Are you sure you want to read this? (Tampax Compak Super)

Member Name: missbrowneyedgirl

Product:	Tampax Compak Super
Date:	18/02/02 (1835 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: smooth, discreet, nicer to use

Disadvantages: expensive, non-flush applicator

If you are of a squeamish nature you probably wont want to, or indeed if you are of the school of thought that would rather die than admit that they exist. What am I talking about? Well periods of course. There, I said it and probably lost half of my readers already, particularly the men amongst you.

For those that are still here, if you are sitting comfortably, then I'll begin and I promise I'll try not to be too graphic! I started my period this morning. It didn't unnerve me, or disgust me and I was expecting it. Well, most of us girls have periods and since we have progressed from the days where you wouldn't leave the house because of the shame, I guess it's Ok for me to talk about it.

So, my weapon of choice for battling life at this time of the month is Tampax Compak. It's actually a source of great amusement to all my friends as they see me as some kind of tampon snob. Maybe they're right but I think that a girl is entitled to what she prefers in these matters! So, how did I become a Compak fan?

Well, it probably started when I was an inquisitive toddler. I don't remember this incident, but has been retold a countless number of times so I may as well share it with you. As the story goes, I found a box of mrsbrowneyedmum's Lil-lets in the bathroom drawer. Questioning what they were, and probably being far too young to be told the truth, I was instead told that you put them in the bath to make it smell nice.

You can see what's coming can't you? Yes, a few days later I am discovered floating in the batch besides the remainder of the aforementioned Lil-lets box and complaining profusely about the lack of pleasant scent coming from them! The embarrassment factor of this plus all the stigma assigned to them at school* was enough to put me off Lil-lets for life!

*(As I recall, "Ugh! Girls who use their fingers are lesbians!" which no matter how ridiculous it seems no
w, was a real fear at the time!)

Going back to school there was also a stigma attached to sanitary towels. Looking back on it now, I can see how crazy the whole thing was but at the time they were very real issues. As I recall the general consensus of opinion was that there was something very grown up and 'in' about tampons. Indeed I suppose tampons were fashionable thus making towels very unfashionable!

I think what finally swung it for me was our school visit from the Tampax lady! This poor soul had to take an assembly of around 200 boisterous 13 year old girls, who were all out to prove that they were grown up enough to talk about 'lady's things' when indeed we weren't! As you can imagine there was a lot of blushing, giggling and close-inspections of our own shoes!

At the end of the talk, the Tampax lady gave out a little freebie pack containing some information leaflets, a trial pack of Tampax applicator Mini tampons and the 'piece de resistance': the Tampax holder! The holder came in 2 colours: navy or pink and somewhat resembled a pocket torch of the time. Well, it was the 90s, things really weren't that small then! Anyway, the device not only served to hold 2 tampons neatly and safely but also had the added bonus of thoroughly embarrassing any boy that picked it out of your bag and went 'ooh, cool torch' before flipping the lid and revealing the Tampax! Good memories...;)

Tampax also had a name advantage, as their brand name is so similar to tampon that it frequently gets used as the generic name for tampons. I suppose it's a similar thing to the use of the brand name Hoover instead of vacuum cleaner.

Anyway, time moves on and as a brand, so have Tampax. The late 90s saw a huge rise in competition between brands meaning any product had to be harder, faster, stronger, cleaner, more powerful etc than it's competitors. This time also saw the start of advertising san
itary products on television, mush to the dismay of the general public. I mean, who really cares if Claire Rayner does it 'with wings'?

Anyway, this competitive time led to innovations in tampons (oh yes, it's true!) and the introduction of the Compak tampon. Compak was originally marketed as a discreet alternative to the standard applicator tampon, which was effectively the area where Tampax were losing out to brands like Lil-lets. You see, the Compak has an applicator but it is cleverly retracted to be half it's actual size. To use the Compak, you slide the inner part of the applicator out of the outer section until it clicks into place, and becomes the normal length of an applicator.

I had to try them. It was quite an exiting thing really. Up until then there had been little if any innovations in tampons and I sure as hell wasn't going to miss out on that one! So, what did I think?

Well if you were ever going to cringe during the op, this is the moment, but I discovered that the Compak were smoother and easier to insert than the traditional cardboard applicator Tampax. You see the Compak has a plastic applicator with a closed-end, making it much nicer to use. I apologise to the boys - I'm sure you didn't want to think about this!

The only real disadvantage of the Compak applicator is the fact that you can't flush it down the loo. This was a little bit of a drawback in my eyes but as I recall the cardboard ones never flushed well. Maybe this has changed now, but in the days when I was using them, you would often return to the toilet to find the applicator floating in the toilet bowl, happily unwrapping itself!

Compaks come individually wrapped in a plastic pack, as opposed to the paper ones of the cardboard applicator Tampax, so it's easy to pop the used applicator bag in it's pack and dispose of it in a bin. Incidentally, inserting the tampon causes the applicator to retract back
to its original size which means it's just as discreet to dispose of.

Now, you must have all seen the Compak advert where the guy asks his girlfriend if he can have one of the 'sweets' she has lying in her room. Of course, they aren't sweets at all, they are Tampax Compaks. This kind of reminds me of the torch tale I told you earlier and indeed maybe that's what is going on in schools now! I'm not sure they are small enough to be mistaken for sweets but they will certainly fit into the palm of your hand.

One important thing that I should mention is Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS). As with all tampons, Compak can trigger this very serious condition. I wont go into more details as it's the wrong category and I'm sure all you ladies know as much, if not more, than me about the subject. I just though I should point it out as a consideration.

And bringing us to a close I must point out the final disadvantage of the product which is unfortunately the price. Compak costs around £2.50 for a pack of 16 compared to around £1.70 for the equivalent amount of cardboard applicators. I feel that it's worth paying the extra for and I always watch out for offers on Compaks. Boots often do 'buy 2 get one free' and Safeway regularly knock £1 off the price of a pack so keep your eyes peeled and stock up when they are cheap - they wont go off!

Well, there we have it! Thanks for sticking it out this far. As a little treat I'll tell you about the website: http://www.tampax.co.uk/
It's full of more information about the whole Tampax range and you can sign up for a free Compak sample and see if you too become accustomed to the finer things in life...;)

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