INSIGHT — The Consumer Magazine in its July-August 2003 issue, Volume 23, No.4 has published its in-house laboratory test findings on 14 brands of sanitary napkins. Out of the 14 brands nine were from the cotton-based category and 5 from the gel category. None of the brands had volunteered for the IS mark as IS certification is not mandatory for this product.
The brands tested included Carefree (Regular), Kotex Dri-Guard (Extra large), New Kotex (Regular), New Stayfree SilkyDry (Regular), Shapers Acti-slim (Ultra), Shapers Natural Feel, She Comfort, She Teens, Stayfree Secure (Regular), Stayfree Germi-Shield (Regular), Stayfree Ultra Thins, Whisper Heavy Flow & Overnights (Regular), Whisper Maxi and Whisper Ultra.

The brands were tested as per the Indian Standards IS : 5405 - 1980.

Leakage is the major worry most women have. Women look for a brand which has a good absorbent capacity and does not leak. We tested all the brands for absorbency and leakage.
All the brands conformed to the absorbency test as per the BIS except Whisper Ultra and She Teens.
After the absorbency test weight of 1 Kg was applied on the napkin for one minute and then the brands were checked for any leakage. She Comfort, She Teens and Whisper Ultra showed leakage and hence they did not conform to absorbency and ability to withstand pressure as per the BIS.
Because of the usage of this product in a sensitive area, it is important that the product must be clean and free from foreign matter. New Kotex Regular, Whisper Heavy Flow & Overnights (Regular), Kotex Dri Guard (Extra Large) and She Teens showed wrinkles. Four samples of Kotex Dri Guard (Extra Large) revealed dirt on the pad . One sample had an ant. Hole was observed in one sample of Shapers Acti-Slim Ultra.

Shapers Acti-slim (Ultra) did not indicate the method of use. Disposal instructions were not given by Whisper Heavy Flow & Overnights (Regular). Shapers Natural Feel, Shapers Acti-slim (Ultra), She Comfort and She Teens did not mention size of the pad on the packaging material.
Apart from the laboratory test, a panel test was also felt necessary to find what women feel about the brands vis-a-vis their comfort level. Among the gel based brands, Stayfree Ultra Thins, was liked the most by our panellists. Among the cotton filler-based brands, Whisper Heavy Flow and Overnights was liked the most.
For rating and ranking the product, we decided to give 80 per cent weightage to the lab test and 20 to the panel test. Since leakage is the most important parameter, we gave it a weightage of 80 per cent. We also considered the dimensions (length and width of the filler) as an important parameter and hence we included it in our rating and ranking, giving it a weightage of 20 per cent.
In this kind of product, variation between panellists is high. Hence to keep the results objective , we gave more weightage to lab test. It is also possible that results of panel and lab tests may not correlate as the lab test is objective whereas panel test is subjective. There may also be variation between panellists.
Though Whisper Heavy Flow & Overnights was the best scorer with 95 points, it was higher priced at Rs. 8.20 per napkin. So our ‘Best Buy’ in this category is Stayfree Secure with a score of 91 points, but a price of just Rs. 2.20 per napkin.
Among the gel-based napkins, Stayfree Ultra Thins is our ‘Best Buy’ with the highest score (96). It is also the least expensive at Rs. 5.63 a napkin.
The industry sent us a proposed revised Indian Standard which has been submitted to the BIS. We studied the draft standard. Most of the tests were the same as the existing BIS standard except the test to check the absorbency of the napkin and the ability to withstand body pressure. We felt that further research and study is needed to finalise the draft. In this scenario, we decided to rate and rank the brands as per the existing standards only and not the draft standard.
Details of the rating and ranking, ‘ best buys’ and communication with the manufacturers have been published in Insight — The Consumer Magazine, July-August 2003 issue.

Date : 1/9/2003
Place : Ahmedabad

Pritee Shah
Editor, Insight