By Hilary Metcalfe & Rubycup
I was 12 and a half, in a hotel bathroom in Mexico, when I got my first period, and with it, a quiet but overwhelming sense of dread.
That dread followed me for years: through heavy, unpredictable bleeding, hormonal mood swings I didn’t yet have words for, migraines that could knock me out for 24 hours, and pain so severe it made me fear the start of every month. Doctors told me it was normal. That it was “just part of being a woman.” My options? Hormonal birth control, painkillers, or living with it.
For 15 years, I cycled through pills, side effects, misdiagnoses, and non-answers.
I was exhausted, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
But eventually, I stopped outsourcing my wellbeing. I started learning. Listening. Reclaiming. That journey led me to co-found The SABI, and to build products that actually work, for bodies like mine, and for people everywhere trying to rewrite their story with their cycle, and it’s also why this collaboration with Ruby Cup feels so deeply aligned.
Because while my journey took place in cities and clinics, with access to medications and options, millions of girls and women around the world are navigating their cycles without even the basics: no products, no education, and no safe place to bleed.
We believe period care shouldn't just be available, it should be effective, safe, and sustainable. It should honour the complexity of our bodies and the diversity of our realities.
In this article we dive into what it really means to offer radical care for menstruating people everywhere, and to highlight the tools that are making it possible.
One Body, Unequal Realities
Around the world, the experience of menstruation remains vastly unequal. According to the UN, over 500 million people worldwide lack adequate menstrual hygiene resources.
In rural areas of Kenya, girls often miss school or drop out entirely because they lack access to period products or the privacy to manage their bleeding without shame. In refugee camps, makeshift pads made from rags or paper can lead to infections. Even in the UK, where The SABI is based, 1 in 10 girls can’t afford period products, and 49% have missed school because of their period (Plan International UK).
This is period poverty, the inability to access safe, hygienic menstrual products or environments, and the stigma that surrounds menstruation in nearly every culture.
And it isn’t just a matter of hygiene. It’s a matter of education, equality, and human rights.
The Power of Real Solutions
That’s why we’re so proud to partner in this blog with Ruby Cup, an ethical company working to change the way the world handles periods. Their model is simple and powerful:
“Everyone deserves great period products: we don’t just say it, we do it.”
With Ruby Cup, the solution is simple, sustainable, and scalable: for every cup purchased, one is donated to someone in need, along with the essential education that helps them use it safely, confidently, and with dignity.
Since 2011, Ruby Cup has donated over 150,000 menstrual cups in more than 13 countries, offering a long-term, zero-waste alternative that can last up to 10 years. Their impact goes beyond product: they're transforming cultural taboos, elevating local educators, and helping menstruation become an empowering part of girlhood, not a barrier to it.
At The SABI, we work on another side of the equation, supporting people through what their bodies feel during their cycle. Because even with access to products, many still face pain, hormonal chaos, and emotional distress. And all too often, the default “solution” is medication without explanation.
We created The Gentle Period, our bestselling all-natural infusion, to offer real, hormone-safe support for menstruating bodies. Made with Red Clover, Oat Straw, Lady’s Mantle, Raspberry Leaf, Stinging Nettles and Holy Basil to:
🌿 Helps ease cramps and inflammation
🌿 Supports mood and emotional balance
🌿 Encourages stillness, ritual, and reconnection
Period Dignity Is Not a Luxury
Together, Ruby Cup and The SABI represent two ends of the same mission:
Access and experience. Dignity and relief.
One cup. One ritual. One conversation at a time.
Because every person who menstruates, regardless of where they live or how they bleed, deserves products that are:
💧 Safe: with no harmful additives, toxins, or synthetic hormones
🌍 Sustainable: reducing waste, packaging, and reliance on disposables
🤍 Effective: because care shouldn’t mean compromise
🗣 Liberating: removing shame, replacing silence with choice
Menstruation happens to more than half the global population. It shouldn’t be hidden, punished, or feared. It deserves support that is grounded, respectful, and informed.
The Future of Period Care: Where We’re Going
At The SABI, we believe true period care isn’t just about easing symptoms: it’s about reshaping the systems that have failed menstruating bodies for generations. Access to safe, effective products, support for the physical and emotional realities of bleeding, and open, stigma-free conversations should be basic rights, not privileges.
This conversation with Ruby Cup is just the beginning. Together, we envision a future where every person who bleeds can do so without shame, fear, or lack of care, no matter where they live or what their story holds.
And we’re putting that vision into action. Later this year, we’re launching a campaign to directly support the women working on the farms where our herbal infusions are grown, women whose hands cultivate the healing plants behind our Gentle Period blend.
Through this initiative, we aim to ensure dignified, safe, and supported menstrual care for the farmers who sustain our mission. Because empowerment must extend to every hand that touches the work we do, from seed to sip, from first cramp to final flow.
We’re not just building better products. We’re part of building a better future: One where periods are not a burden, but a birthright met with compassion, education, and real solutions.
The revolution has already begun. And it’s only just getting stronger.
What You Can Do
You don’t have to start a brand to be part of this movement, you just have to care enough to act.
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Try or gift the Gentle Period herbal blend as part of your menstrual self-care
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Support Ruby Cup’s Buy One, Give One program
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Talk about your period, especially if no one ever talked to you about theirs
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Use your voice to advocate for period equity at school, work, and in policy
Together we make period dignity the baseline, not the exception. Every period, from first bleed to last, deserves to be met with compassion, education, and tools that actually work.
ABOUT RUBY CUP
RubyCup is a menstrual cup company that provides a reusable, eco-friendly, and affordable alternative to disposable period products. They also have a social mission to provide menstrual care to women and girls without access to safe period products, with a "Buy One, Give One" program where they donate a cup for every one sold.
HORMONAL & PROUD
Created as a brand to help women navigate the toughest moments in pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum — and practically every stage of life –– The SABI aims to change the narrative around our hormones from one of taboo, embarrassment, and loneliness to awareness and pride. As more than a wellness brand, The SABI offers a carefully-crafted line of products to carry you through your hormonal journey, including rituals, supportive tools, and ancient herbal remedies that have been tested time and time again by women and now come backed by medicine. The SABI is a blend of science and nature conceived by women who have experienced the joys and deep struggles of bringing a child into the world, the pains of a heavy, difficult period, miscarriage, and difficulty conceiving.
We offer you an invitation to get to know your body and its cycles better –– an invitation to really understand what is going on inside. Learn to use your hormonal cycle to your advantage no matter your stage of life, and know that you can support and balance your hormone levels. Look for the right sources of information. Know that there is help, and know that you’re supported.
DISCLAIMER
The SABI blog and articles are not meant to instruct or advise on medical or health conditions, but to inform. The information and opinions presented here do not substitute professional medical advice or consultations with healthcare professionals for your unique situation.
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