My friends ask me to bring bags of tampons for them every time I come to Shanghai. Inevitably 1/3 of my luggage is filled with tampons. It is quite a hassle when I have to forgo my own undies for those wonderful disposables. I was wondering if any of you know where one can buy quality tampons in China so I can retire as a tampon transporter.

O.B. Brand is apparently very unpopular amongst women here. Where else? And do all women in china use pads, including expats?

Leon

Tampons are unpopular among women here probably because they are unknown. OB is the only brand I've seen and they can be found at all Carrefour and Watsons. And they are inexpensive so there's really no need to bring from overseas!

Local ones are bit strong on the bleach and may cause irritation in some woman.
OP you are doing great service, your karmic rewards will be great

Thank you for your help!

Does OB offer applicator types in china? The ones in Watson seem to be without applicators. That is the kind my friends are asking for.

Leon

I also bring loads of tampons back with me - not only because they're cheap, but the imported ones in City Shop are from the States, and whilst they are the applicator type, they're old skool, very long and in a paper packet. I 've never seen OB applicator tampons.

Tampax Compaq are the way forward, but i've yet to find them in Shanghai.

I'm sure your friend thinks you're the best bloke in the world for doing it, i'd really appreciate it if i ran out!!!

Tampons make up about 1% and pads / panty liners the remaining 99% in China. Obviously in the US or Europe the proportions are totally different. But you should be able to get them from the imported goods stores like City Shop.

hehe,OP, your luggage must be very small

You can buy o.b. tampons even in Carrefour, not so pricey as in the City Shop, but they are different...

The biggest difference between tampons in EU/US and China is in the quality. Chinese "version":
- smells strange
- the surface has partly released fibers, it is not so silky like in EU/US and
- chanels are designed straight (not so safe to avoid the leakage)
First two things - smell and released fibers on the surface - may cause some problems like anter wrote. Smell is usually caused by some chemicals which remain after production process. Some women have less or more sensitive skin.
And who can make sure some of the fibers from the surface will be not released completelly during the usage? Brrrrrrr..... No, thank you...

Anyway, you are doing very good job for your friend.

Thank you ladies for chiming in. Now I finally got the picture. You expats ladies have it hard in China with regards to female hygiene products...lol.

What else is missing here? Perhaps I can help the US economy by import some US products to China.

Your friends should start using the "diva cup" or some such other similarly branded product. drugstore.com has them. it's a silicon cup that reduces the need and hassle of importing tampons...

elvis1 wrote:Your friends should start using the "diva cup" or some such other similarly branded product. drugstore.com has them. it's a silicon cup that reduces the need and hassle of importing tampons...

Are u a girl/woman, elvis1? Share your experiences then.
I know diva cup and i know, it can be worn for 12hrs (depends on the flow). How to clean it after emptying and before reinserting? Diva cup is the most clean method, but also in China? I can imagine to clean a cup at home. But what about when i need to clean it outside? Most of the water around is just cold/not drinkable/not clean/not hygienic?.
So i am saying yes, if i can clean it at home, convenient, with clean water and some cleanser.

^ Yeah i've done some research into the diva cup before...and came up with the same thoughts as you! Washing it out in a public place in China? No chance！ Not just from a hygiene point of view but i'd be pretty embarrassed to be cleaning that out in Maccy D's.

My Chinese friend uses a local Johnson & Johnson Tampons. I did not ask where she bought them. So I guess, you can find local brands (or just J&J) ones as well.

angelfire wrote:My Chinese friend uses a local Johnson & Johnson Tampons. I did not ask where she bought them. So I guess, you can find local brands (or just J&J) ones as well.

there is no problem to find local brand, as i wrote. Put the local beside imported - or better - try to use and you will see the difference. You don´t have to be mastered to find out.

I think you can get Tampax in City Shop for an exhorbitant price.

I saw lots of imported organic cotton tampons with applicators at CitySuper (IFC) and FreshMart (Basement of Jiu Guang, Nanjing Xi Lu). They don't come cheap, but most organic things don't. That is a sure alternative if you didn't have a steady direct supply from overseas.

forget ob! they have 'cottons' brand here. it's imported from israel. lifeline shanghai, a non-profit helpline, is selling them at 36rmb per multi box. they get part of the proceeds so buy them from there!

paul123 wrote:forget ob! they have 'cottons' brand here. it's imported from israel. lifeline shanghai, a non-profit helpline, is selling them at 36rmb per multi box. they get part of the proceeds so buy them from there!

Where are these available?

i feel like i am developing a yeast infection just by reading this thread.

Here is the link to Lifeline. http://www.lifelineshanghai.com/ They are a good and indispensable organization for expats living in Shanghai. They help expats deal with relationship issues, emotional issues and are generally there to be an anonymous friend when you need to talk to someone, but don't want to share it with your friends or family.

They are doing all these services for expats living in Shanghai without the big fanfare typically associated with Nonprofit organizations. Everything is funded and run by 40+ volunteers. So do support them by buying your tampons through them.

If that is not possible you can also buy Cotton Tampons in Feidan supermarket, Pines supermarket, even Strip + Browhaus around Shanghai and Pudong.

Or go to www.cottontampon.com and order directly from the website.

^see what you did there.. very smooooooth

even though it did take you a WHOLE YEAR!

Get a MoonCup. Problem solved!

since this thread came back to life... I am a happy Diva Cup customer living in Peru (moving to Shanghai in Sept.), so a lot of the same concerns exist (no soap, or crappy public bathrooms in general), but I can say I've never had a problem. Since you can wear it for 12 hours at a time, you only need to change it 2x a day and it is easy to plan ahead to have access to a clean bathroom. when you wake up and go to sleep you are usually in your own house anyway, right? if you get really desperate just make sure you have antibacterial wipes. Don't worry about it overflowing, i've never heard of that happening and have lots of friends using them here as well. Boil it once a month, replace it once a year. I will NEVER go back to pads or tampons and I am definitely bringing a DC to China!