How do you correctly wear a sanitary pad?

Peel off the backing strip, centre the pad lengthwise in your underwear with the sticky side down, then fold the wings (if present) around the outer edges of your underwear so they stick underneath. Change it every 4 to 6 hours regardless of how full it looks — most leaks come from wear time or misalignment, not from the pad's absorbency.

Quick facts

• Orientation matters: the pad should sit centred front-to-back in your underwear, with enough length extending both forward and back to match your flow — not just centred on the crotch seam

• Wings fold under, not over: they wrap around the outside edges of your underwear and press onto the underside of the fabric, not on top of your skin

• 4–6 hours is the standard change interval, even on lighter days — this is a hygiene guideline, not just a leak-prevention one

• A snugly-fitted pad prevents more leaks than a bigger pad does — sizing and placement affect leakage more than raw absorbency in most cases

• New underwear per pad type helps: wide, secure-fitting underwear holds wings and adhesive more reliably than very narrow or stretchy styles

Step by step

1. Wash your hands before and after changing a pad — this is a basic hygiene step people skip more often than you'd think.

2. Unwrap the pad and peel the paper strip off the adhesive on the back. If it has wings, there are usually two smaller strips to peel off those too.

3. Position the pad centred in your underwear, adhesive side down, so it sits evenly between the front and back of the crotch area rather than pushed to one side.

4. Press down firmly along the length of the pad so the adhesive makes full contact with the fabric — a pad that's only stuck at one end is far more likely to shift.

5. Fold the wings around the outer edges of the underwear and press them onto the underside of the fabric, so they wrap the gusset rather than sitting flat on top.

6. Change every 4–6 hours, or sooner on heavy-flow days — even if the pad doesn't look full, bacteria and moisture build up regardless of visible saturation.

7. Wrap the used pad (in its own wrapper or the wrapper of a new one) before disposing of it in a bin — never flush it.

Common mistakes that actually cause leaks

Most leak complaints trace back to one of three things: the pad wasn't centred correctly, it was left on too long, or the wings weren't pressed firmly enough to stay wrapped under the fabric. A pad placed slightly off-centre leaves one end with less coverage than it looks like from the front, which is often where side leakage actually starts. Wings that aren't pressed down properly tend to work loose during movement, especially walking or sitting for long stretches, letting the pad shift out of position without you noticing until it's too late.

Wear time matters just as much as placement. A pad's absorbent core doesn't stop working just because 4–6 hours have passed, but the hygiene case for changing regularly is separate from the leak case: prolonged wear increases moisture and bacterial buildup against skin, which is one of the more common contributors to irritation and rash, independent of whether the pad is visibly full.