Black Owned Business: Wombilee Educates “Girl Dads” on Menstrual Cycles

For many women, getting access to period products can be a convoluted process and most items marketed as natural often have harmful chemicals. An estimated 62% of women and young girls in the United States alone use menstrual pads during their menstrual cycle, and most of those pads do not show the ingredients but are chemically made.

But there is a company changing that.

Meet Wombilee, a Black Owned company providing a healthier option for women and girls and to empower them to acknowledge menstruation as strength. Wombilee was created by non-profit founders, Raffinaé LaJuan and C.Nichole.

LaJuan says her desire to create Wombilee came out of a place of wanting to make change but also noticing a deficit of period products in Latin American countries. "I was learning about all these girls and women missing school or work for weeks or months simply because they didn't have the proper feminine care or couldn't afford it,” said LaJuan.

For C.Nichole, her passion originated from her personal story.

"I was raised by my father. There was no mom around. I'm not the only woman who started their period that way with someone of the opposite sex trying to navigate them. With that experience I was like there's no way we're going to leave girl dads out.’"

Wombilee not only cater to women, girls, and teens, they also make their packaging user friendly by educating men who want to support the women in their lives.

"They probably don't want to be standing in the aisle looking at the back of products not knowing who to trust. Rather we educate them,” said C.Nichole.

Wombilee also seeks to create healthy alternatives and address misleading information about pads that are on the market today.

"Yes it might be organic but it still has toxic chemicals,” LaJuan said of many major feminine care and product brands. "There's no pesticides, there's no dyes, we don't use chlorine as well“ she continued.

Wombilee utilizes a a material called graphene. "It's stronger than steel and lighter than paper and helps ph balance, helps circulatory systems, and has properties to help reduce cycle and minimize cramps,” said LaJuan.

Above all, the founders stand behind their company, using the images of women in white clothing to reduce the stigma around cycles. The duo says they also plan to have future events to further educate on menstrual cycles, but for now they want to continue to spread awareness about their product.

“Ending period poverty is something we feel very strongly about, said LaJuan. “We want to spread the word and have quality pads accessible around the world."

Exclusive items are available on Wombilee.com. They officially launch on March 13, 2022.