Test-driving my TILT undie on a 7 hour long date.

Have you ever screamed so loud while riding a ferris wheel that you almost peed your pants? Well, I did but I’ll come back to that fun little story later. My TILT package arrived a few days back with an unexpectedly beautiful letter inscribed inside it, along with a reusable plastic undie bag. Despite the butterflies in my belly I patiently waited for a week to do a fabric test before I finally had the chance to put my TILT undies to an unbiased test: an outdoorsy date that lasted 10+ hours.

I kid you not, the first noticeable difference was how my regular underwear felt against my skin v/s HOW SOFT TILT’s bamboo fibre fabric felt against my skin! Almost like a long lost lover’s caress. One that I might have looked for all my life. Hey, don’t blame me for romanticising things- that’s kind of my speciality to begin with. Excited about how light the fabric felt against my skin, I threw on my favourite cargo skirt over it and dressed up in all pastels for the day.

Despite all its perfect qualities, the only mistake I made while ordering my TILT undie was that I ordered a size larger than needed. I remember being conscious about the fit and didn’t want the undie to be tight and therefore ended up ordering a larger size. For those of you who aren’t aware, TILT undies are sized to keep you comfy. Hence, if you usually wear Jockey underwear in size L, a TILT size M would fit you just fine- SIZE NEVER BOTHERED ME ANYWAY.

Before I dive into things that worked out for me, I gotta mention the childish joy in me hitting undefeatable heights when I walked into a public washroom and realised that NO TISSUES didn’t mean I had to keep wearing moist underwear for the day. TILT’s triple layer absorbent technology took care of my discomfort and in like a minute the wetness DISAPPEARED and this isn’t me exaggerating the situation. I had expected the undie to take at least 3-5 minutes to soak in the moisture but I was just as surprised at its function as you are.

Now that I was aware that the absorbent tech worked, it was time to figure out how much quantity it was capable of absorbing. Although I was aware of some pre-period spotting going on in my pants, neither was I carrying a measuring device nor was I conscious of any wetness outside my TILT undies. All distracted by my wandering mind thinking about the date, it took me a 2 hour bus ride, an additional hour of waiting, 30 minutes of ropeway from one bank of the River Brahmaputra to the other and some immensely intense songs playing on my headphones to reach my destination. Cons of living in the outskirts of the city but hey, I ain’t complaining about the extra time I spent admiring the beauty of my city. Are you guys aware of the world’s smallest river island- Umananda? It’s situated right here in Guwahati, a view I eye-witnessed today while taking the ropeway; along with some very enthusiastic middle aged tourists.

Amidst all the heartfelt moments I was busy enjoying, the only worry in the back of my mind was that I wasn’t carrying any cloth/disposable pads with me in case my periods came knocking before I reached home. I knew I was PMSing and my uterus was cramping. I’m not gonna lie though, there was a thrill in knowing that I could either have a really tough time if my periods arrived early but then it would also be an excellent way to check how reliable my TILT undies were. BADI DUVIDHA THI- FIR HUMNE SOCHA CHALO… HUM DATE PE FOCUS KARTE HAIN.

My date seemed more amused that I showed up after a journey of 30+ KMs. We then spent an hour nerding around about books in the crook of a library before visiting a fest, a day well spent with great company, trying new street foods and competing with each other to see who’s got a better hand at rifle shooting. FYI it was a draw but I think my date won at being a better cheerleader. I even tried Dabeli- a pao like bun sliced in half with sweet & spicy potato stuffing and some crunchy garnishing on top.

After all the food with a hundred sips of water, some mountain dew and a glass of my favourite masala soda we felt brave enough to take a ride on the ferris wheel. Coming to the most happening part of the story now! As we sat down, slowly being spinned to the top of the circle, I realised in the worst possible minute that I NEEDED TO PEE. Either I could have begged the person maintaining the ride to make a stop for me mid-way or hold my pee in for 5 for minutes. I went for the obvious choice that any other person would have chosen- screamed at the top of my lungs as the ferris wheel spun at a full swing and silently begged for the ride to end so I could rush to the washroom.

For a moment there, me and my date shouted at each other to maintain eye contact as we held hands while supporting ourselves on the protection railing and sang along to ‘aya tere dar pe deewana’, regretting our life decision to chase the rush. That was when I sneezed once, a little too hard and realised that I might have involuntarily leaked some pee. Not that I felt any wetness in my pants but there was a sigh of relief that left my body when I finally reached the bathroom after the ride; as if the leak never even happened! And here I thought magic was limited to the compounds of Hogwarts and illegal for the muggles?

I reached home pretty late from the date, which lasted about 10 hours- I mean what even took so long. I guess it’s true that we hardly realise time flying by when we’re having a good time. I had taken the same route back home, only instead of the ropeway I took a ferry to cross the river while returning as I bid goodbye to my date and thanked them for showing me around. On my way home, my phone’s notification popped up congratulating me on taking more than 8k steps throughout the day. If only I could have kept up with the same schedule everyday.

8K steps do sound like an unattainable number sometimes but good company and the determination to reach home before my family raised hellfire was motivation enough for me. It hit me hard when I realised that I walked around the entire day only to come back home with no elastic digs on my skin from wearing a brand new undie for such long hours.

As I took off my undie, waiting for the geyser to warm up like my overwhelmed heart, I realised that I was on my periods. The gusset of the TILT undie felt slightly heavier than when I put it on at the beginning of my day and I could clearly tell that it had absorbed a lot of my discharge/blood (also the pee that I shamelessly admit to). It was probably on my way home but just knowing that I could come back home hassle-free without a thought in the world about period stained clothes was very an unexpected surprise to me.

Now TILT undies are no way a replacement for period products and can only absorb about 5-8 ml of pee/discharge/moisture. However, they did come in handy for an emergency period case in my scenario and I think I’ll definitely pair them up with my menstrual cup for an extra layer of leakage protection. I mean who doesn’t like to have fail-proof hacks?

Washing the period blood off my TILT undie was no sweat either. I personally prefer hand washing my intimates so I began by soaking it in some detergent for a few minutes before gently scrubbing it off. I was mindful to check if the fabric showed any bleeding (discharging colour when in contact with water) and there was none.

My day was far from being perfect in any sense. From a tiring journey to sitting my cramps out while socialising but I couldn’t have asked for a better winghooman. My undie had my literal back even when I had no idea I needed it, like a hug we all crave for at the end of a tiring day. Here’s to more crazy adventures and escapades with my baddie.

P.S. DID YOU KNOW that bamboo fabric dries two times faster than cotton and they are 3 times more absorbent. Well there you go, you’re enlightened now.

- Skye