JADE & PEARL SPO Sea Sponges, 12 FZ

I can't rave about this product enough! As someone who has been searching and searching for the perfect 'green' alternative to traditional pads and tampons, I have finally found my desert oasis. I tried, struggled, and ultimately failed with the Diva Cup (both sizes), which was first recommended to me by a friend. Either because I simply couldn't insert it correctly or because my body shape just didn't mesh well with the material and/or size of the DivaCup, I begrudgingly switched back to tampons and pads. My 'green' journey next brought me to cloth pads, which I ended up loving...which then brought me to Sea Pearls sponge tampons. I initially found out about this product via Amazon, and was skeptical at first--"Wait--I put a sea sponge inside me?!" But after I did a little reading and watched a few YouTube videos, I decided to give them a whirl. And I have never been more pleased! Sea sponge tampons are an excellent alternative to regular cotton-based tampons, which contribute to our environmental footprint and contain all sorts of harmful chemicals and dyes. Personally, I was searching for a product that could be re-used easily and safely, without the harmful chemicals and without leaving a huge eco-footprint. Although other reviews I'd read indicated that insertion can be a bit interesting, I have yet to have any issues with inserting my Sea Sponges. The manufacturer recommends sewing some dental floss to your sponges to simulate a string for easy removal, but this has not been necessary for me. As long as you relax your muscles and scrunch up the sponges before inserting them, they go in easily. The only downfall to this product is that there is not much lee-way if you let your sponge get too full. I've noticed that if I don't empty my sponge often enough on my heavy days, I may need to wear a light panty liner as there could be some drippage during removal. With that said, if you are diligent in your rinsing, there will be no leakage issues. If you are queasy at the idea of touching your own menstrual blood, this is not a product for you. You will notice an iron scent which you're rinsing your sponge, but this is natural and usually suppressed when you use traditional tampons. I simply rinse my sponge in hot water before re-inserting, and go about my merry way. I carry an extra sponge and a plastic bag in my purse if I'm not at home. I've noticed that I have become much more comfortable with my body and its functions since switching to this product. I am more in touch with my body and my cycle than before. I've been using my Sea Pearls for three cycles now, and I'm pleased to say that I've used maybe one or two disposable pantiliners at most--and that was only because I didn't have any clean re-usable pads available! I highly recommend this product to women of all ages who are looking for an environmentally friendly product that is re-usable, easy to use, and extremely comfortable!

I wish I had found these sooner! They are so much more comfortable than a tampon, better for the environment, cheaper, and better. They seem able to absorb more than a super tampon and I had zero leaks even on my heavy days when I would usually use supers. There is no leaking or red smudges when I pee either. And removing it was very easy (though you need to be comfortable getting up in there to pull it out, which might be harder for a young girl), and could also be made easier by threading floss through it if you wanted to. No splashing or spotting on removal. Rinsing and reinserting was very easy too. I also really appreciated that the pack came with two slightly different sizes. Having had a baby last year I assumed I would need the bigger size but I tried out the smaller one and actually found it much more comfortable, so I was able to easily trim the bigger one down to a size I liked. I will definitely be using these going forward.

Imfinitely preferred over manufactured, chemically-bleached tampons! Can be used as is, or, if you're uncomfortable with the how's of removing it for cleaning, sew some thread into a pull-string. Easy maintenance, I fill a bowl with water and a little vinegar, add some baking soda, dunk-squeeze-release, rinse thoroughly, and repeat as needed. Then, I refill the bowl, add a little tea tree oil, dunk-sqeeze-release, and rinse thoroughly, then let dry completely before storing it back in the bag. This I not necessary during my period, I only do this when my period ends, or if I decide to rotate soon use however frequently I need it. My periods are impossible to track, with varying lengths on and off, (I'm fine, my doctors are aware), so sometimes I feel the me to swap, sometimes I don't. Keep in mind that as you near the end of your period, sometimes your period blood is a little old at this point, and therefore darker. If you don't clean the sponges well enough, or soon enough, they can start to stain. The sponge still works, and I've never had an issue cleaning them of color or smell, but I've had to pay a little special attention to a few over the last year or so. And you can never have too many! The price is completely worth it, since you can get so many uses out of them, and the absence of bleach in my "hoo-hah" is the best thing to ever happen to me since puberty. I will say, though, that sneezing is a new experience with a sponge I place...

To be honest, I did not buy these to save the environment or being anti-tampon, or having any other period related problem. I got them for one reason only- to have sex. I am in a long distance relationship and after looking at the calendar for the year, I realized that this year almost all of the major holidays and weekends where I would see my BF would be weekends that I also have my period. My BF does not like having sex while I'm on my period, so I knew I needed to find a solution. After EXTENSIVE searching, and I mean EXTENSIVE, I came across these sea sponge tampons. I was a bit nervous, but figured I would try them out. If they worked for prostitutes in Australia, they could work for me. When the moment of truth arrived, I decided to try and see what would happen, and made the decision not to tell my BF about having my period/wearing the tampons, as it might have ruined the whole seduction scene I had planned. I was so nervous about it- would I feel anything? would he? Would there be a mess? Well... ends up all my worrying was for nothing... they worked like a charm! First- I didn't feel anything, sex was as good as it normally is. Second, he didn't detect a thing!! He had no idea! Third, there was no mess! It worked like a charm! I texted all my friends after to let them know about this amazing, somewhat life changing discovery. In terms of inserting/removing- this is where it lost a star. Its super easy to insert. Like all the reviewers said, you get the sponge wet, squeeze it into a ball, and push it up into your vajajay until you can't feel it anymore. I'm used to OB tampons, so this was normal for me. I put the tampon in right before sex in order to prevent leakage. On days when I wear it and have not had sex, it's relatively easy to get out.. but you do have to squeeze two fingers in there and poke around until you find a piece of sponge that you can nip and then pull down. It's not super hard, but it's not super easy either. It's fine doing it in my bathroom, but I can not envision myself ever doing that on a public restroom. Removing it after sex can be a bit trickier because its gets pushed a bit farther up than normal. But like the directions say, the sponge can't disappear. So, I normally sleep with it in, hoping it will "move down" and then in the morning run a few errands (walk the dog, get the coffee on) before I try to remove it. If I can't easily find it, I squat and bear down, which makes it easier. Seriously, for the one minute it takes to remove it, its totally worth using it. Trust me, LIFE SAVOR.

