The Democratization of Tampons

Adrian Forsyth Co-Founder & Director of Veeda

Veeda is a member of No Secrets.

The natural and organic movement has come a long way. There are now natural and organic alternatives in just about every category of food, beverages, and health & beauty products. That’s all well and good, but… those alternatives often come with a price that even many in the upper middle classes find hard to swallow. And, in many categories, including sanitary protection, those healthier options don’t have widespread awareness or availability. And that’s why we founded Veeda.

My partner Glenn and I began researching the feminine care category as an investment opportunity, and soon realized that there was a real need in the market for a natural, safe tampon that would be available and affordable to every woman. What started as a great business opportunity quickly became a real cause for us as we learned how truly toxic and dangerous the synthetic, chemically-laden products on the market are for our friends, sisters, mums, aunties, daughters—all the women we know, and the many others out there that are unknowingly exposing themselves to toxins through one of the most vulnerable areas of the body.

We learned about the dioxins that can build up in the bloodstream and tissues from bleached tampons. We learned about pesticide and herbicide exposure, from improperly cleansed cotton, that has been linked to infertility, neurological dysfunction and developmental defects. We found out that toxic shock syndrome didn’t fade away like neon and leg warmers in the 80s, and that the risk of contracting the illness dramatically increases with the use of synthetic tampons, especially in teens – yes, teen girls who should be worrying about what to wear to prom, not whether they are playing Russian roulette with their tampons.

So we did something about it. We developed a tampon that reduces the risk of TSS by 12x relative to the top conventional tampons; is oxygen cleansed rather than bleached to ensure no dioxins are formed; is totally free of pesticides and herbicides; and uses no fragrances, dyes or additives of any kind, making it completely hypoallergenic. It’s pure 100% cotton. And just as importantly, it’s no more expensive than conventional tampons; so now anyone can afford to make the healthier choice. Veeda will soon be widely available in mainstream grocery, drug and discount stores, and we see it as our mission to educate women of all socioeconomic levels about the importance of using natural sanitary protection products.

In fact, our commitment goes beyond the product we sell. Because we believe that every woman should be able to choose the purest, safest, most effective products for her body, we are establishing a donation program, called Project Everywoman. We are inviting non-profit organizations that serve disadvantaged teens and women—homeless shelters, crisis centers, clinics, runaway services—to request Veeda tampon donations that they can provide to their clients to ensure that they are using the safest, healthiest feminine care products possible. Our goal is to donate at least 1 million tampons in 2014 to qualified organizations in the communities where our products are sold. When we say “every woman” we mean EVERY woman.