What's more absorbant?

[thestingrayss]

Hi :)
I made some cloth pads and they weren't absorbant enough, I think because they only had 6 layers of tshirt material. I was thinking instead of making new pads for my next period to sew layers on to the old ones. What would be more absorbent: and a layer of towel or like 3 layers of tshirt? Thanks.

Comments

[sweetanniehi]

I dont know but the scientist in me thinks that you could do your own test. Put both material on blue paper and slowly add liquid checking say every 10 ml and see if any liquid went through.

[thegoldenvision]

I'm fairly new to cloth pads - but I'd say that you need to first ask what the tshirt is made of - some fabrics are more absorbant than others, obviously. I'd tend, on instinct alone, to go with the towel - since towels are used to absorb things - but I agree with the above comment that a test might be the best way to go about it.

I'm actually in a similar situation: trying to work out how many layers my pads are going to need and being like "another piece of towel and have a surf-board of a pad, or leave as is?"...

- Kat :)

[luna__wolf]

Was the T-Shirt material new? It may be that the fabric still has some factory finish on it, and that is preventing it from absorbing properly. You could try washing the pads a few times, and see if the absorbency improves. Failing that, I agree with the others about doing your own tests. :)

[brigittefires]

Because the fluid tends to stick to a layer of fabric until full (or forced thru your flow and gravity to the next layer), multiple layers will end up being more absorbent. I have an old nightgown that's about 50 years old that is sooooo thin, once I fold it to pad size it's actually 8 layers of fabric, and it's a LOT more absorbent than 4 layers of terrycloth.