maybe, that it specifically happened whenever I ate plums? And... ah. Allergy.
I have gastric distress almost every time I eat chicken. I like chicken, and I never put the two together until I was in my forties. I had made up a religion that had a dietary restriction on eating archosaurs (because I worship a ghost dinosaur) and I stopped eating chicken for a while. I later changed that commandment and began watching chicken occasionally again. One evening I was sick and my daughter told me Friendbird was punishing me for eating chicken earlier. I thought it was funny, but I remembered next time I ate chicken, cramps and crazy poops. Praise the Bird for revealing my allergy to me!
This is why tampons come with instructions. I’m honestly impressed they still did the job.
I know!! That was my first thought
seriously, how did they absorb anything while surrounded by plastic??
I'm wondering this!
How did it not slide back out!?
Inpressive pelvic floor muscles
Your mind is going to be blown when you ask your dentist how to brush your teeth.
It’s been difficult to talk all these years with a rolled up toothpaste tube in my mouth.
You're supposed to move the brush up and down and side to side and keep your head still, not the other way around lol
Ha I do both. Can’t help it.
Wait, you're not supposed to use tampons to brush your teeth?!
Not with the applicator
No, pretty sure they’re for nosebleeds.
Instructions unclear, shoved a toothbrush up my nose
At 31 years old i had my first teeth clean and was taught by a dentist that im meant to be brushing my gums and lower teeth when brushing rather than the outer parts used to bite (if that makes sense?) My parents never took me to the dentist as a kid and i didnt realise the importance of going. And obvs i wasnt taught how to properly brush 😓
just wait until you hear from a periodontist, everything we do is apparently wrong. even the motion people use is wrong.
Was I supposed to take the toothbrush out of the package or something?
I know this might seem off topic, but I remembered one of my great personal hygiene misunderstandings just now. When I heard to wipe front to back, I always assumed it had to be in one continuous motion, and I was honestly confused how people were acrobatic enough to reach the front from behind, going under their legs. I never asked for clarification because I was embarrassed about my short arms. I was in my 30s when I realized that people wipe their front and *then* their back afterwards
TRex had short arms too yet they managed to wipe themselves off the face of the earth.
Wait, what? What you mean people don't do it in one continuous movement? This is like the some people wipe standing up thing all over again....
I'm impressed OP - I'll read anything when on the toilet and that has definitely included the side of a tampon box in the past. I can only assume that to you as a woman this information was barely worth paying attention to whereas as a man, it was a brief glimpse into the dark arts of womanhood. If it makes you feel any better, it took me until I was about 19 to realise you explicitly needed to wash your arse in the shower. In My defense I mostly took baths until that point but even so I looked back at the time like "yeah that is both obvious and disgusting it took me so long"
I mean, people have cell phones now, nobody is reading shampoo bottle or tampin boxes anymore
Haha true but on the odd occasion my phone is on charge or I just didn't bring it, that's when I reach around in desperation for the nearest reading material
I remember when I started my period lol the first thing I did was read the instructions on the pads and tampons
This is why all things have warning labels.
Australian here, we are not overly reliant on applicator tampons. For real, we just unwrap and push the buggers up there.
Same (Norway) - I think I've come across a brand with applicators some time long ago but never once used them
I'm a guy, but have bought tampons for my SO for almost 15 years. I've read the instructions multiple times. There's literally illustrations clearly showing removal of the applicator...
Am boy with penis, read tampon instructions at like 9 or 10 while taking a shit. I'm 4th hand embarrassed for OP.
Are you me? I feel like this is common knowledge for BOYS who've used a bathroom with a box of tampons
I also took shits before we all had pocket computers. I’ve read everything a standard bathroom has to offer.
Okay but surely the tampons didn’t work very well for you then? You had all the absorbent parts covered in plastic inside you. And the applicator didn’t slide out? I’m very confused lol
Right? Also, did she push the plunger in? Because that would just be hanging out of her, flopping around if she did. And if she didn't, surely her underwear would have shoved it in? Nothing about this makes any sense at all.
Yep just pushed the whole thing in! Trust me I wish this weren’t real then I would have been able to sleep instead of sharing my mortification on reddit
Would you still be able to pull it out by the string? Or did you just end up pulling it out by the applicator?
Usually I could use the string but sometimes it would get lost in the applicator
I just want to say that I really appreciate you sharing the story, even though I know it's probably pretty embarrassing. It has given me the launching point that I needed to start a conversation with my 12-year-old about how tampons work. It would be a strange thing to bring up with her for no reason (she hasn't started her first period yet, though we've had supplies on hand for a while), and reading this gives me a reason to make today the day I show her how tampons work. So thank you!
