Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Yeah, what do you do?

I'm living and working with 200 other guys, there are no bins in the toilets, and no single stall toilets either.  I don't know what to do with the waste, or what to do with the noise either.  The best thing I've been able to think of so far is to sort myself in my room and make lots of trips to the skip outside, but that only works when I'm in the accommodation and not at work.  At work there's probably only lunch time where I could get away with nipping into a disabled toilet because it's the other side of the base where we eat.

I haven't got a clue what to do and I've got a feeling I'll be dealing with it very, very soon.

Tricky, only thing I can think of is ask for one in there? Make excuse like you had a bad cut/infection and needs to change dressings. Not much help here sorry.

Zip lock snack baggies. Put in your pocket until it can be disposed off discretely.

Given a few men (especially the older variety) have some incontinence issues and wear pads (true) I'm surprised they don't have a disposal unit in the men's. I've seen them around the place in Australia (when I frequented the gents!).

Don't know if wearing a fanny pack/bum bag (depending on your part of the world) is possible in this circumstance, but I keep a plastic bag and a pad in there when it'll be needed, that way the used pad can go in the plastic bag until it's possible to deal with it elsewhere. Works for reuseable pads too, which can eliminate the noise of tearing the wrapper off, etc.

Menstrual cups. No garbage and you only need to deal with them twice per day. Much more comfortable and easier for activities like running or sports.

Quote from: Whynaut on May 25, 2014, 06:15:58 PM
Menstrual cups. No garbage and you only need to deal with them twice per day. Much more comfortable and easier for activities like running or sports.

I forgot about this option.

I can't work tampons, I've tried several times and can't get them to sit right in me, so I doubt cups are an option, and wouldn't they need rinsing out anyway?

Don't tell me that I just need to push them in further, they feel as if they are in too far, and physically won't go any further but I still feel them.

Hmm. Honestly tampons work fine for me and I'm pretty fast with 'em. I try to wait until I'm alone. Might not be a viable option for you though. Using ziplock bags seems like the best option. If you're sneaky you should be able to put your pad in the trash after washing your hands without much mind from others. I'll say this much guys don't pay half as much attention to other guys in the washroom as women do. Trying to use a women's washroom is a terrifying scenario in of itself.

tampons never worked for me and when I tried the cup it was a disaster. Not just because of fit but also because of flow. Of course my flow was abnormal and thankfully I ended up having a hysterectomy.

No one has mentioned the noise factor you mentioned. I know it seems loud and obvious to you, but it could be anything so I'd not worry about that.

I agree with the ziplock bag option. And you can ask for a garbage to be put in there. That will not single you out as female. As Grace mentioned there are all sorts of reason someone might need a bin. I work closely with the maintenance crew that cleans our bathrooms and have occasionally chipped in. The people who manage the bathrooms see (and smell) everything. A request for a bin is not going to phase then.

Quote from: LordKAT on May 25, 2014, 04:10:49 PM
Zip lock snack baggies. Put in your pocket until it can be disposed off discretely.

That's what I used to do.  Wore cargo pants with big side pockets so the bulge wasn't obvious.

As odd as this sounds, bring a small bag of chips with you. If you walk out of the bathroom with a bag of chips in your hand, for all they know you had a quick munch in the stall and tossed the bag when you were done.

If food isn't permitted to be "snuck" around, then the zip lock would do the trick.

When I was a teenager I was homeless and sometimes living as male, and even when I was openly female I didn't have appropriate places to deal with this stuff. I really wish I could convince you to keep trying with tampons or cups until they work for you. It's very difficult to manage pads, and the smell can be frustrating even when nobody else notices.

You have to practice and be really okay with and good at whatever method you choose. If you do come around to tampons or a cup, get used to using your finger to rearrange it if it isn't comfortable. Nobody will ask why your hand is in your pants, ever. As long as you don't make eye contact it isn't going to draw attention, and if someone does notice they don't want to talk about it.

With tampons I always had a clean one in a pocket, and a folded piece of paper or a food wrapper in another pocket. You stick your hand in, turn away if you need to root around, pull out the dirty one and enclose it in the paper or plastic, and rip open and insert the clean one. It sounds daunting but it's not difficult. I did this for years without trouble. Most people don't care enough to confront you even if they do believe you are acting strangely.

If you do need to keep using pads, or if you just want more wiggle room in general, I agree with asking for a garbage bin or some other thing that might help. Lots of humans have medical problems that affect how they use the restroom and I doubt HR or whoever you deal with is going to ask a lot of questions.

Felix, I've tried several times, even in the shower where I can spend a long time rearranging things without panicking too much about getting anything on me, but I just can't make it work.  I couldn't even cope with it long enough to finish the shower.  I don't know why my body just doesn't seem to fit them.

I've found there is actually a bin in some of the toilets here, it's just hidden on top of a random cleaners sink.  I've been pretty lucky in that I'm good at avoiding times where the bathrooms are busy (all those years of avoiding people in the female bathrooms when I passed but was around some people who knew me have finally paid off).  I'm just gonna have to hope that luck continues to stay on my side.

Yeah menstrual cups are rad for a number of reasons. If that's not an option, I'd suggest what others here have, which is to carry a lil Ziploc and toss it when you can.

I work as a lousy janitor. In one of the mens bathrooms, I keep a bin because one student covers the seat in toilet paper before sitting down. As long as a bin is in the stall, he will toss the used tissue, if not, he leaves for the next person to throw on the floor.

Just an excuse to ask for the garbage can.

You want to stick one foot up on the toilet then try to insert the tampon.

I am pre-t and have using the men's for about year and have had change in public restrooms almost every month. I use tampons which work best for me, feel so much better than pads and no smell either.  There is too much putting your finger inside you for me to use a cup just can't imagine doing that.  I do try to go when there is likely to be few guys in the restroom; At school I always have my backpack and carry extra tampons in the bottom of it and open them inside the backpack to make less sound.  I wrap the old one and the inserter tube  in tp and usually push it into the trash bin, if there are others that could see what I am doing I put in a ziplock bag and get rid of it when I can.  I have had a couple of times where I have out doing something and was only carrying an extra tampon in pocket. I had to change in big restroom at sport stadium once with a steady flow of guys in and out, I waited for a stall and changed  putting the trash in a ziplock and did manage to get it in the trash bin with no one saying anything.

I was taking Alli, and eating military food at the time, and trust me they do not mix. A pad was needed.
The chips bag is brilliant I wish I would of thought of that, what I would do was just flush the toilet and use the cover noise to drown out any noise I did not want heard.  When I was done in there I would wrap it in toilet paper and just dump in the trash before I washed my hands and made sure to cover the toilet paper with paper towels.  Guys really do not notice and only see what they want to see.