I like being a — pardon the pun — sponge when it comes to — pardon the pun again — absorbing information. For this reason alone, I’m not ashamed in the least to admit that it wasn’t until just a few months ago that I even knew that there was such a thing as a menstrual sponge in the world. Yet, before even getting into all of that, after also learning that the terms sea sponge and menstrual sponge are basically used interchangeably, I was curious to know if a sea sponge can hook a sistah up in other ways, too.
Boy, can it. Did you know that sea sponges contain chemicals that help to fight off viral infections? Oh, and let’s keep going. Did you also know that sea sponges are a great skin exfoliator? Yeah, and let’s push on further.
Reportedly, sea sponges are also beneficial when it comes to blending make-up (you know, for using as a make-up sponge) and increasing blood circulation — and since they are biodegradable, antifungal, and highly sustainable, so long as you cleanse them with vinegar and allow them to dry in well-ventilated spots, they really are a great all-natural, holistic investment.
Okay, so am I saying that this same kind of sponge can be used during your period like a menstrual cup or disc? Yes. Well, sort of. That is what I am just about to get into if you’ve got a couple of minutes to read further.
Can Sea Sponges Really Be Used During Your Period?
Yes, a Sea Sponge and Menstrual Sponge Are Basically the Same Thing
GiphyI guess without really realizing it, there is a show from a few years back that was preparing me to pen this. It’s called the Secret Diary of a Call Girl and there’s a particular episode when one of the characters unexpectedly came on her period and the main character told her that sticking a piece of sponge up her vagina would temporarily…remedy the situation (chile).
Apparently, there is some truth to this because, aside from all of the other things that a sea sponge is useful for, there are people who opt to insert it into their vagina in a way similar that they would a tampon. In fact, a lot of people refer to it as being a “stringless tampon.”
So, do you use a literal sea sponge in this case? For some individuals, yes, exactly that. Another alternative is to go with a synthetic type of a sea sponge which is oftentimes known as being a soft tampon. Different options of sea sponges (that are used for menstrual purposes) can be found here.
And just why would you want to go with a sea sponge over the other period product options that are currently available? Good question.
Pros & Cons Of Menstrual Sponges Compared To Cups & Discs
3 Reasons Why a Sea Sponge Is Worth Considering
GiphyHonestly, whether it’s a pad, tampon, menstrual cup, menstrual disc or even a pair of period panties, everything has its own list of pros and cons. Today, since we are tackling a sea sponge, let’s talk about the benefits as well as the challenges that come with it specifically. Benefits first.
1. It’s super comfortable and fairly absorbent. One of the main reasons why some women opt for sea sponges is because they are incredibly comfortable to wear. I mean, think about it — sponges are really soft and they easily accommodate whatever they are inside of. And honestly, that makes them an even bigger winner when it comes to your vagina and your period because they go in without any discomfort and then slowly expand in order to collect the blood that you lose while you are on your cycle.
2. It’s reusable. I once read that the average woman spends between $120-180 annually on menstrual products. Thing is, when you opt for something like a menstrual cup or a sea sponge, they are reusable which means that you are able to keep more coins in your pocket. Plus, when it comes to sea sponges, most of them are designed to last for 6-12 months before you need to get yourself a new one — and that makes them something that are easy on your pockets and good for the environment too.
3. It’s affordable. This damn country right now. SMDH. Yet I digress. What I will say is the cost of living doesn’t appear to be going down any time soon and so, the fact that you can find a sea sponge (for your period) for under $20, when you know that you can use it over and over again for at least six cycles? How is that NOT a major win?
3 Reasons Why Sea Sponges Might Not Be Worth the Hype
GiphyAight. So, what is the other side of the sea sponge coin? Yeah…I won’t lie to you — there are definitely some other things to consider before going all in with one.
1. Many Are Not FDA-approved. First, read this: “Sea sponges labeled as 'menstrual sponges,' 'hygienic sponges,' or 'sanitary sponges,' intended for use as menstrual tampons, are regarded as significant risk devices requiring premarket approval under Section 515.” Because sea sponges run enough of a risk of exposing its customers to toxic shock syndrome (TSS), that’s one of the main reasons why the FDA isn’t exactly thrilled about most sea sponge products.
Definitely don’t overlook that — and also, if your flow is pretty heavy, other than on your light days, a sea sponge probably wouldn’t serve you very well.
2. Removing it can be quite the ordeal. Listen, although I was a late one to enter into the (in my opinion) truly wonderful world of menstrual cups, I did almost quit in the beginning stages of using one because there ABSOLUTELY is a learning curve on how to get them in correctly and how to take them out (so that there is as little mess and spillage as possible). And from what I hear about sea sponges? Chile, that is the absolute worst part of using one.
