These Period Subscription Boxes Will Alleviate Your Time Of The Month
Maybe I'm in the minority but I love my period. Every month, I get a bloody reminder that yes, I'm fertile, and no, I'm not pregnant. Thank the Lord. It's another way for me to feel one with womanhood and the act of my uterine lining shedding feels oddly feminine for me. Perhaps the biggest downsides come by way of symptoms. And although I don't experience cramps (after Day 1), I do experience mood swings, cravings, inner thigh aches, back pain, and hormonal acne (jawline breakouts become the bane of my existence for about a week).
That being said, I'm almost certain that period-related symptoms are the reason most of us with vaginas aren't a fan of menstruation situations. And I must say I definitely empathize, sis. If you're in need of a little more TLC during your period, we've got you covered on all things period essentials. From tampons and pads to treats that will fulfill your cravings, below is an array of period subscription boxes sure to alleviate your time of the month. The best part? You don't have to leave the comfort of your home to fulfill your period needs. Convenience is king.
LOLA
Courtesy of LOLA
Customize your own period subscription box through LOLA for as little as $9 a month. Depending on your needs, you can curate a box that's a mixture of organic cotton feminine care products absent of dyes, synthetic fibers, and fragrances. Choose between pads with wings, cleansing wipes, tampons, liners, and an essential oil blend for cramps. Ante up your monthly box on the sexual health side of things by including natural lube and/or condoms. And for young ladies in your life who haven't had their first period yet, LOLA has a special First Period Kit. For $34, you will receive a specially curated box that includes 5 regular pads, 5 heavy pads, 12 liners, 10 light tampons, an instructional card for each period product, etc.
Femly
Femly is another period subscription box that touts the fact that it is made of 100% organic cotton. Years ago, I tried one of their boxes and loved the combination of products that were good for my reproductive health as well as snacks that didn't compromise the rest of my body's health with its use. Femly is a black woman-owned company and includes a product line of pure cotton pads, pure cotton liners, pure cotton night pads, as well as the eco-friendly menstrual cup.
Kali
Courtesy of Kali
In an effort to make you "rethink your period", Kali is an organic luxury period subscription box service that allows you to design the box your cycle needs. Whether you want a box delivered to your door every month or once every three months, you can modify the frequency and the contents of your box at any time. As a luxury option, the box is more on the expensive side than other boxes on this list, starting at $16 a month. The Kali box features an array of sustainably sourced feminine care products free of chlorine bleach, synthetic fibers, dioxins, or dyes. What makes Kali different is that they also include self-care products like virgin coconut sugar scrub, lavender-infused bath soak, and rosewater facial mist.
Cora
Cora is a customizable period box. Like the others, you take a quiz and make selections based on your personalized period needs. You then choose between their pads, tampons, or menstrual cup the Cora Cup (you can also click all if they all apply). You then select the duration of your period and your flow. You will be sent the amount of pads or tampons based on those two selections. Add-ons to your subscription box include 6 period liners, 6 lavender body cloths, 6 rosemary eucalyptus body cloths, 6 rose-geranium body cloths, body cloth pouch (10 cloths), 2 individually wrapped heat relief cloths. The cost starts at $12 per month.
The PMS Package
The PMS Package
The PMS Package is a period subscription box that acts as your period survival kit. It's a care package comprised of feminine essentials and comfort snacks synced to deliver to your doorstep at the start of your monthly cycle. The name of the game is pampering and The PMS Package makes sure to do exactly that with unique items like Skinny Pop, Oreos, chocolate, makeup wipes, Chex Mix, socks, and more. The premium boxes start at $34.99.
Athena Club
Courtesy of the brand/Athena Club
Athena Club is redefining self-care by allowing you to get 18 premium or organic tampons for less than $8 a month. In addition to this, the period subscription box offers toxin-free essentials that range from liners and pads to TLC wipes and their menstrual cup. You can also create your own subscription box incorporating other needs Athena Club covers like wellness and body care with their razors, daily probiotics, daily multivitamins, body lotions, and deodorant.
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Beyond Burnout: Nicole Walters' Blueprint For Achieving Career Success On Your Own Terms
Nicole Walters has always been known for two things: her ambition and her ability to recognize when life’s challenges can also double as an inspiring, lucrative brand.
This was first evident more than a decade ago when she quit her job as the corporate executive of a Fortune 500 company during a Periscope livestream. “I’m not sure if there’s an alignment of [our] future trajectory. I’m going to work for myself. I'm promoting myself to work for myself,” she said at the time before flashing a smile at the viewing audience. As she resigned on camera, a constant stream of encouraging messages floated upwards on the screen.