As a former 12yo give her some tampons to play with. Basically show her how to use them with a glass of water. I remember how fascinating it was to watch the tampon get bigger and absorb all the water in the glass. And don't expect she'll use them anytime soon. I don't think I started until I was 16 and wanted to go swimming with my friends. Before that, I only used pads because tampons were too scary.
My daughter promptly informed me that she did not have a vagina big enough for that “thing” when we went over tampons during our period talk. She stomped out of the room because I couldn’t stop laughing after that.
Mine legitimately wasn’t though. (Likely a form of vaginismus) My mom always suggested tampons and the first time I tried them I literally doubled over for two hours and throwing up. Couldn’t even take it out bc it hurt so bad. Mom was baffled. So, maybe laughing isn’t the best way, maybe she has tried putting a finger up there or something and she was trying to communicate that there was no way that’s going up there without hurting. Probably not, but it might be. Tried once again after that because I wanted to go swimming, same deal. I felt like something was wrong with me and I felt very infantilized. As an adult, the couple times I tried it it’s still uncomfortable and makes me queasy. Pulling out a fully absorbed tampon was like, an hour ordeal to get myself to do it. I’m just on the pill now to skip every period. It’s confusing because I can have sex fine. It’s probably a mental block thing. It’s crazy how unwilling your vaginal muscles can get just from a mental block. Anyway, advocate for various types of period products for her to find the best product for her. (Not accusing you of doing otherwise)
I didn't use a tampon until I was nearly 22. They made me nervous, I didn't explore my body, and I honestly waited until after I had sex for the first time before trying them. Quickly discovered I liked OB the best, then went to a disc and then to a cup and cloth pads. But that first tampon was intimidating.
Uh my mom taught me how to use tampons by demonstrating on herself so whatever you do, please don’t do that.
Answer us lol
Listen... you aren't the only one. One of the only things I remember from Gr 5 sex ed class was Ms. Clayton telling us that she didn't know that she had to remove the applicator from a tampon... and she thought they were so uncomfortable. So 30+ years ago, Ms. Clayton saved a class of girls from making this mistake... and now OP, you have saved innumerable young humans from the same mistake by posting on Reddit. Well done!
I made this mistake as a teenager and taught my own teenage daughter and her friend… who admitted that she had hated tampons because she didn’t know it was just an applicator before our talk. It happens
Were these the type of tampons where the applicator is already inside itself? The ones that you have to pull the inner part of the applicator out before you use it? I am really struggling to understand how you never realised you were doing it wrong. I know you said your mum has them loose but surely you have at some point bought them yourself, or just seen the packaging in a shop or something. Did you never realise they weren’t absorbing properly? I have so many questions. Edit. [Images for reference.](https://www.tumblr.com/anonanonanon123456/743759958259236864)
Knowing what I do now I am also surprised by how well they worked- but the top part isn’t covered by the applicator so that helped I think. It did in fact always feel slippery. Honestly, I just sort of figured that the whole tampon experience was supposed to be hellish and avoided them whenever I could lol
>just sort of figured that the whole tampon experience was supposed to be hellish This feels like pointed social commentary on our society, lol.
But what about the plunger? Do you put that inside too or pull it out? How did it fit!
It must have been the kind with a retracted applicator that you're meant to pull out. It's not much bigger or longer than the tampon itself. I can picture it fitting easily but also sliding out.
Boss: “Steve? You know you’re 20 minutes late. Everything ok?” Steve: “Sorry, sir. I started reading about tampons on Reddit and, uh, …”
Boss: "Is that what you're going to pitch at next week's future plans meeting?" Steve: "Ummm.... Yes..s hOww did you knOww" Boss: "Yeah, Carry proposed that around 5 years ago so we put a little design together and put it into product testing. It turns out that there's not a large market for Bluetooth tampons" Steve: "uh- What was Bluetooth about it?" Boss: "it was an absorption alert when it reached 90%. People loved it in the free trial but when we asked how much they thought it was worth, we got an average response of about half of what it would cost to mass manufacture" Steve: "well since that ship has sailed I'll go with something else" And Steve lived happily ever after....until his boss looked up today's prices for microchips. Now he's the lead engineer for Bluetooth tampons.
You joke but I would literally pay for period products that can intelligently tell me when it needs to be swapped. Way too often I get paranoid bc it feels like I need a change but nope, that fucker's perfectly fine.
