Featured image for Meet Daye, the CBD Tampon Subscription Service to Relieve Your Pesky Period Cramps

Meet Daye, the CBD Tampon Subscription Service to Relieve Your Pesky Period Cramps

by Theresa Christine Johnson on 12/15/2019 | 4 Minute Read

Getting your period is a female rite of passage, a grand welcome into womanhood. But for the longest time, even though you could describe it as this incredible signal of transformation in our bodies, young girls also got the sense it was something to keep hush-hush. Yes, you can get excited about it, and yes, you’ll have cramps and feel absolutely terrible—but talk about periods openly? Gross! 

As a woman, I am thrilled to see this mindset change, and we certainly have to thank branding for this new and more natural way to talk about periods. Menstruation is normal, so there’s no need to veil it behind outdated design ideas of the 1950s. When packaging features a sophisticated look like Saalt or illustrations of anatomically accurate female genitalia like Thinx (versus obnoxious bright pinks and smiling ladies playing tennis), you now have the power to shift the conversation.

Daye is a newcomer to the female hygiene scene. The London start-up, which launched in beta in the UK this August, offers a tampon subscription service that uses sustainable packaging and looks so pretty you might leave it out in your bathroom for guests to see. 

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But wait, there’s more; these handy femcare products come with a healthy dose of CBD. Why, you ask? Because periods hurt like hell sometimes, and in the UK, over half of women experience period pain so severe, it affects their ability to work. Non-addictive and non-intoxicating CBD may help relieve chronic pain—and while we don’t have much information about its long-term effects, if it’s good enough for Megan Rapinoe, then it’s good enough for me.

Valentina Milanova, Daye Founder & CEO, got the idea for a CBD tampon brand when she did some research on industrial hemp. “I discovered the fibers of hemp are more absorbent than cotton, and the extract from the hemp flower has anti-inflammatory properties,” she said. “Putting the two properties of the same plant together in the idea for a cramp-fighting tampon was easy.”

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Creating the branding and packaging, however, was not so easy. After working with four different branding agencies with no luck, Valentina decided to bring the brand development in house. She found Erin Rommel, founder of Second Marriage Studio, and felt attracted to the playful colors and shapes she works with, bringing her on as Daye’s artist and illustrator.

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“The central thesis for the brand is ‘The Scientist meets The Dreamer,’” Valentina explained. “To help Erin get into the right frame of mind for working on the Daye brand, we supplied her with a playlist, which featured a lot of Florence + The Machine, Stereo MCs, Disciple, and contemporary Portuguese and Italian tracks. We made a collection of videos for Erin as well that we liked the visual expression of. And we took a lot of inspiration from Hollie McNish, the Scottish poet. She has a beautiful way of talking about being a mother, breastfeeding, and womanhood in general.”

This eclectic mix of inspiration comes together seamlessly with Daye. It feels suited for women of any age, it has an earthy, 1970s vibe without looking too styled, and it brings a sense of calm. Music and poetry mix to create a feeling—the exact feeling women want to have when they’re menstruating.

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Sustainability was a big goal for Daye. National Geographic reported in their December 2019 issue that the average woman discards 10,000 pads or tampons in her life, and those tampon applicators are typically plastic. Daye offers tampons with either compostable plastic applicators or water-soluble wrappers (meaning they can get flushed down the toilet). The first delivery box a new subscriber receives comes from recycled paper dyed with bio-inks, and they also offer a reusable tin made of recycled aluminum to store tampons in.

While CBD-everything is everywhere, Daye isn’t just jumping on the bandwagon—their core mission is to bridge the gender gap in both medical research and innovation. “For us, this starts with providing as many people as possible with accessible, well-researched content on women’s health,” Valentina said. 

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If you hop onto their site, you’ll find a thorough glossary of terms you were too afraid to ask about, plus their women’s health blog, Vitals, edited by Liv Cassano. They also host women’s health events in offices of companies where you’d likely find their target customer, “the millennial working woman.” 

Unlike the talk about menstruation in the past—which always felt more like hushed whispers rather than an actual discussion—Daye wants women to know their bodies, to understand their periods, and to hopefully figure out what’s best for them when that time of the month rolls around. And if one brand does it, then others will follow suit, resulting in informed consumers who demand the best for their bodies. 

“In the future, we hope to have played a significant role in raising the standards in female health,” added Valentina, “and bridging the gender gap in medical research and innovation.”

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