Tampons and pads are just sooo last year. Well, not quite, but plenty are predicting they will eventually become a thing of the past.
A number of innovative, female-run companies are campaigning for an end to the two-party system of feminine hygiene and, in the process, disrupting a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Take Flex, for example. The brainchild of Californian marketer Lauren Schulte, it’s a disposable disc-shaped device that you insert in front of you cervix to temporarily halt your flow.
Wear it for up to 12 hours, then toss it.

Sexy time meets time of the month. Image: Flex.
Think of it kind of like a menstrual cup, but with one fabulous bonus: you can wear it during sex.
It's made from flexible, medical-grade polymer that's latex-free, BPA-free and hypo-allergenic, and the company claims your partner will barely be able to feel it.
Unsurprisingly, there's big buzz. The 30-year-old has already raised $4million from investors and over 20,000 samples were shipped across North America last month. (The trial was set to include other countries, including Australia, but had to be scaled back due to overwhelming demand.)
It was the recent slipping of the stigma around periods - note the Chinese Olympic swimmer who told the media her flow was making her tired, and the marathoner who ran with blood-stained leggings - that encouraged her to make it happen.
“The more of us that go out and talk about our own experiences,” she told The Washington Post, “the more mainstream it becomes.”