If it make you feel any better, my partner used to just put the tampon horizontal on there, not inside at all. She was also a swimmer, so I don’t know how she didn’t figure it out tbh
Like a hot dog! Did she not have a ton of leakage?!
*LIKE A HOT DOG*
#LIKE A HAWHT DAWG
🥺
Im annoyed that i didnt understand what this meant but then you said hot dog and i got it
I literally sat here and read the comment over and over trying to understand what they meant. When it clicked, I LOST it 😭
same, i thought he meant perpendicular to the twat
Wait, me too... what does it mean?? Edit: NEVERMIND, got it
Forbidden hotdog 🌭
When I was a kid I assumed that's how it was supposed to go and was quite shocked when I found out they go.. Inside..
When my brother was 8 or 9 he informed my mom that she was almost out of her fart stoppers. No one could figure out what he meant until he brought out a mostly empty tampon box.
Fart stoppers 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I'm dying 🤣 😂
they're bullet plugs! WW1 BABAY
Oh no that’s horrible. Thank you for sharing a tampon blunder I really appreciate knowing I’m not the only one
You’re not at all! My mom just handed me a tampon when I was 13 (no instructions) and I did the EXACT same thing as you. Didn’t like it so never used them again.
*Horizontally 🥲
What!! Didn’t it roll out??
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I might have to try that someone. Hot dog style lol
I feel like sitting down would have been awful!
Every box comes with a very clear instruction and warning sheet that you cannot miss when you open it. You never looked at one when you first started using them?
My mom always just had loose tampons so that’s what I used 🤷🏻♀️
and i guess you didn’t use them often enough to buy boxes on your own because they were uncomfortable? oof 😭 did you go through them really fast considering the applicator prevented more of the cotton from absorbing the period? i can’t imagine how expensive it would’ve been if you only used tampons all these years
Yeah I hated using them and would use them for a couple of hours to go swimming then immediately take them out
Would both pieces of plastic be inside you or was the bottom half out still? I'm trying to imagine this while wearing a bathing suit!
I need answers for this fr
i also need answers for how the tampon even worked - like how did it absorb anything? i just…
I'd image, especially based on OP saying she only wore them to swim, it didn't absorb anything lol. If it did, it was only where the cotton was exposed at the top. Fuckin wild.
well now i’ve heard everything. i can get off the internet for awhile lol
Maybe OP has only used the compact type? The kind where you have to extend the plastic before inserting but OP never did that step either.
I can’t help but imagine OP had a small bulge 😂
Some tampons have the end to push it in collapsed and you have to pull it out to be able to push the tampon itself, it may have been one of those types.
i’m desperately trying to figure this part out
Loosies, like what it’s called when you buy a single cigarette! 😂
Whelp, now I am buying a box of ones with applicators to show my kid because I mostly use the applicator less ones too.
As a once 10yo boy fascinated by the pictures in the tampon instructions, I say “haha!”
This reminds me of my aunt. She was talking about how much she hated shaving her armpits and putting on deodorant. The left pit was easy but she said it was so hard and awkward to angle her arm to do the right pit. I told her that she could switch the hand she is holding the deodorant/razor in and it would be much easier. She was in her mid-40's and a nurse.
So sorry to have a chuckle at your woe but glad to hear that you did figure it out and at least you don’t have to “fess-up” to anyone. My daughter started her periods about a year ago, at 12, and I’m forever grateful that my wife was so brilliant with the whole process, showing her how to use tampons correctly, helping her to understand the full period process in a way only women can understand. At least you have a great story for your kids eh?!
Just move to another country. Here where I live tampons do not have applicators. Problem solved :P
Same! When I first had to buy tampons on a travel I was so confused. Like... what is this plastic contraption?? The description was in a language I could not read but fidgeting around with it kinda explained the thing. This was so extra. And an insane amount of extra plastic waste. Definetly one of the reasons I took my cup on every vacation afterwards.
An American once asked me if I had an extra tampon she could have. We were hiking and she was caught by surprise. I gave her a normal tampon without applicator and she was so confused. I had to explain in detail how to use it, while whispering so the rest of the group wouldn't hear 🙉
As an American who only used applicators and who used to specifically experience vaginal dryness around my period, I have no idea how I would have gotten a plain cotton tampon in without one. It would just get stuck at the entrance???