I get it too because, when you really stop to think about it, a sponge that has nothing but blood in it? And since, unlike a tampon (which has a string) and a menstrual cup (which has a rim), there is nothing to “grip” the sponge with, when you’re trying to take it out, that could cause you to end up with a mini-crime scene on your hands (yes, literally). Plus, sponges aren’t the strongest things in the world, so you do run the risk of them breaking apart while trying to take them out. Whew.
3. Cleaning them. Hmm. Another reason why the FDA sees sea sponges as a cause for concern is — they can be a real doozy when it comes to thoroughly cleaning them in order to reuse them. See, unlike a menstrual cup (that is typically made out of silicone) that you can toss in some boiling water to automatically sterilize it, sea sponges require way more elbow grease.
I have read that soaking a sea sponge in a combination of vinegar, baking soda, tea tree oil and peroxide in a cup of warm water (for 5-10 minutes) on a daily basis can do the cleansing trick. Other people use apple cider vinegar. The main thing to keep in mind here is that the cleaning part is a bit on the high-maintenance side — which can be a downer if high-maintenance is absolutely not your thing.
How To Use Sea Sponges As Period Care
How Do You Insert and Remove a Sea Sponge?
GiphyThere is nothing worse than trying out a new “thing” and having to spend 10 minutes hunting down some thorough instructions. SMDH. Since I can absolutely relate to that, I wanted to briefly explain how the “entrance” and “exit” of sea sponges work.
ENTRANCE
- Wet the sponge with some water-based lube (for easy entry).
- Lie on your back or squat down in order to insert the sponge into your vagina (like you would a tampon).
- Push it up as far as it will comfortably go.
- Prepare to change it out every 2-4 hours (just to be on the safe side).
EXIT
- Get into the same position to take the sea sponge out as you did to put it in.
- Use your index finger and thumb (like you are pinching something) to grip the sponge.
- Grasp as much of the sponge as possible and pull it out.
BONUS: Keep in mind that it’s going to be bloody, and so doing this over a toilet is super ideal.
___
Would I ever consider using a sea sponge? Eh. Definitely not on day 2-3 of my cycle yet on the lighter days, I would give it a shot — due to the organic materials that it’s made from alone. Okay, but would I choose it over a menstrual cup? I ain’t got no lies to tell you — after knowing the pros and cons of sea sponges and menstrual cups…HELL NO. LOL.
Still, I do think that a sea sponge is something that y’all should know about…just so you’re aware of all of your options.
And either way, I do think that you should get a sea sponge, for other reasons, in general. Even if, when it comes to your own period…you’ll pass.
At least for now.
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So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
Despite launching media careers from different pathways, the two New York-based women have forged a friendship where they can discuss their ambitions and challenges.
Both women are part of xoNecole’s It Girl 100 Class of 2025, recognized in the Viral Voices category for the impact they’ve made through storytelling, creativity, and authenticity. Together, they represent what it means to build an "It Girl" brand with integrity and depth. In the spirit of SheaMoisture’s "Yes, And" ethos, Les and Kayla embody the freedom to be multi-layered as women evolving boldly into every version of themselves.
This conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity
On Forging Their Own Paths
Les Alfred: Being a Jane of all trades is incredibly challenging. And one of the challenges I've faced is that the scope of what podcasters now need to do has increased so much. When I first interviewed you in 2019, I was still very new at it, but I remember being on a Skype call with you from my bedroom in Seattle. That was how I ran the show. And that was good enough. That is absolutely not good enough these days. The scope and the quality keeps increasing, but the resources that you have don't necessarily increase in order to remain competitive.
I get asked so many questions from people who want to get into podcasts and they want to get started. Most of the time, I'm just like, 'I don't have tips for you.' Because, one, I don't know what it's like to start in this current environment. Two, I know what it takes to contend and be consistent in this environment. The barrier of entry is a lot higher in terms of having something of quality than it was before.
On Balancing Ambition and Rest
Kayla Greaves: I've had to make a very clear effort to slow down and just not take on as much. Yes, you're running a business, but you're also living your life. I had one of those days yesterday. I just laid down and listened to white noise for hours because I just needed my brain to just be clear. I called a friend. I cried.
I'm starting over again today. The sun is out. It's a new day. And that's just sometimes what you have to do. You can't show up for your audience or for other people, if you can't show for yourself. I think that creativity comes from a place of living your life and having genuine experiences, and then sharing those experiences through your art.
"I had to give myself permission to let myself grow publicly in ways that I'd already done personally."
