And, of course, there are the women who look shocked and say, "Oh, I could never do that!"

What do they do, use tongs?

*skibbles off*

Now I have that hormone IUD which stops periods all together. At first I was skeptical, but honestly, it is SO NICE just not worrying about remembering to have tampons around. I love it. Haven't had a period for a year and have no desire to stop. It also means the IUD pays for itself since tampons etc are expensive.

Kleenex has a little more tensile strength, but the individual sheets make it hard to roll. However, the little plastic-wrapped purse packs of Kleenex make a decent improvised pad, if that's what you have.

As for the hormone IUD -- well, sure, if it works for you. They don't work for everyone, but I'm glad to hear that someone's escaped this @#$%! blessing.

I'm not griping at you, just mentioning that there was a big discussion of alternate technologies on Metafilter, with women chiming in about this-that-or-the-other product they preferred. They were missing the point.

Granted, there are commercial products that are a little tidier or are more convenient. I have nothing to say there; they should use whatever they like best. Rolling your own isn't a product preference. It's a quick fix when you find you've left your preferred product at home. And while it's not up to the standards of a metasuperwoofawoofa OB -- you know, the kind you unwrap and throw in the water if you need to temporarily part the Red Sea -- a hand-rolled tampon works as well or better than those feeble things they sell in ladies' room vending machines.

I guess it would work with the kind of non-roll paper towels found in public restrooms, but I think I'll keep just doubling a couple and making an impromptu pad.