What Is a Sanitary Towel?

A sanitary towel, also known as a pad, is a piece of absorbent material you place into the crotch of your knickers in order to absorb your menstrual fluid and protect your clothes when you have your period.

They have a sticky bottom that presses in your knickers to keep them in place while you go about your day. You’ll need to change your sanitary pad about once every 4 to 8 hours.

Sanitary towels come in a bunch of different shapes and sizes. What kind of sanitary towel you use is a matter of personal preference. Some are thin. Some are bulky. Some are long. Some aren’t. Some have wings that you wrap around the sides of your knickers. Some don’t. And, importantly, some work better than others. Always Ultra pads are great because they use special technology that turns liquid into gel – and gel doesn’t leak! – for up to 100% leakage protection.

Sanitary pads are designed to be absorbent, holding a good amount of liquid. But how much blood does a sanitary pad actually hold? An average sanitary pad holds about 5 ml of blood, or just about a teaspoon.

That sounds like a tiny amount, doesn’t it? Consider, however, that on average you bleed just 10 to 30 ml of menstrual fluid during your period.

So absorbing 5 ml of blood is a pretty significant amount of the total menstrual fluid you bleed on average during your period.

Now that you know what a sanitary towel is you can be sure to have some on hand for when your period comes.

Knowing what a sanitary towel is sure is helpful, but it’s half the battle. The other half is knowing how to use one. Here are some quick, easy instructions.

To use a pad, peel off the back wrapper and press the pad sticky-side-down into your knickers. If the pad has wings, wrap them around the sides of your panties. You’re good to go.