Courtesy
On Evolving Through Growth and Rebranding
Les: I didn't create Balanced Black Girl until 2018, but I started blogging and creating content and doing things under the Balanced brand in 2014. I was 24 years old at the time. Now, I'm 36. The things that were important to me, the perspective that I had and the stories I wanted to tell were entirely different. I think I had to give myself permission to let myself grow publicly in ways that I'd already done personally. The show isn't really about wellness anymore. And that shift started happening a couple of years ago.
When we started expanding into more lifestyle topics, more self-help topics [and] talking about entrepreneurship, the audience responded really well. That was when the show really started to grow and take off. And that was what got so much more engagement than the episodes back in 2020 when I was doing hour-long deep dives on gut health.
Rebranding the show was something I've been thinking about for a long time. When I was finally like, 'Oh, I need to do this,' honestly, was the 2024 presidential election. I was like, these people are about to be in here acting crazy. I do not feel safe with my business name being what it is. I don't want to be targeted for any BS. We saw what they did to the Fearless Fund.
"You have to balance your integrity with your income."
Courtesy
On Integrity Over Income
Kayla: I have many other interests aside from beauty. I'm growing and I'm changing as a person. I'm not the same person I was when I started at InStyle in 2019 before the pandemic rocked everybody's world. I don't think reviewing every single lipstick that comes out is exciting or interesting, because everybody does it now, and everybody feels like they're qualified to speak on things that they're not qualified to speak on. I'm currently in that pain point of growth.
I don't think I have always been in environments where I've been encouraged to branch out on my own ideas. I finished Ina Garten’s memoir maybe a month ago. She kept repeating this quote in her book. She said, ‘What goes in early, goes in deep.’ Now that I'm on my own and I don't have the resources of a traditional media company, which is what I have become accustomed to, sometimes it's difficult for me to be like, 'Okay, just go ahead with the thing.'
I think, Les, just the other day, you reposted somebody saying that they let go of a five-figure deal and then got double the next day because it just didn't feel aligned for them. Those are the things that happen. I have to find a balance of, 'Okay, how do I keep myself afloat?' And that may mean I may not be balling out of control just yet, but I'm okay for now. I can buy myself nice things every once in a while, but you have to balance your integrity with your income.
Les: There are just certain lines that I'm not willing to cross. Especially when I created more wellness content, one of those lines was I will not promote any sort of weight loss product. All of these GLP-1s all want to advertise on my podcast. I actually have nothing against those types of products, but I don't ever want someone to look at what I'm putting into the world and think that I'm saying that they need to feel a certain way about their bodies.
Even if the money is great, that's not for me to say, and that's not the type of message that I want to put out here. Or, I had another kind of brand deal come through that would have required me to divulge things about my personal life that I just don't really want my audience knowing about me, and bringing them along on journeys that I just find personal and I want to keep offline. I don’t want to be known for dragging my mess all over the internet for a buck.
I don't want to be known for being an influencer. I would love to be 1,000% in on my podcast, scale it, have it grow to be a media empire where I'm producing and putting out other bodies of work. For now, until that other side of the business really picks up and gets to the point where I want it to be, I kind of need to play the influencer game a little bit to live in this expensive city. But I'm gonna do it on my terms. It's a constant compromise that I'm coming to with myself.
"You can never make a big vision come to fruition if you're sitting and you're waiting for somebody else to tell you exactly what to do."
Courtesy
On Mutual Admiration and Friendship
Les: Something that I really admire about you in having known you for the past couple of years is you don't wait for a roadmap. You jump in, you roll up your sleeves, and you do it. You can never make a big vision come to fruition if you're sitting and you're waiting for somebody else to tell you exactly what to do.
Kayla: Well, first of all, I want to say thank you for saying that, because that means so much to me, and it's very affirming. That's exactly how I feel about you. I remember, even at your first live show, you're like, ‘Oh my god, I'm so stressed. I don't know what I'm doing.’ And, the shit sold out. And, you know, and now, like, you see the growth of the podcast. And you have nearly 61,000 subscribers on YouTube. I just checked recently.
I talk a lot about people that really just need to not say anything on the internet, because it's so frustrating as somebody who grew up as a traditional journalist. You want people to fact check and ask thoughtful questions and have good conversations. I've never said that about you. I've always loved your podcast. And I've sent a lot of your episodes to friends when they're going through specific things that you're talking about.
This season has been a little bit slower to me, so you've been a constant source of inspiration, and it's just been such a pleasure to see your podcast grow despite the challenges you've had. I know it's not easy, but you continue to grow and continue to push through, and I really admire that as somebody who sat and cried yesterday and listened to white noise.
And this is why I tell you all the time, you really do inspire me. I love you a lot.
Les: Oh my gosh, I love you a lot. I'm so glad that the podcast brought us together.
Tap into the full It Girl 100 Class of 2025 and meet all the women changing game this year and beyond. See the full list here.
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