Tampons are kind of the last place you want any type of toxin—so it’s pretty surprising to find that your typical tampon is jam-packed with so many. Kali Box founder, Jonna Piira, was keen on eliminating this worry for women and producing organic, cotton tampons with no added B.S (a.k.a toxins). We chatted with her on the nitty-gritty of tampon toxicity and why we should all make the switch to clean, organic sanitary products.
Start By Just Educating Yourself
“When I started this company, I didn’t even know what was in a tampon! So I started doing all this research and I realized how many chemicals they are actually filled with. All these things that you wouldn’t even think of eating, you’re putting in the most sensitive, most absorbent part of your body. I knew if I was going to create tampons and pads they had to be completely organic. The FDA classifies a tampon as a class two medical device, so legally a company doesn’t have to tell you what’s in your tampon. It’s really up to companies to let people know what’s in their products, and up to you to trust them.”
“When you’re looking at a tampon, you see a white cotton product. You don’t see all the other chemicals, whereas something like deodorant you might think—yeah there could be something in there. But you usually think of just cotton when you think of a tampon.”
Ditch The Irritation
“Based on research and actual data, 40% of the time that women go to the gynecologist it’s due to negative implications or irritation due to a sanitation product that they’re using. So we don’t even realize some of these scents and additives are actually causing vaginal irritation, and causing problems that can turn into bigger issues. When we were creating these products we wanted to make sure that we were using 100% organic and chemical free cotton because I think we should know what’s in the products that we’re using and putting in our bodies.”
Swap Out Other Products Too
“I think the collaboration we created with Palermo Body isn’t just about educating people on pads and tampons, but also about the other products they’re using that might have chemicals in them as well. If we’re helping women remove 3-5 chemicals they’re putting on their skin and in their bodies on a day to day basis, then that’s a win.”
We hope you learned as much as we did during this chat, and a big thank you to Jonna for taking the time to inform us!
