Why I Chose Cream (and What That Said About How Far Period Underwear Has Come)

18. Juni 2026

NIXI Body The Carla Cream Leakproof Knicker Heavy — lifestyle shot showing the cream colourway worn naturally, displaying the high leg VPL-free design and seamless waistband in a warm neutral tone

I want to start with the colour, because I think it matters more than it might seem. When I decided to try period underwear properly — not as a backup, not as a just-in-case, but as my primary protection on heavy days — I deliberately chose cream instead of black.

This was a small act of defiance. Period products have been black, or dark, or hidden, for as long as I can remember. The darkness is practical, obviously. But it also carries an implication: that this is something to be concealed, that the evidence of a period is something to be managed away. Choosing cream felt like a quiet refusal of that framing. If the product works — and I was about to find out whether it did — then the colour shouldn't matter. And if the colour doesn't matter, I'd rather have something that looks like the rest of my underwear drawer.

Why I'd Been Sceptical

NIXI Body The Carla Cream Leakproof Knicker Heavy — lifestyle shot showing the cream colourway in natural wear, demonstrating the high leg silhouette and seamless waistband against skin — The Carla in cream — the high leg VPL-free design and seamless waistband in a warm neutral that looks like regular underwear rather than a medical product.

I'd tried period underwear twice before. The first pair was from a brand I won't name, described as "heavy" absorbency, and leaked on a moderately heavy day. The second pair was better but the waistband dug in uncomfortably — I have endometriosis and abdominal sensitivity is real, particularly in the first two days of my cycle. I'd concluded that the category wasn't quite there yet and gone back to disposables.

What made me try again was the NIXI Body Carla's specific credentials. Created in collaboration with The Endometriosis Foundation. Seamless waistband designed for comfort with scars or stomas. Holds up to 20ml — four tampons' worth. And £1 from every pair goes to The Endometriosis Foundation. As someone with endometriosis, that combination of design intent and charitable commitment felt like a product made by people who understood the problem rather than approximating it.

The Product

NIXI Body Carla Cream Leakproof Knicker Heavy — front product view showing the cream colourway, high leg cut, seamless waistband and the smooth nylon elastane fabric construction — The front view in cream — the high leg cut and seamless waistband are both visible. The cream colour shows the construction clearly in a way that black doesn't.

I found the NIXI Body Carla Cream Leakproof Knicker in Heavy in the Women's Underpants collection. The design is the same as the black Carla — four-layer absorbent gusset, VPL-free high leg cut, seamless waistband, 75% nylon and 25% elastane outer body — just in a warm cream rather than black. I sized down as recommended and ordered two pairs.

NIXI Body Carla Cream Leakproof Knicker Heavy — lifestyle shot showing the cream knicker worn in an everyday context, demonstrating the comfortable natural fit and flattering high leg silhouette — In everyday wear — the cream colourway integrates naturally into a wardrobe rather than being set apart as a "period product." That distinction matters more than it might seem.

The seamless waistband was the first thing I noticed when I put them on. No elastic. No ridge. Nothing pressing against the lower abdomen. On a day when I'm already managing cramping and sensitivity, the absence of that pressure is genuinely significant. I wore them around the house for an hour before my period started, just to get a sense of the fit, and forgot I was wearing them within twenty minutes.

The First Heavy Day

NIXI Body Carla Cream Leakproof Knicker Heavy — back view showing the high leg cut from behind and the smooth seamless construction of the cream colourway — The back view — the high leg cut from behind, smooth and seamless. The cream shows the construction quality clearly.

I wore the Carla Cream on the second day of my last cycle, which is consistently my heaviest. I wore it alone, without a tampon or pad as backup, for a full day at home that included a two-hour work call, lunch, a walk, and an evening on the sofa.

It held. Completely. I changed into a fresh pair in the evening — I'd bought two pairs specifically so I could do this — and washed the first pair at 30 degrees. By the following morning it was dry and the cream colour was unchanged. No staining that hadn't washed out. No degradation of the fabric. It looked exactly as it had when I'd first put it on.

That last point — the cream washing clean — was the thing I'd been most uncertain about. It does. The four-layer construction means the absorbent layers do their job and the outer fabric stays clean. This is what makes the cream colourway genuinely viable rather than aspirational.

Three Months On

NIXI Body Carla Cream Leakproof Knicker Heavy — product detail shot showing the washable and reusable credentials and the sustainable period product construction in the cream colourway — Washable, reusable, and the cream stays cream — three months of regular use and the colour is exactly as it was on day one.

I now own four pairs of the Carla Cream. I use them across my heavy days and have retired disposables almost entirely for those days. The cream has stayed cream through repeated washing cycles. The seamless waistband has not changed. The absorbency has not degraded.

The £1 per pair to The Endometriosis Foundation is something I think about every time I buy a new pair. Four pairs means four pounds to an organisation doing work that directly affects my quality of life. That's a small number, but it's a number that goes somewhere useful rather than nowhere at all.

My previous experience with period underwear had left me sceptical about the category. The Carla Cream has changed that. The design intent is evident in every detail — the seamless waistband, the absorbency spec, the Endometriosis Foundation collaboration, the cream colourway that treats period protection as something that belongs in a normal underwear drawer rather than hidden at the back of it.

If you've tried period underwear before and been disappointed, or if you've been curious but haven't found the right product, the NIXI Body Carla Cream Leakproof Knicker in Heavy is worth trying. Find it in our Women's Underpants collection and browse the wider range in Lingerie and Clothing. It's also in Apparel & Accessories and our Latest Products if you're browsing what's new.

— Brigitte Fontaine-Leclerc, architectural historian and endometriosis advocate, writing from a position of considerably more confidence in the period underwear category than she had four months ago.