Southsea salon owner collecting sanitary products wants to help put an end to period poverty and stigma
FEMINIST and Southsea salon owner Mae is urging other businesses to supply free period products as she collects them throughout the month of January to donate to charity.
Nail technician, Mae Brogan, is calling for donations of period-related products throughout the month of January to be brought to her Southsea salon, Baker Miller.
Mae also hopes to dispel the stigma surrounding periods and will be donating the bounty of products to The EC Roberts Centre, based in Landport. The centre provides support for children, families, young people and vulnerable adults from across Portsmouth.
‘Around 17 clients come in and out of here a day, if every single person just brought one packet of menstrual products in over the month we’d have over 300 packets,’ said Mae.
Starting the conversation on periods, Mae says, is also a key part of the campaign.
‘I’m an ultra-feminist so for me it’s also about ending the stigma towards periods, since they’ve just been sat on my coffee table, I’ve spoken so much about periods.
‘Everyone is just saying ‘why do we not talk about it more’, it’s something that 50% of the population go through and yet we barely talk about it,’ adds Mae.
Less than halfway through the month, Mae and her team at the salon have already helped collect 74 products, with the figure rising.
In November, Mae also made her store a collection point for local food banks.
‘Sometimes it doesn’t take people donating money, all it takes is people having a bit of a clear out, bring it in, I’ve got the space, it can’t hurt!’
‘With the cost-of-living crisis, everyone is in need of things and it makes so much sense to do this rather than raising money because people don’t have money at the minute,’ added Mae.
Mae, who opened the Baker Miller salon in September last year, hopes that her campaign to fight the stigma and help end period poverty will help inspire other local businesses like hers to provide feminine hygiene products free-of-charge for their customers.
‘68 per cent of young people say they’re too embarrassed to ask for help whilst on their period, I just thought that was so sad,’ said Mae.
‘Since we opened I’ve always had products in the bathroom, I think that should just be standard.’