Design and development of feminine reusable pad without pad holder

Abstract

Purpose Naturally women have menstruation cycle in permanent time that is once in a month, destroying eggs and leaving the body in the form of bad blood. Girls begin their periods between the ages of 10–18. The average age is 13. Through the ages women have used different forms of menstrual protection. Women often used strips of folded old cloth (rags) to catch their menstrual blood. This old cloth is not recommended for health; in these cases, infection in the body is not friendly with the environment. By considering the above issues for women, the purpose of this paper is to design and develop a feminine reusable pad without a pad holder for economically challenged people around Ethiopian rural area where they live, well supported by the baseline survey and also with different technical tests of fabric and product in order to take care of women’s health-related issues. So a reusable pad is needed to hold off the blood, and it is necessary to change the reusable pad, at least three times a day in order to maintain proper hygiene. A proper reusable pad is made of cotton to absorb the blood, and sticker to stick the pad to the panties. Design/methodology/approach The reusable pad is developed with three different types of fabrics, forming three different layers of the product, such as 100 percent white knitted cotton, which is used as a top layer attached to the skin, which acts as an absorbing fluid and creates comfort to the wearer, polywadding (non-woven) fabric is used at the middle layer, which is mainly used for absorbent purposes, easily washable, and retains cotton fabric shapes from deformation, and water-repellent fabric is used as the lower layer, which acts as a resistant for the blood to prevent from seepage. Findings This new product is developed free from different harmful chemicals and easily available in the market, and it also has good air permeability, good water absorption, comfort, cost affordable, has the best tensile strength, high capacity to hold liquid, best water repellent, and many more features. With the help of this new product, which is aimed at the middle-/lower-middle class people, it gives a lot of benefits with respect to the cost and also takes care of women’s health with all the unique features. Originality/value This is the author’s original research work, which is focused on people who lived in a rural area and were economically challenged. The reusable pad is made up of three different fabrics, such as cotton, polywadding and water repellent. Each of the materials and designs to be used is of the author’s; if it is necessary you can cross-check with other works.