Always products are displayed on a shelf in a supermarket in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina October 29, 2024.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Rising inflation and ever-changing tariff policies have led to higher prices across store shelves over the past few years, squeezing consumers’ budgets.
An often overlooked example: menstrual products.
The average price of menstrual products, including sanitary pads and tampons, has risen nearly 40% since 2020, from roughly $5.37 per unit to $7.43 per unit, according to February data from Chicago-based market research firm Circana.
Dollar sales from menstrual products have grown by nearly 30% over that same period, according to Circana.
But at the same time, sales of menstrual products — which broadly includes pads, tampons, liners and more — have seen a roughly 6% decrease since 2022, falling incrementally each year, according to data from NielsenIQ.
The data analytics company noted that items across the store have seen average unit price increases, with the dollar volume of consumer packaged goods at large rising 2.7% year-to-date. Those price increases are in line with climbing inflation, with the latest consumer price index in February showing a 2.4% annual rise.
The latest CPI data found that inflation in personal care products in the U.S. has jumped dramatically, up 22.1% in February from January 2020.
But because menstrual products are a necessity for a large portion of the population, those costs may be hurting consumers.
“I do think that we’re at a point where consumers in general are having to choose whether they can buy food for their family, or buy prescriptions for their family. Some things that we do typically define as a necessity, people are finding alternatives for or going without,” said Sarah Broyd, a partner with consultancy firm Clarkston Consulting.
Broyd said the gap between higher prices and declining sales shows consumers may be searching for alternatives out of necessity.
Menstrual products haven’t just been hit by inflation, either. According to government data, the U.S. collected $115 million through tariffs on menstrual products containing cotton in 2025, compared with just $42 million in 2020.
The U.S. imported the majority of its menstrual products from Canada, China and Mexico in 2024, according to the World Bank. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on all three of those countries at varying levels over the past year.
Those added costs come on top of the so-called “pink tax,” where some states place a sales tax on menstrual products. According to 2025 data from Statista, Tennessee, Mississippi and Indiana have the highest sales tax on menstrual products at 7%. Products that are deemed “medical devices” are often excluded from sales taxes.
‘A subscription service to be a woman’
For 30-year-old Dafna Diamant, the rising price of menstrual products has become noticeable at the cash register and a drag on her monthly expenses.
The New York resident said she’s noticed her usual pack of roughly 18 tampons rise to somewhere around $25, especially over the past year.
“It’s crazy, and it just feels like as a woman, you have to pay sometimes $50 every couple months,” Diamant told CNBC. “And for some people, it takes a toll on the income.”
Diamant said she feels particularly frustrated because it’s not a monthly expense she can go without. She often buys store-brand period products at retailers like CVS and Walgreens, yet she said she’s still shocked by the sticker price.
“It still feels like a subscription service to be a woman,” Diamant told CNBC. “You have to pay every month to be fertile.”
Even larger companies have felt the effects. Procter & Gamble, the parent company of menstrual product brand Always, said in July that it was raising prices on 25% of its personal care and household products due to a $1 billion total annual tariff impact. It manufactures its Always products across facilities in Maine, Utah and Canada, according to the company.
P&G declined to comment for this story.
Kimberly-Clark, the maker of menstrual product brand Kotex, said on an earnings call in April that the company incurred a total of $300 million in gross costs from tariffs, with more than half of that related to tariffs on China. The company did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Broyd, the partner at Clarkston Consulting, said menstrual products have been hit with a “triple whammy” of rising raw material costs, inflation across energy and supply chains, and cross-border friction from tariffs.
“When you think about plastic and pulp and some of the main components of feminine care products, they’re largely probably coming from overseas and then getting hit with that much more of tariffs,” Broyd said.
She added that these tariffs are on top of already alleged higher levies on other women’s products, the subject of Congress’ Pink Tariffs Study Act introduced last year by Democrats to determine whether the U.S. tariff system is “regressive” or has a “gender bias.”
As prices continue to shoot up, Broyd said she believes companies will continue to reevaluate their portfolios and potentially sell off their feminine care segments to focus on businesses with higher margins. In November, Edgewell Personal Care sold its feminine care business to a company in Sweden for $340 million.
“You’re seeing these more niche, more startup type brands that are popping up in stores. … That’s the biggest growth,” Broyd said. “People that have the ability to flex up and buy more organic or products that they trust, they’ll spend that price premium. But for other consumers that don’t have the discretionary income to do that, they’re going to trade down and go private label, or go without.”
The rise of reusables
Diamant said she and her friends are now trying period underwear instead of single-use products to streamline their expenses.
A growing number of people have been trying reusable period products, primarily because they’re environmentally friendly and cheaper.
Major manufacturers have often relied on brand loyalty for their products, which could take a hit if consumers turn to alternatives.
“If you’re in fem care, you’re going to be using Kotex for 40 years. If you’re in Depend, you’re going to be using Depend for 40 years, right?” Kimberly-Clark CEO Michael Hsu said on a November earnings call. “There is long-duration frequency. There’s a lot of expenditure for consumers, and so because of that, they want to have an ongoing relation with us.”
Saalt, a reusable period products company offering cups, discs and underwear, said it estimates that 16% to 20% of U.S. consumers have tried or used reusable menstrual products, consisting of mostly younger consumers.
“Affordability is huge,” CEO Cherie Hoeger told CNBC. “When you look at our product, a cup or disc can last 10 years, and our product is only in the $30 price range. … They’re able to save up to $1,800 on the lifespan of that cup or disc, and that’s on the low end.”
Saalt, which launched in 2018, hit revenues of eight figures in its third year of business, Hoeger said. The company declined to disclose details of its financials, but she said demand has grown year-over-year since it launched.
Among Generation Z, Hoeger said the top reason for switching to reusables is pricing.
“They usually have some affinity toward sustainability and climate change, but it’s never their number one,” Hoeger said.
The rise of reusables may be contributing to the declining sales of single-use period products over the past few years. It also coincides with recent studies indicating that tampons could contain lead or other harmful ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration investigated the presence of metals and determined there was no risk.
Riding that momentum, other companies like Knix, MeLuna, Flex and more have entered the reusables space and garnered growing market share as consumers search for alternatives.
“Affordability is the crux; it’s the root problem,” Hoeger said. “Without affordability for these period products, you have real economic consequences for women to happen.”