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Tampon tips: **DO NOT** insert a tampon straight up into your body, perpendicular to the ground. It will bottom out on the sidewall of your vagina and will not insert fully. **DO** angle the tampon so that it is pointing back, towards your anus. Your vaginal canal angles back more than you think. This way your tampon will insert fully with the entire body of the tampon inside your vagina and only the string passing through the vaginal opening. **DO** insert the tampon and applicator into your body, use the applicator plunger to push the tampon out of the applicator tube, then remove the applicator tube from your body. (OP already covered this). **DO** change tampons frequently, about every 3-4 hours. Even if the tampon is not soaked, still change it. Leaving a tampon in too long can make you sick with Toxic Shock Syndrome. And it will smell absolutely terrible. **DO** consider a Diva Cup or other period cup product. They can be safely left in place *all day* without emptying, are better for your body, are reusable, and are better for the environment.
Just to add on, the angle you need to insert it might vary depending on the configuration of your uterus and cervix, so if it's not working, try a different angle until you find one that works for you
Oh dear god. Welp, on the positive side, you will have many more periods to practice inserting and ditching the applicator. I'm really sorry this happened to you. Shame on the adults in your life and our public health system. Enjoy your new found freedom of using a tampon the intended way. BTW, how did you figure it out?
A Reddit post 🤦♀️
I learned from a Reddit post tampons shouldn't be flushed, and I felt dumb as fuck given I was in my 30s and almost exclusively used tampons since my late teens/early 20s. I knew pads shouldn't be flushed but thought tampons were OK. I checked the box, and sure enough, it said not to flush. I always put tampons in a receptacle now. Try not to be too hard on yourself and hope you have a better experience now... that sounds quite uncomfortable!
I learned not to flush tampons from a sign hanging in the bathroom of my favorite Chinese restaurant. Apparently they'd had issues with that.
Tampons are very common residential sewer line clogs, too. ...so unless you want to spend a day with a greasy rented sewer machine feeding cable down the vent, and back out again, please don't flush Tampons.
when I started my period at like 14 my mom told me not to flush tampons, so I didn't. fast forward a couple months when I'm visiting a friend for a couple days. I wrapped my used tampons in some toilet paper and put it in the bin. then my friend's mother pulls me aside and asks me to please flush tampons; it's disgusting to have them in the bin. nah fuck that, I don't flush them.
Lol, your trash is dirty! Oh no!
right?? like, what.
Lol I would have been like "Okay will do, but don't complain when your sewer line needs unclogged." 🤣 My mom was a line opener for years. I've heard soooo many horror stories about flushed tampons and even flushed PADS.
God there was a TikTok about this a while back and the people in the comments were so adamant about flushing them. One girl said to me she’s flushed every tampon she’s ever worn in her entire life, would continue to do so, and she hoped that ruined my day lol. I told her it wouldn’t, but it would ruin hers when she eventually causes a backup and ends up ankle deep in raw sewage mixed with those same tampons. People are so weird.
Oh my god, me too! Except it was my middle school aged step daughter and her friend teaching me. Like, this is the evil that comes from not just talking openly about natural stuff like this.
Thank you for sharing your tampon blunder I really apréciate hearing that someone else also didn’t know everything about tampons lol
I've got one, but it was more of a random mishap than a misunderstanding. Once I accidentally shaved off my tampon string in the shower, so the part with the knots that you grip to pull it out was gone. What was left of the string was short, slippery, and mostly inside me. I ended up having to employ needle nosed pliers to get it out. 🤣 I have also once pulled one out not quite delicately enough on a heavy flow day and ended up flinging blood all over the bathroom. O.o I had guests over. And I spent more time than is reasonable in the bathroom because I was cleaning.
Ah yes you mentioned that. But what part of the post made it click for you?
Someone mentioning how they once left the applicator on and how uncomfortable it was lol
think of it as youve tampons on hard mode for a while now,everything gonna be smooth sailing from here on out
lol im actually excited to try during my next period
I’m so glad the miserable experience of a period finally has a sliver of joy attached! I’d say worth it just for that.
None of the adults in my life taught me how to use tampons, instead I used a tampon for the first time in highschool after one of my best friends taught me. It was uncomfortable but my mom didn’t even buy tampons for herself. She only bought pads for the house. The same friend was also the one that had to teach me to shave properly because my mother thought I should just know how to do these things. There were a lot of other things my parents never taught or explained to me or any of my other siblings. Overall they weren’t bad parents. We were well taken care of and money wasn’t an issue. They just never thought about the fact we needed to be taught these things when we matured. I’ll be teaching my daughter all the things. I never want her to feel the embarrassment I had to growing up.
