It’s time to talk about women’s health. Period.
Subscription box services are popping up like wild flowers, but it remains to be seen which ones will blume.
A big part of a brand’s success comes down to whether or not it can articulate its mission to Generation Zers, at least according to Taran Ghatrora, co-founder and CEO of Blume. Blume is a subscription service with a clear mission: to bring safe health and sanitation products to women monthly, all while making puberty a little bit easier.
“For us, we feel like we’re just getting started as the brand that girls grow up with,” said Ghatrora, who co-founded the company with her sister, Bunny. “We really want to change the status quo so that the go-to products that we use are actually safe for our bodies — they’re not filled with aluminum or bleach or chlorine or benzyl peroxide.”
Oh, and one other thing.
“We really want to see medically accurate sex ed mandated across North America,” Ghatrora said.
While Blume is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Ghatrora was quick to point out that only nine of 50 United States require medically accurate sexual education in schools.
“There’s this debate in North America like, is it the parents’ responsibility? And some people say, well schools shouldn’t teach it because its something that parents should be doing, and then others say that its schools’ responsibility,” Ghatrora explained. “I really, truly think it’s a matter of public health, so I believe it should be taught and mandated in the school system.”
While she understands that this is a controversial topic in North America (and especially in the U.S.), Ghatrora said that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise, and condom use is in decline. Her stance also comes from the fact that in a survey of Blume’s audience, 60% of women said they can point to puberty as the time in their lives when their self-esteem plummeted.
“Ages nine to 12 are when most girls drop out of STEM fields and sports, and I do think that it’s a really big crisis that needs to be addressed early on,” she said.
For Ghatrora, part of dealing with this crisis is making space for conversation and fighting menstrual stigma.
“Once we opened the door for people to talk about these products, about women’s health and about their periods, everyone in our community is extremely excited to share,” Ghatrora said. “For many years, it’s just been normal to be told to keep it very hush-hush, and to feel ashamed for something that is extremely normal — and not even just normal, it’s magical!”
One initiative that Blume has to create conversation is called Meditation Mondays. Ghatrora called it one of Blume’s most “accessible” programs, since it is broadcast on Instagram every week.
“For a lot of teens these days, they feel really overwhelmed by everything that’s being thrown at them, all of the different messages on social media that can make you feel stressed out and inadequate,” Ghatrora said. “We know that for them, they do spend a lot of time on social media, so we put Meditation Mondays right there on their feed to meet them where they are and give them those few moments in the day to just take care of their well-being.”
Blume also offers a number of educational materials online for free, including Blume University and TheStatesOfSexEd.com, a “fully comprehensive sexual education curriculum” created with the help of certified sex educators. Its resources cover everything from getting your first period to mental health and self-care. Just to take things one step further, Blume donates a portion of its proceeds to Days for Girls, an organization that brings sanitation products to girls in developing countries.
While Blume already has a number of wellness products available for purchase without a subscription, this month marks the beginning of stand-alone pad and tampon sales. The subscription service model, Ghatrora said, was designed with convenience in mind, and selling products on their own creates another option.
“I think we’ve learned a lot about the Gen Z consumer and what’s important to them,” said Ghatrora. “And what we’ve learned there is many Gen Z consumers care about the mission of the company they shop with.”