Apparently they work really well for some people, so this is just my experience, but they just didn't work for me. They were hard to get in, really hard to get out and much rougher than I thought they'd be. Even with dental floss, I had to pull very hard to get it out, which eventually scratched the inside of my vagina (ouch!). One was definitely much rougher than the other, so hope that you get teo good ones! This next part is kind of gross, but it was the biggest reason I didn't like them so I feel I should mention it: somehow whenever I peed, some of my urine would be absorbed by the sponge, which would then leak urine the rest of the time I was wearing it, so i just had to remove it and wring it out, even though it had barely any blood in it. When I tried to take it out, it was just a downpour of urine. Thankfully I was at home! I don't know why I had this problem, maybe i am just built weird! They were way too big at first, so I thought that might be the problem, but I trimmed one down so it would be more "closed up" in my vagina, if that makes sense, but I still had the issue of it soaking up my urine whenever I went to the bathroom! I really wanted to like them, so I will give them another chance next month. Any advice is appreciated! I left one sponge (the softer one) completely untrimmed and was able to wear it around the house for a day, but still had to wring it out every time I peed! I will give three stars because I liked the pamphlet included with them, and a great effort was made for them to be user friendly, they just didn't work out for me. I was also surprised by how cleanly they rinsed out and they never leaked blood on me the day I wore them at home. Maybe I will have something better to say next month!

I bought these a few weeks prior to leaving on a vacation to Vegas, solely with the intent of being able to have non messy sex on my period. I am very pleasantly surprised with these. To compare these to regular tampons is like comparing cloth diapers to disposables. They are less convenient and seem more likely to leak...they also are annoying (but not difficult) to insert. Unless you're comfortable with your body I would not recommend. As for leakage, I did not insert them so far as to be completely against the cervix (just so they'd be easy to remove), so perhaps if I had done this, they wouldn't have leaked at all. What I am absolutely stunned by is my body's own reaction to not using conventional tampons. For years now I have noticed that towards the end of my period and after, I would have some mild irritation, internally and externally, which was exacerbated by sex during this time. I had wondered why but never gave it too much thought. This persisted even after I switched to organic tamps and pads. This month, I had no irritation whatsoever, even with sex. After reading a bit online, it looks like the chemicals used in sanitary products to treat and bleach cotton are absorbed by your body, and (what a shock) they are actually really bad for you. I am definitely chemically sensitive, which is why the difference for me was so pronounced even with a few days' usage. I will continue to use these in conjunction with organic pantiliners for any leaks. I just can't believe that more women don't use these, and even though I was a bit wary with how clean these can get with you sanitizing them between uses (since they used to be in the ocean), it seems clear that they are a much better alternative to conventional tampons. I also really love the idea of putting less waste into a landfill.

I used this product as a natural tampon despite knowing that Sea Pearl has been requested to not advertise their products as tampons by the FDA. I was extremely happy with my experience with them. I have recently gotten an IUD, which has caused me to spot every single day. As you can imagine, that's a lot of tampons, a lot of plastic, and very little sex. I was looking for a product that I could have sex with my long-distance boyfriend with without having a bloody mess afterward. The sponges 100% delivered. They can get pushed a little way up there, as you've seen in other reviews, but it hasn't taken me more than a minute or two to get it out after the fact. They're very easy to clean. I just rotate between the two and clean them with a peroxide or vinegar solution. When I started using the sponges, I did clean them for a good long time in peroxide before putting them in my body. The only downside I've found has to do with myself and not with the product. If I go too long without squeezing out the sponge, it squeezes out when I sneeze. This is usually more like water than period blood but when your underwear is wet, that can be really upsetting. But, again, that's my own laziness and doesn't reflect much on the product. The biggest piece of advice I would give is to do your research and if you don't think you would be comfortable telling your mom or your OBGYN that you're using this product, then I wouldn't recommend it to you. I've been very happy with it and will order them again, but there is controversy about it.

Since I am unable to use tampons, due to the painful flare-ups of endometriosis and sensitivities, I ventured out for more natural and sustainable alternatives. I chose to give Sea Pearls a try, as an alternative to tampons. I appreciate the idea that these don't "absorb" the way tampons do, are natural, sustainably collected, reusable and contain no dioxins. The instructions to Sea Pearls are very helpful. I also liked how they recommended to sew a cotton string to the bottom of the sponge for added convenience (as an option). I chose to do this right away. At first, these sponges look a bit odd and even large. Once you clean them the first time (I cleaned mine right away, even though they say these are cleaned and sanitized) and while the sponge is wet, it's very easy to insert (as per the directions). These natural sponges are very comfortable, and I didn't experience the additional pain I usually do with tampons. I found the larger sponge to hold about as much as a regular sized tampon, without issues. The smaller sponge works great for lighter days. I didn't experience any leakage, but I still used a panty liner, just in case. I am really liking Sea Pearls. For being a reusable feminine product, they are rather convenient and easy to remove. Cleaning takes a bit of getting use to, but it is actually rather easy. I would recommend.