By 2021, she’d fashioned her work as a corporate consultant and her personal life with her husband and three adopted daughters into a reality show, She’s The Boss, for USA Network. This year, she released the New York Times bestselling memoir Nothing Is Missing, written as she was in the process of getting a divorce and dealing with her eldest daughter’s struggles with substance use.
Convinced that there’s no way the 39-year-old has achieved all of this without intentional strategic planning, I asked her about it when we spoke less than a week before Christmas. I’d seen videos on social media of her working on 2024 planning for other brands, and I wanted to know what that looked like following her own year of success.
She listed a number of goals, including ensuring that the projects she takes on in the new year align with her identity “as a Black woman, as an African woman, as a mother, as someone who has lived a [rebuilding] season and is now trying to live boldly and entirely as themselves.” But, I was shocked by how much of her business planning also prioritized rest.
Despite the bestselling book, a self-titled podcast, and working with numerous corporations, Walters said she’s been taking Fridays off. This year, she doesn’t want to work on Mondays, either.
“A lot of us think we work hard until retirement hits. I want to progress towards retirement,” she said, noting that she’ll check in with herself around March to see how successful this plan has been. The goal, Walters said, is to only be working on Tuesdays and Thursdays by sometime in 2025. “It is intentionally building out what I know I would like to have happen and not waiting for exhaustion to be the trigger of change.”
"A lot of us think we work hard until retirement hits. I want to progress towards retirement... It is intentionally building out what I know I would like to happen and not waiting for exhaustion to be the trigger of change."
Walters said the decision to progressively work less was partially in response to her previously held notions about her career, especially as an entrepreneur. “When I first started, I thought burnout was a part of it,” she said. “What I didn’t realize is that even if you’re able to bounce out of burnout or get back to it, there’s a cumulative impact on your body. If you think of your body as a tree and every time you go through burnout, you are taking a hack out of your trunk, yes, that trunk will heal over, and the tree will continue to grow, but it doesn't mean that you don’t have a weakened stem.”
But, the desire for increased rest was also in response to the major shifts that occurred three years ago when she was experiencing major changes in her family and realized her metaphorical tree was “bending all the way over.”
Courtesy
“One of the things we have to recognize, especially as Black women, is that there is this engrained, societal, systemic notion that our worth is built around our productivity,” she added. “That is some language that I think is just now starting to really get unpacked.” In recent years, there’s been an increased awareness of achieving balance in life, with Tricia Hersey’s “The Nap Ministry” gaining attention based on the idea that rest, especially for Black women, is a form of resistance. Even online phrases such as “soft life” and “quiet quitting” have hinted at a cultural shift in prioritizing leisure over professional ambition.
"One of the things we have to recognize, especially as Black women, is that there is this engrained, societal, systemic notion that our worth is built around our productivity."
If companies are lining up to consult with Walters about their brands and products, then women have been looking to her for guidance on starting over since she invited them to livestream her resignation 12 years ago. As viewers continue to demand more from content creators in the form of intimate, personal details, Walters has navigated her personal brand with a sense of transparency without oversharing the vulnerable details about her life, especially when it comes to her family.
The entrepreneur said she’d been approached to write a book for several years and was initially convinced she was finally ready to write one about business. “I started to do that, and then I went through my divorce. When that happened, I said, why would I write a book telling people to get the life that I have when I’m not sure about the life that I have,” she said.
Instead, she decided to write Nothing Is Missing and provide a closer look at her life, starting with being born to immigrant Ghanaian parents (“You need to know my childhood to know why I’m passionate about entrepreneurship.”) through the adoption of her three daughters and eventual divorce. Despite her desire to share, however, she said she felt protective of the privacy of her family, including her ex-husband.
When discussing this with me, Walters said she was reminded of a lesson she learned from actress Kerry Washington, who released her own memoir, Thicker Than Water, just a week before Walters’ book release. Washington’s memoir grapples with family secrets, too, specifically the fact that she was conceived using a sperm donor and didn’t learn about it until she was already a successful TV star. While Washington reflects on how the decision and subsequent deception impacted her, she’s also careful to hold space for her parents’ experiences, too. “A lot of things she said was that she had to recognize where she was the supporting character and where she was the main character,” Walter said.
This is something Walter worked to do in Nothing Is Missing when discussing her daughter’s struggles with addiction. “I was very intentional about making sure that I did not reveal more than what was required,” she said. “If I say something about someone’s addiction, I don’t need to go into the list of the substances they used, how they used them, what I found. [I don’t need to] walk into a room and paint a picture of what it looked like for people to understand.”
Walters said some of the most vulnerable moments in the book barely made a ripple once it was released. She was extremely nervous to write about getting an abortion, she said. But no one has asked her about this in the months since the book was released. Instead, people have been more interested in quirkier revelations, such as the fact that she once appeared on Wheel of Fortune.
