Always Ultra with Wings

Always are a brand of sanitary towel which I used for a long time, and although they’re not now my preferred brand, I do still use them from time to time. The reason I moved away from them is that I no longer like their shape and design particularly of the wings.

Most sanitary towels now come in wingless or winged format – the ‘wing’ is an extra non padded part which sticks out either side of the towel and wraps around the crotch of your knickers to keep the towel firmly in place. I like wings – they’re a great idea because they do work to keep the pad from moving or scrunching up where you don’t want it to (ladies I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about there!).

This particular format of Always is the style/shape/length/size/flow however you like to put it, which is equal to the Asda or Tesco towel I normally use. Because of this, when I am in need of some and can’t get my preferred brand this is what I generally buy.

So what is it I don’t like with these? Well the shape of the wing instead of being a simple flap is now a kind of filled in m shape – almost like two wings stuck together. Added to this Always ‘improved’ (or not!) their towels by making the bit where the pad and the wing join slightly erm elasticated… actually it’s not elasticated it’s more that they’ve put a small concertina bit there, but either way, it just doesn’t work for me and I find that it tries to force the towel to do a weird curve that isn’t necessary or wanted, and certainly (well for me) isn’t in the right place either.

Changing tacks a bit, there is one element of design which I think Always have got right… When you buy their sanitary towels, no matter how many come in the packet, inside, each one is wrapped individually in its own little plastic envelope. This makes them much easier to transport in handbag or pocket when needed, it keeps them clean and it makes disposing of the used product much easier as one can wrap it back up in the packet from the one you’re about to use, and then dispose of it in a neat little sealed package. Even better they have a little sticky tab which means the wrapping of said package can be made to stay closed rather than starting to unwrap itself once disposed of.

Comfort wise, I find the fabric Always use is slightly better than Tesco, and comparable with the Asda. All help me to stay fresh and draw menstrual blood away from me and lock it in the core of the towel nicely. I prefer this version to the scented versions of Always because I don’t particularly desire to smell of air freshener (well that’s what it smells like to me) down there! I’m also not too keen on using a perfumed product against my intimate bits generally as I’d be worried about irritation.

Prices for all sanitary wear are quite high I think, and I do believe it’s completely wrong that we pay VAT on it with it being listed as a luxury item. Having said that, when you compare the prices of Always to other brands, it does tend to come up slightly higher priced at around £1.60 to £2.00 for a pack of 12, and this is another reason why I prefer the Asda or Tesco products which come in around 70p-£1.20 for the same size and style of product.

Overall, although I don’t hate the Always sanitary towels, and they are completely capable of doing the job they’re designed for, I do feel that they’ve been over designed a little, and that taking a step back and realising that although most women do want comfort, security and ease of use for products of this nature, most of us also want to keep the cost down on something that 99% of us don’t consider to be a luxury item but a necessity.