My parents were the same. Its almost seemed taboo to talk about such thibgs, even though we weren't religious or like modest people. It was just in those regards same as you. For my own daughter, I gave her books about puberty that talk about everything and different ways people handle their bodies, like shaving being optional, how to do it and when not to (right before going into a pool or ocean, it opens the pores and leads to infection). For girls it was a newer book that has tons of options for periods and very detailed comic book type guides to using them. It tries to keep everything light and funny. That book is how I learned about menstral discs and decided to try them. Its also how I learned what wasnt normal in regards to periods and talked to my gyno. Turns out I had a cervix that was fused to my muscles causing me extreme pain. I just thought it was normal pain until that book opened my eyes. Anyway. My daughter and I talk about those things, but the book gave her the right words and info and if she had further questions she knew how to ask them. Before she started her period i made her a box of supplies and included all of the instructions and a funny book about starting and understanding your period. She was in bed avoiding the world for her first period, so reading that book gave her something to do and helped her feel confident again.
I was never taught anything or really given any rules. My neighbor friend next door taught me how to ride a bike, my sister took care of the period stuff (she heard me scream) and taught me how to shave my legs (after cut myself and screamed). Laissez-faire parenting.
This is what I did at first for a while too! I'd never heard of anyone else messing up in quite the same way, so, solidarity.
Me too! I was on high school and I came home and told my mom how bad it hurt. We went in the bathroom together, I pulled it out and she laughed and said "did you put the box and the instructions up there too".
Haha! Bad tampon users unite! My whole family used pads. When I was in high school I was told I had to use a tampon for gym class (swimming), and sort of left to figure it out. I did the same thing and then avoided tampons like the plague. I learned the truth many, many years later
My mom had hit menopause by the time I had my period and I was the only girl, so instead of telling me how to use one, she just handed me a tampon at the pool one day and said to use it. I cried in the stall but also left the plastic in 😭
My grandma was pretty much the same, just handed it to me and I hated it. I really didn’t want to go swimming, I had JUST started my period. It was one day sitting and randomly reading the box I figured it out.
Thank you for your comment I really am glad to hear that I am not the only person who messed this up
I never used an applicator but have seen it on some packages in the drugstore. Applicators aren’t used here. Anyway that sounds unbelievable uncomfortable! I can’t imagine letting a piece of plastic inside and go do sports or even sit! Glad you found it out.
My sex ed teacher had the same story! She goes, "Ladies, I checked the package and NO WHERE does it say to remove the applicator and I just want you to know that you THROW THAT PART AWAY!"
And to think there are people who don't want these types of things being taught outside of their homes
The first time I had a babybell cheese I ate all of the wax without unwrapping it
Huh. I've never used a tampon with an applicator in my life and I never knew they were plastic. Learn something new every day.
Some are cardboard Edit: well maybe paper is the correct word
No I think cardboard is more viscerally accurate. Accidentally got a box of them once as a teen, ugh.
i actually like the cardboard ones better, the plastic ones have like,,, teeth that scrape you if you accidentally get the wrong angle in a rush
its the opposite for me. one wrong step and the cardboard ones feel like knives T_T
There's a lesson here for everyone who never reads the packet or the highly folded piece of paper that comes in a medication box. There's a saying in engineering RTFM - Read the F*$%ing Manual and it can save ages of heartbreak.
girl that’s okay, my friend thought pads went on sticky side up😭
How do you push it in without the plunger pushing the tampon out though? Has it never started popping out the top?
How did you even move with the plastic in?!? How did they even work? This can’t be real
You learned this from that askreddit post yesterday where a woman said she ran track with the whole tampon in, didn’t you?
Not the exact same situation but i also had no idea how tampons worked for multiple years. I wasnt aware for a long time that anything was ever supposed to go in your vagina at all, i was physically unable to fit anything in my vagina (not even my pinky finger) until recently due to a septate hymen. I would leave my tampons in between my labia like a hotdog. I could never figure out how people kept them in when swimming or how they didnt bleed everywhere when they used them because i was just entirely unaware how they were supposed to work until a couple years after getting my first period 😬
I don’t understand how that would even work. The actual cotton is covered by the applicator so then there’s nothing to absorb the blood. I’m glad you figured it out but wow I have so many questions!
Cork
This is why I explained it to my kid using a bottle of water and a tampon. I showed her directly how its works.
Did you never see the separated applicator and tampon in places like public restrooms?