The Best Period Underwear, Tested in Our Labs and by Real Users
Shop the most absorbent and affordable period panties for your flow.
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Period underwear fits just like regular underwear but features a special absorbent gusset that helps prevent blood from leaking through. They're a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to disposable menstrual products like pads, tampons and liners. Because not everyone is sold on these ingenious products, the Good Housekeeping Institute Textiles Lab's fiber scientists tested period underwear in our Lab using cough syrup to mimic period flow and sent styles to consumer testers with a range of body shapes, flow levels and underwear style preferences to find the best buys.
While there are now plenty of stylish and comfortable options available, you'll want to steer clear of any styles that aren't absorbent enough or add unnecessary bulk. To find the best period underwear, the Good Housekeeping Institute Textiles Lab checked the absorbency of top-rated pairs using red cough syrup. (Manufacturers use it to test pads and tampons too!) We also sent 21 different styles to 100 testers to get feedback on comfort, leaks and more. We reviewed over 1,500 data points before making our recommendations.
If you're new to wearing period underwear, one word of caution: In our Lab tests, we found that even the most effective styles couldn't absorb the cough syrup as well as traditional pads. So if you have a heavy flow, you may want to wear period underwear as a backup to a menstrual cup or other disposable menstrual supplies rather than relying on it alone.
Keep reading to shop our top-performing picks and to find more information about period underwear materials, safety and sustainability at the end of this guide. Looking for more ways to improve your period experience? Check out our top picks for the best period swimwear and the best heating pads to soothe cramps.
Emma Seymour (she/her) is a senior product analyst at the Good Housekeeping Institute's Textiles, Paper and Apparel Lab, where she has led testing for luggage, pillows, towels, tampons and more since 2018. She graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor of science in fiber science and apparel design and a minor in gerontology, completing research in the Body Scanner Lab on optimizing activewear for athletic performance.
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