Do You Need to Wear a Pad with Period Pants?14 Comments6 July 2022 Updated 12th January 2024 No, you don't need to wear a pad with period pants but you may choose to do so for various reasons. Period panties are absorbent enough to be worn by themselves for most people as long as changed in line with flow. However, we often recommend that people use a pad too for their heavy days because it's easier to change a pad during the day and have that fresh knicker feeling for the rest of the day. In addition people who works shifts or with severely heavy periods or endometriosis may wish to double up on protection, wearing a pair of period underwear with a reusable pad. Find out more about each of these circumstances: 
If you fall into this category, chances are you struggle to manage your blood loss during your menstrual cycle using tampons or pads. For many women, this means bleeding through a maxi sanitary pad in an hour. Or doubling up on period protection, wearing both pads and tampons, or double maxi pads. Some women report simply not being able to leave the house if they're on their period. Wearing period underwear plus a pad can be literally life changing if you're in this situation as reusable products are SO much more absorbent. But they feel just like regular underwear! 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 extra protection during the first half of the day. I remove this at lunchtime and carry on in the reusable pants alone. I 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 in cold water, soak and wash when I get home! If you'd like to know more about this, our customers just helped us to complete a brilliant series of blogposts, starting with 'Endometriosis and Heavy Periods: Can reusable period products help?' which might be of interest. "I used this pad during the day in work (paramedic shift) on top of my period pants when I wanted to be very sure I wasn't going to spring a leak and not knowing when I might be able to get to a bathroom. I found it very comfortable, it didn't even show through to the back of the pad after a few hours wear during my heaviest flow, and most importantly, I was able to forget about it! They have come up completely clean in the wash - I leave a lidded bucket of cold salt water in the bathroom for them to soak, then rinse well before chucking in the wash." Bamboo Pad Review 
Most regular flow period pants will absorb approximately two tampons worth of blood. That means on my lighter menstrual flow 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 12 hours 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. If you work shifts and that would be tricky for you, wearing a reusable pad plus period pants is a brilliant option. "I thought I’d try these see if they helped me, I’m a carer and work up to 12 hr shifts with very little time to myself.
They most definitely helped" Vikki, via Trustpilot 
Helen, our founder falls into this category. Her periods aren't particularly heavy but she often wears a panty liner with a pair of period pants which she'll remove at lunchtime so she feels fresh and clean! She reckons it cuts down on washing too. Win, win! Is it OK to wear period pants all day?Yes, it's absolutely fine to wear period pants all day as long as you aren't getting leaks. However most people will want to change every 6 to 8 hours roughly on regular flow days, depending on the absorbency level of the period pants. Or wear a reusable pad which you can remove at lunchtime for that 'fresh knicker' feeling. As always, if you've got questions or want to know how to wash period underwear, have a browse of all our blogs! You may also enjoy: For any further questions on sizing etc, please do drop the team a line or use the online chat function. The team all use the products themselves, 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. | 
