What’s Your Best Period? A New Black-Owned Menstrual Cup Brand Wants to Help You Get It

If you’re searching for menstrual care products which might be sustainably produced and secure to use, there’s a brand new brand in the marketplace that’s owned by a black woman.

The best periodGayneté Jones, a brand that gives two different sizes of menstrual cups, is now available in 3,000 CVS stores nationwide. Designed with Black women and their flow in mind, Best Periodt cups are different from among the first cups to hit the market. Jones took into consideration all of the aspects—from fibroids to heavy flow and even period poverty—that disproportionately affect Black women and girls.

Jones first launched the brand in 2020 throughout the lockdowns, when she was personally craving for a more sustainable approach to period management. She recalled not wanting to go to the shops as often on the time, and cataloguing a growing list of things she didn’t like concerning the menstrual cups that were in the marketplace on the time. The lightbulb went off when she got her period, through various conversations with other female entrepreneurs.

“I got my period and I was like, ‘I want to change everything I hate about the menstrual cups I’ve used in the past,’” Jones, a former private banker, told theGrio. “I knew a menstrual cup was better for the environment. It saves money. You don’t have to keep buying period products. So I said, ‘You know what? Let me make a list of all the things I hate about menstrual cups and try to change that by using one of mine.”

Best Periodt was born. Since then, the corporate has entered the market with two different sizes of menstrual cups within the brand’s signature shade of lemon yellow.

“I knew, of course, that even though menstrual cups were the first thing we created, we were definitely going to be a menstrual care company,” Jones continued. “I always say that’s the genesis of a mega brand. Menstrual cups are just where we started.”

Best Periodt joins several other Black-owned brands in the private care aisles of stores nationwide and online. One of the primary was A pot of honey, launched by Beatrice Dixon in 2012, which offers organic menstrual hygiene products akin to washes, wipes, pads and more. Since then, an increasing number of black-owned feminine hygiene brands have emerged, offering a large, diverse range of products.

In 2019, Abigail Murdock founded Her juice barbrand that focuses on vaginal health for girls of all ages, especially as they age. There can be Nimawhich offers organic pads and Ebiwhich offers postpartum care products. Meanwhile, MooseFounded in 2020 by Tiffany Johnson, the brand offers intimate hygiene products akin to menstrual underwear, cups, razors, and panty liners.

Featured Stories

Ruby loveFounded by Crystal Etienne in 2015, it focuses on menstrual underwear and KushaeFounded by obstetrician-gynecologists Dr. Barb and Kimba Williams, the corporate focuses on feminine hygiene products, including body washes and protective skin lotions.

In addition to the proven fact that these brands share the commonality of being founded by Black women, all of them prioritize safety of their products. This has turn out to be crucial as leading brands have long been increasingly accused of containing toxic chemicals and metals of their products.

“The problem (is) bigger than just the products themselves,” Jones said when asked about recent studies revealing heavy metals in tampons and pads. “It’s just the lack of research on all feminine hygiene products in general and just feminine hygiene products in general… Because even with all of these studies showing that there are chemicals and toxins and heavy metals in tampons, we still don’t know what the implications of those chemicals in tampons are.”

She noted that experts and doctors had mixed reactions to the brand new findings, with some suggesting they’d no significance in any respect.

“But we don’t know. That’s why it’s really frustrating because we need to do more research, and to do that we need someone in the background who can push it,” she added.

Jones noted that these products don’t just come into contact with women’s vaginas; in addition they come into contact with the body’s largest organ, the skin. Her cups, she said, are product of medical-grade silicone and are completely secure for the body and skin.

With the launch of her cups in two sizes, Jones said consumers can expect “unique” menstrual products, including washes, that they haven’t seen in the marketplace before. Ultimately, Jones goals to create a brand that helps people have their best periods. When asked how she would describe someone who has their “best period,” she said, “If you can forget about it.”

Jones describes a time when pain, produce, bloating and luxury were so well managed that it was easy to forget.

“This is a good time for me,” she continued. “This is your best time.”