Tampax this year denied any changes to its tampon absorbency rates—but TikToker Melissa Simonson (@realmelissasimo) remains convinced otherwise.
Simonson recently posted a video in which she compares the sizes of Tampax tampons. The tampons are from 2024, 2020, 2015, 2014, and 2009.
The video has around 1.7 million views.
“You cannot tell me that this is not different,” Simonson says. “This is not just because it switched to a plastic applicator. These used to be bigger.”
Simonson demonstrates the size difference of each tampon using a ring sizer.
“This is not scientific, but without them communicating with us about what’s going on, we don’t have a lot of ways of comparing,” she says at the end of the video.
In May, a Tampax representative told People that the brand has not changed its absorbency rates since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ranges have not changed.
“It makes me feel like their loyalty is not to their customers of decades, but to the mighty dollar, at our expense,” Siminson told the Daily Dot.
Why did these FDA regulations come around?
The FDA absorbency regulations exist due to the association of high-absorbency tampons and toxic shock syndrome. This is according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 1982, the FDA started requiring tampon packaging to advise women to use the lowest absorbency tampons possible.
Tampons can increase the risk of toxic shock syndrome overall. They can also lead to increased discomfort or pelvic pain, according to Healthline.
“If I had known that when I was first choosing period products and if I had a viable, COMFORTABLE alternative, I would not have gone with tampons at all,” Simonson told the Daily Dot.
Has Tampax made any changes to its tampons?
Tampax has not disclosed how it regulates the absorbency of its tampons. Its unclear if the company has made any changes to its tampon products.
“It would be nice to have some acknowledgment from them that our human experience could be different than their lab tests,” Simonson told the Daily Dot. “The shared experience of thousands of women point to SOMETHING changing and I think, transparency-wise, it would be nice to know what change they made that could cause their test to show similar results, but our experience with menstrual blood to be vastly different, rather than them just pointing to the tests as a way to invalidate our experience.”
How does Tampax test tampon absorption?
In August 2023, researchers conducted the first study to test the absorbency of period products with blood rather than a saline solution. They were located at Oregon Health & Science University.
The study shows the absorption rates of many menstrual products are lower or higher than advertised.
“People are now under the impression that from the time of that [study], these big companies have been testing with blood instead of saline, but that’s not the case,” Simonson said. “The companies never have—and I’m betting they never will. It’s much more expensive and there’s more specialized training required for employees to handle it.”
What are Tampax tampon users saying?
Many women opened up about their experiences with recent increases in period blood leakage in Siminson’s comment section.
“Been losing my MIND the last year with how many bleed throughs I’ve had,” one woman wrote.
“Remember opening one of my mom’s tampons once, putting it under water & it got expanded so much [with] all the water it absorbed,” another woman wrote. “It was huge! Did that again as an adult, the tampon barely absorbed any.”
Simonson said it’s validating to know other women relate to her.
@realmelissasimo If you’re seeing what I’m seeing, then according to Tampax, People Magazine, Glamour Magazine, and Health Digest, our eyes are broken… and our flows are also simultaneously getting heavier. It’s not them. It’s us. #period #groceryshopping #corporategreed #shameless #gaslighting ♬ original sound – Melissa Simonson
“But I also hate that for those women and it makes me even more frustrated with Tampax that they’ve got their fingers in their ears and their head in the sand,” Simonson told the Daily Dot.
According to Circana, the cost of pads has increased 41% since 2019, while tampon costs have increased 36%.
“Can you guys imagine the board [meeting] where they decided to do this to us?” one viewer wrote. “We’re gonna make them smaller! They’ll have to use more & get this, we’re gonna raise the price!’”
“‘And let’s also put fewer in each box!’” Simonson responded. “‘Also we should separate our bundle boxes into [large] & [regular] in one box and [regular] & [small] in a box so they have to buy multiple bundles per period!’”
Several commenters had different opinions than Simonson on the Tampax tampon size differences over the years.
“What is your point here? I’m pretty sure they are more compact now for comfort when you are inserting it,” one viewer wrote. “The absorbency is the same.”
“Devils advocate- the absorbing material may have been modified or advanced enough to require less material, making them smaller for compact travel but still absorbing,” another viewer wrote.
Did Simonson test the absorption?
Simonson posted a follow-up video in which she compares the tampons by how they absorb water.
In the video, she says that the 2024 tampon stays more round. She also says it “only opens up a tiny bit” in comparison to the older tampons.
“I think it’s possible that they reduced the amount of cotton and increased the rayon or something else, which would probably show similar absorption in testing,” Simonson told the Daily Dot. “Or maybe that compacting the material down like that still shows fine in their lab testing, but clearly our experience using it has shown more leaking, going through more tampons at a faster rate, etc”
Tampax has not responded to the Daily Dot’s questions.
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