Let the Conversation FLOW
Most of you know us as the place where to buy custom lipstick, but we offer more than great lipstick and gloss colours…
We love using our blog to collaborate, advocate, uplift, and love. This month we’re gonna chat about a taboo subject that totally shouldn’t be because it's something normal and completely natural: PERIODS.
It’s time to let the conversation flow.
If you’ve followed us for some time, or if you’re a new citizen to the Republic - glad you’re here because we are welcoming our guest to the blog: University of Regina's Champions of Change club! The club experienced our process by seeing how to make custom lip gloss while they taught us more on menstrual equity. The result: a bold red gloss that comes with a bold statement.
Read the Club’s powerful message and join the conversation.
For too long, menstruation has been a taboo in our community, often associated with feelings of shame, disgust, and embarrassment. Many of us have been in a situation where we hid our pad or tampon up our sleeves or in our pockets on our way to the washroom. Maybe you’ve used euphemisms like “shark week” or “aunt flow” to dodge around talking about menstruation. Even though menstruation is a natural biological process that occurs to more than 50% of our general population, there seems to be a prevailing stigma around periods– but why?
We are the University of Regina’s Champions of Change club, a social justice group partnered with Plan International Canada. Our mission is to fight against systemic gender inequality, with a focus on progressing menstrual equity. We’ve noticed that there was a lack of access to necessities like period products in public restrooms. As a result, many menstruating students would have to leave class or skip activities if they hit their period unexpectedly and were not prepared with their own period products. This was an issue no one was talking about, so we got together and started our club to get the conversation started!
Since the launch of our club a couple of years ago, we’ve been making waves for menstrual equity by working with our community to empower menstruating people, their bodies, and promote more access to pads and tampons. We’ve facilitated workshops with Regina Open Doors Society to educate newcomers, immigrants, and refugees on menstrual health and we have visited various elementary schools to promote body positivity and period education to young and bright students! In 2020, we secured a deal with the University of Regina to install 12 dispensers of free pads and tampons in their women's and gender-neutral washrooms. But, the fight for menstrual equity is ongoing and requires more work within our local community and beyond.
Menstrual Hygiene Day is a special day to celebrate the inherent power and beauty of menstruation, while also highlighting the systemic barriers menstruators across the world face in gaining body literacy and access to necessities like period products. The taboo around periods has had detrimental effects on the self-confidence and self-esteem of menstruators globally. In fact, 83% of young people in Canada have tried to hide the fact that they are on their periods from those around them. There is a direct correlation between the period stigma and period poverty. Since people feel uncomfortable talking about periods, problems like the lack of access to period products are silenced. However, it’s time for us to break that silence and make immediate change for menstrual equity!
We have been working with The Lip Republic for months and are so excited to finally share that we’ve created a custom red gloss for Menstrual Hygiene Day called “PERIOD.”! We had the opportunity to develop this gloss from the ground up – from colour, scent, packaging, and campaign to ensure that this gloss sends a strong message and looks stunning on everyone. $10 from each tube will go towards funding the “Pads for periods” project through the Plan International Canada: Gifts of Hope campaign! We hope the funds from this gloss can help give young menstruators across the world the period products and period education that they need, which can help create a “ripple effect” towards breaking the period stigma.
JOIN US in opening up the conversation on periods and making a change for menstrual equity by purchasing our limited edition collaboration gloss and sharing your period stories in the comments below! Submit a story about your first ever period or one where you've seen the impact of period stigma. Together, we can normalize periods and help girls and women everywhere live their fullest life, PERIOD.
Some photos courtesy of: Champions of Change