Are sanitary pads sold everywhere in Morocco? Do you have to take your own tampons to Nicaragua or can you just buy them there? Everywhere in the world women menstruate. Unfortunately this doesn’t mean that all sanitary products are available in every country.
On Lipgloss and a Backpack there’s info about the availability of feminine hygiene products in nearly every country in the world. Can you buy tampons and/or sanitary pads there? Where? What make? Make sure to check the list if you’re about to go on holiday in a faraway country. Because a box of Tampax takes up suitcase space that could also be used for an extra pair of shoes or a nice dress.
Easy to get: sanitary pads
Apart from rural areas in Ethiopia and Kenya, sanitary pads can be bought almost everywhere. Still, it can be a good idea to take your ‘own’ favourite brand. When visiting Sri Lanka for example, where the quality of most pads is terrible. Although they’re widely available, they’re also ‘bulky’, ‘leaky’ and smell horrible. In Bangladesh many pads are ineffective and most bathrooms lack toilet paper and waste bins. Make sure to also put some plastic bags in your luggage if you’re going.
Take your own: tampons
Tanzania, Cambodia, Iran and Pakistan. Make sure to take your own tampons when visiting these countries as it’s difficult or virtually impossible to get them there. Need tampons in Nicaragua? Go to a pharmacy in a big city. Looking for the white pieces of cotton in China? Visit a Watson’s or Auchan supermarket and look up. Tampons will most likely be displayed on the higher shelves as they’re nearly exclusively bought by longer (read: foreign) women. The vast majority of the Chinese women prefer sanitary pads.
Backpack full? Use a menstrual cup
The information on Lipgloss and a Backpack is especially useful if you’re planning a round-the-world trip that’s longer than six months. Because taking all the tampons and/or sanitary pads you’ll need for that journey will mean that a quarter of your backpack is already filled with hygiene products. Of course there’s a simple way to avoid all the packing stress: use washable sanitary pads, washable tampons or a menstrual cup. In that case, make sure to visit Morocco: almost every bathroom there has running water to clean your cup.
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