Let's face it: having your period sucks. There is nothing to make that one week of the month anything less than a hellish bloodbath, but when I heard about THINX panties I started to wonder if maybe – just maybe I had found the solution to all of my menstrual needs!

When I first saw an ad for THINX on the subway I thought, “what the hell is this?” so I looked it up. THINX are an ultra-absorbent underwear for people on their periods. With their 4-layer design, they are anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, and leak-proof. They come in a few styles ranging from thongs to boyshorts, each varying in absorbability. At their most absorbent, the underwear is supposed to hold up to two tampons worth of blood. Yeah, that’s right two tampons worth.

Needless to say, that had me pretty interested. So I bought a pair. Actually, I bought three pairs. I’m an all in kinda gal.

For the past week, I’ve put the panties to the test. And let me tell you I was a little worried, but I was pleasantly surprised.

When I told my friends and family that I was testing these out this week they looked at me as though I had gone off the deep end. Then they had some questions:

1. Okay, but these things aren’t comfortable, right?

Wrong! All of the underwear I bought were perfectly comfortable and super soft! I opted for the hip hugger and high waisted cut and I found both to be equally nice to wear. And, no, they did not feel like a diaper. They felt like regular underwear – honestly, maybe even nicer.

2. Do they really work?

Okay, this was my biggest concern. I had my doubts. As someone who has a heavy flow I was very concerned my first day wearing them. Like black pants, long shirt, sweater in my bag, rushing to the bathroom every chance I had just to check kind of concerned.

But, damn, they worked.

The first day of my period is pretty average and I commuted to the city for class resulting in a 12-hour day. Never once did I get to the point where I thought they would leak. And they never even felt heavy or wet.

My only qualm is that if you have a pretty heavy flow you may be in trouble. Not that these panties will not work for you. They are advertised as holding two tampons worth, so if you find that you bleed more than that in one day out and about you may want to bring a backup.

What I did on my heavy day was use a tampon for the first few hours and then just bleed freely with no worries. The only mess I made all week was in my sleep (which I have to say might have just been from me sleeping on my side) and it wasn’t a big one. Just a little smear on my inner thighs – nothing I hadn’t seen before and certainly not the worst of my period nightmares. Nothing to deter me from going pad-less.

3. Aren’t they kind of gross?

Okay here is my issue with this question: if you hate blood periods are gross in general. If you don’t then they’re not. It’s really subjective. What I can say here is that when I’m asked this question it is usually in regards to two aspects of experience:

Wearing them-

The inside of the panties are black. Whether you purchase the “nude” color or the black color you will not see red when you go to the bathroom. On top of that, they feel dry and do not smell. So, in my opinion, they are much better to wear than pads or tampons.

Clean up –

This is where it gets a little odd. You can’t just throw these in the wash and when you do it needs to be cold water washed and not dried. However, before you toss those suckers in the machine you have to run them under cool water and ring them out until they run clear.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up.

I did this six times in one week and I can tell you it is not as gross as you think it is. In fact, it was pretty eye-opening to see exactly how much I bleed in a day. If anything it brought me closer to my body and my understanding of it which is pretty nifty. And the whole process takes maybe a minute – a small price to pay in my opinion.

4. How much are they?

They range from 30-38 dollars. It seems expensive, but for a second stop and think how much you spend on tampons or pads each month. For me, it pales in comparison to the price of two or three pairs of these panties.

So, in short, I found THINX to be a wonderful product well worth the purchase. Definitely a product I will be using from here on out. And one, in my opinion, both genders can use. Because some men get their periods, too, and this underwear certainly provides a way for those men to comfortably and discreetly deal with the situation. So props to THINX for their product – see you next month!