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THE PUBERTY PORTAL: I know nothing about body changes

How to Put On and Take Off a Pad

opened period pad with white flowers laying on it, on a tan background

Follow these steps to ensure that your pad is properly placed:

  1. Most pads are wrapped in a piece of paper or plastic, so remove that outer wrapping if it’s there.
  2. On the bottom of the pad, you will find a piece of paper or plastic covering an adhesive (sticky) strip - remove that covering and then flip the pad over.
  3. The sticky part goes into the crotch of the underwear, sticking to the material. Try to center the pad so that the menstrual blood will collect in the middle. The placement doesn’t have to be perfect, but too far forward or too far back and blood can leak out on a heavy flow day.
  4. If your pad has “wings”, there’s extra material to cover the sides of the crotch part of the underpants. Remove the plastic or paper covering these extra pieces and wrap them around the outside of the underwear crotch. 

There aren’t really time limits about pad usage the same way there are limits for tampons, because pads sit outside of the body and don’t carry a risk of infection. That said, if your pad is getting saturated with blood, it should be changed because it can leak. Here’s how:

  1. When removing your pad, one easy approach is to roll it from front to back trapping the menstrual blood inside.
  2. The adhesive will help the roll to stick to itself, but you can wrap the removed pad in a little bit of toilet paper before throwing it in a trash can if you want to ensure that the blood stays contained. That’s especially thoughtful for the person who will be emptying the trash!

Important note: Never flush a pad down the toilet! The plumbing cannot handle it and eventually there will be an overflow.

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