Do You Need to Wear a Pad with Period Pants?

No, you don't need to wear a pad with period pants. By wearing the correct absorbency pants to match your flow and changing in line with this, you can wear our periods pants on their own.

With a cotton layer next to your skin, followed by absorbent layers, then a waterproof barrier you are fully protected from leaks! These layers extend beyond the gusset from the front to the back waistband.

On my light days I can wear my light to moderate flow pants from morning to the evening, changing into a fresh pair for bed. If you work long shifts and have light to moderate flow our heavy flow pants can last you upwards of 12hrs if needed.

On heavy days - picture perimenopausal flooding - I wear our heavy flow Feeling Fearless or Feeling Cosy and change lunchtime, early evening and for bed, averaging about 5hrs in the pants.

Whilst they aren't essential, if you would like additional protection, pads or organic cotton panty liners can be worn inside our period pants. On days where my flow is flooding or when changing out and about would be difficult, I wear a bamboo pad in my washable pants for the first half of the day. I remove this at lunchtime and carry on in the reusable pants alone.

If I was staying out into the evening I could use another pad til the early afternoon. I then carry a small wetbag with me to store the used pads. The wetbag holds in any smells and the pad holds any blood. No mess, no fuss just ready to rinse, soak and wash when I get home!

We have quite a few different types and all come in a variety of sizes from panty liner, day pad, to maternity and night pads - 

1. Cotton ultrapads - thin and discreet in a colourful range of patterns
2. Organic cotton non slip - absorbent, black, with non slip grip strips on the back
3. Bamboo - super absorbent, slightly thicker, great for heavy flow, natural fibres next to the skin
4. Charcoal bamboo - super absorbent, slightly thicker, great for heavy flow, man made fleece, perfect for avoiding stains
5. Fearless incontinence pads - super slim but absorbent, shaped for bladder leaks, charcoal impregnated odour control

"Excellent products. I really love these products. The pads and pants are absolutely amazing, I'll never go back to disposables. Prices are fair and they often do discounts and multibuys making products more affordable." Natasha, July '22 trustpilot

Our pants and pads are fantastic to use as backup to cups or tampons if you know you are going to have limited opportunity to change but aren't fully ready to go full time in reusables. 

We hope you've enjoyed our Cheeky guide on how to prevent leaks on your period and that if you haven't tried a pair yet, you feel more confident to. We are so sure that you will love our period pants and pads that we have created a 90 day trial scheme for them, so if they don't work for you, we'll refund you in full.

If you enjoyed this, we think you would like this blog on How often should you change period pants? or have a browse of all our blogs!

As always, if you're unsure of what you need to make the switch, please do drop the team a line or use the online chat function. The team all use the products themselves and just LOVE to chat pee poo and periods, all day long, nothing is TMI and we all love to overshare based on our own experiences...

About the Author:  Kirstin Scriven is part of the Customer Experience team at Cheeky Wipes, which since 2008 has been selling the original reusable wipes kit. She is mum to 3 and loves the forest, the sea and the hills!

Along with the rest of our crack team, she spends most days talking about poo, pee and periods and loves a chance to overshare. The business was recognised with a Queens Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in 2021, celebrating their hard work over the last 13 years.