“I have bared my soul about this thing I went through in my youth that has changed me for people, and people are like, ‘So how heavy was the wheel when you spun it?’” she said, chuckling. “It just goes to show that people never worry about the thing that you worry about.”
With the success of Nothing Is Missing, Walters said she still isn’t planning to release a business book at the moment. But, as she navigates parenting a teenager and two adult children while also navigating a relationship with her new fiancé, Walters said she believes she has at least one or two more books to write about her personal journey. “There is sort of an arc of where my life has gone that I know I’ve got something more to say about this that I think is important, relevant and necessary,” she said.
In just three years, Walters’ life has undergone a major transformation. There’s no telling what the next three years will have in store for her, but it seems likely she’ll retain an inspired audience wherever life takes her.
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Starting Therapy This Year? Here Are 7 Mental Health Resources To Get You Started
When it comes to starting new habits and releasing old ones, our mindset is everything. As many of us embark on a fresh set of goals for the year ahead, starting mindful habits like therapy can be a powerful way to enhance our overall well-being and create a positive change in our lives.
Beginning therapy can feel intimidating in the early stages of your research process. We may be worried if our first therapist will be a good match for our needs, be hesitant to unpack the layers of trauma and memories that come with each session, or even be intimidated by the cost of the service.
It can all be a lot to bear in mind, no matter if you’re an OG therapy-goer who’s taken a temporary hiatus or a newcomer to space. Knowing where to start on your mental health journey can be half the battle. That’s why it’s helpful to have resources designated especially for Black women who are looking to take charge of their mental health and make the entry point more seamless.
Whether you’re looking for financial assistance or in need of daily affirmations to remind you that mental health and therapy aren’t so scary, we’ve rounded up the best resources to get you started on your journey to a healthier mind and richer well-being.
Boris L. Henson Foundation
The Boris L. Henson Foundation is a mental health advocacy and support organization founded by Taraji P. Henson, in honor of her late father. The foundation aims to raise awareness about mental health issues, eliminate the stigma associated with mental health conditions within the Black community, and provide resources for mental health support.
Programs and initiatives by the foundation include the BLHF Mental Wellness Support Program (MWSP), which provides individuals and families dealing with life-changing events, daily challenges, and heightened emotional struggles such as stress, anxiety, depression, or feelings of hopelessness with assistance and support on the path to mental well-being for those in need. The program covers five complimentary mental health therapy sessions for those accepted.
Loveland Foundation
The Loveland Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Rachel Cargle that focuses on providing therapy and mental health support to Black women and girls. The Loveland Foundation was established with the goal of making mental health resources more accessible to Black communities, which often face unique challenges and barriers in accessing mental health care.
The foundation's flagship program, the Loveland Therapy Fund, aims to provide financial assistance to Black women and girls seeking therapy. This fund covers the cost of therapy sessions and works to overcome financial barriers that may prevent individuals from accessing mental health services.
Sad Girls Club
For those looking for a personable introduction to the therapy and mental wellness space, Sad Girls Club just might be the space for you! Sad Girls Club is a mental health community and organization that focuses on providing support, resources, and a sense of community for individuals dealing with mental health challenges. The organization is known for its online presence, which provides inspirational messages, coping strategies, and personal stories related to mental health. They also host events and workshops that focus on mental health education, self-care practices, and creative expression as a means of promoting we
Sista Afya
Sista Afya is a mental wellness organization based in Chicago, focusing on providing mental health support and resources for Black women. The organization aims to address the unique mental health needs and challenges faced by Black women and offers various programs and services, including support groups, workshops, and educational events.
Black Female Therapist
Black Female Therapist is a platform designed to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health in the Black community, create a platform for Black women and men to connect with relatable therapists, and contribute to the mission of fostering mental health support within the community. They also offer mental wellness tips and a thorough therapist dictionary to help you search for support that reflects your needs.
HealHaus
HealHaus is a wellness space based in Brooklyn, New York that focuses on holistic healing and mental health. HealHaus offers a range of services and programs designed to support individuals in their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. The wellness collective provides various holistic wellness services at a monthly rate of $10 for a drop-in live online yoga or meditation class, $30 per month for unlimited access to live online yoga and meditation classes, or a 7-day free trial for the HealHaus Live Membership, allowing you to experience a week of grounding, stillness, and peace at no cost.
Brown Girl Self-Care
Brown Girl Self-Care is on the mission to “Help Black women healing from trauma go from ‘every once in a while’ self-care to every day self-care.” With their informative podcast and social media page with gentle reminders and affirmations that speak directly to Black women, this will be the perfect page to add to your feed in the new year.
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