Or you just get menstruation cups? Might be a bit more expensive initially but cheaper longterm and a lot more environmentally friendly. http://www.ruby-cup.com/en/
I know two women who have tried those. In both cases they tried for several months to get used to them, but they gave up eventually because they're so unpleasant to use, and it never gets any easier. Apparently.
Using one myself and best thing I've ever tried! Takes some practice but once you got the hang of it it works great. But think it's different from woman to woman!
There are women who find that menstrual cups aren't for them, but in my experience, they tend to be the exception. Using one myself, and having turned many of my friends onto them, they're generally hailed as the greatest thing ever invented around here. Not to say theres anything wrong with your friends, because everyone likes what they likes, just wanted to throw my own experience.
I feel like most of the university-educated young women I know use Diva Cups or Keepers (and many don't mind talking about them and promoting them to others or I wouldn't know that). I think their usage really depends on local culture, social norms, propensity to shop in organic grocery stores where they are often sold, etc.. The first women I knew who used them started in the early nineties.
Cups seem a lot more expensive, you can buy almost 700 sanitary pads for the retail price of 1 ruby cup ($28 ~ 1735 rupees). Also, the pads are more available and create jobs for women in rural areas because they are produced and sold locally.
I would give this one to Muruganantham.
You definitely have a point! But I think the margins are pretty high and I'd rather see that they'd go in to producing cheap cups than cheap pads :)
If the subject is so shameful and taboo that the women mentioned in this article can't even dry their sanitary rags in the sun, do you really see them boiling a menstrual cup in the family's cooking pot once a month to sterilize it?
As a loud supporter for menstrual cups, and someone who is admittedly not that familiar with Indian culture, I can see there being a large cultural barrier towards adoption of menstrual cups, as they require you to get, well, a little up close and personal with your own body. Even in the US, I know a few people that are completely uncomfortable with the idea and won't use menstrual cups or tampons without applicators (or tampons at all).
Cups, tampons are still have a social stigma attached to them in India. Napkins are non-obstrusive as well.