Handling Menstruation as a Homeless Woman

(Newswire.net — September 11, 2018) Cheyenne, Wyoming — There are so many women living on the streets, dependent on shelters and struggling through precarious situations while faced with the predicament of dealing with their period without access to basic sanitary applications that the average female takes for granted. It is one thing to deal with a heavy period, an everlasting period and agonizing cramps, but it’s a totally different situation to face it without any feminine hygiene products at all.  

“There are 50,000 women living on the streets nationwide, and with limited access to pads and tampons, and no steady, comfortable place to shower, they are forced to get creative with ways to keep clean when they have their periods,” explains Bustle. “Some use socks, paper towels, plastic bags, toilet paper, towels, cotton balls, or clothing in place of hygiene products.” 

Sadly, some women have found themselves so desperate that they end up stealing pads and tampons. It’s a direly desperate issue if a woman is squeezed into the position of stealing due to the flow of her period. Literally everything is a struggle for homeless people but being a homeless woman comes with the certain added anxiety of bleeding a number of days each month and scrambling for ways to stay clean.  

While it’s unanimously established that stealing is just plain wrong, unfortunately that is exactly what some homeless women feel compelled to do then there are others who would rather risk health complications over choosing to steal in pursuit of containing their menstruation mess. To great surprise, there are some desperate women who have become quite ingenious about addressing the situation as previously highlighted. One woman has even taken to deconstructing a single pad for materials to create several makeshift tampons. As unhygienic as creating one’s own menstruation implements may sound, it’s the only hygienic option available to most homeless women. 

The obvious sanitary and health concerns emerging from such circumstances are mind-blowing. This isn’t a coffee or ketchup stain being spoken about, they’re dealing with blood, stale blood resting against one’s body for many, many days at a time. Hemoglobin, bacteria, microorganism and all that comes with blood left resting on the skin unaddressed at length. 

“Not only is it terrible, but it’s also embarrassing,” says Kailah Willcuts, a homeless woman who’s been living on the streets around a decade now. “Not to mention that now you have this stain on your pants. I only have the clothes that I’m wearing, so I’m standing there half naked, bloodied, you know, washing my clothes out.” 

Matters such as these are starting to become a concern for those in a position to help homeless women. Charity groups, shelters and even state councils are starting to really focus on the menstrual issues faced by women who are homeless. In Johnston, Iowa, there’s a special little girl of age seven year old girl named Brenlyn Kuntson, she learned of her mother’s involvement in charity work and upon hearing that homeless would buy food but not other stuff they needed, she immediately thought of women in need of sanitary products thus created a Christmas wish movement she calls “Pagina Covers.” 

And in a captivating and innocent style as only a child can execute, “Pagina Covers” has become an instant hit with cash and donations of hygienic products flowing in from across America for delivery to women in homeless shelters. Alongside pads and tampons, vaginal suppositories which combat yeast and other fungal infections are imperative applications too. 

The HealthyWiser™ Femme-Fresh™ vaginal suppository has a boric acid formula which is medically-approved and gynecologist recommended for relieving discomforts and alleviating irritation. The Femme-Fresh™ vaginal suppository is available on Amazon so to donate it and any other feminine hygiene products, Brenlyn’s mom, Melissa Kuntson, may be contacted on Facebook to arrange delivery/collection.