Student branded by ‘internet trollers’ for selling reusable sanitary towels

A student who set up a business selling reusable sanitary towels has revealed the shocking level of abuse dished out by faceless internet trolls . Sarah Callaway has been branded "sick and disgusting" by anonymous online attackers after launching a business selling colourful pads she makes by hand. The 20-year-old says the pads can be washed in a machine and used again but when she first started to advertise her product Sarah says she received a torrent of “vile and ignorant” abuse.
Sarah, from Cardiff, told Wales Online : “I uploaded an ad to a Facebook selling page hoping to connect with some new customers and to answer some questions.
“I was shocked at the level of disgust and horror that I received in response.
“I had so many vile comments saying I was disgusting and unclean.

“One particularly nasty comment called me and my partner filthy inbreds.”
But despite the abuse, Sarah and her partner Mike Pitman, 23, are determined to make their business, House of Callaway, a success. To try and remove some of the stigma surrounding reusable sanitary wear, Sarah has designed her pads in bold colours with patterns and prints to try and minimise obvious staining. The towels are made from terry toweling for absorbency and poppers to hold the pad in place and come in floral, geometric patterns and even zebra print. There are two absorbency levels to accommodate a light or heavy flow and prices vary, starting at £3.50 with the most expensive pad costing £8.
Sarah hopes that more women will switch to sustainable sanitary wear in the future which could have huge environmental benefits.
She said: “The average woman uses 9,600 tampons in her lifetime. I now wash and reuse a relatively small number of cloth pads alongside using a menstrual cup, both of which can last for years.
“If more women switched we could make a real dent in the feminine waste that ends up in landfills.
“People say that my way is old fashioned but to me it is a sensible, comfortable option that has the potential to impact the future of our planet.”