Q & A with Leah from Ohne
Nikki and Leah, co-founders of Ohne
Leah Remfry-Peploe, co-founder of organic tampon subscription service Ohne, gives us her thoughts on everything from menstruation through to the BLM movement and career advice.
What inspired you to start ohne?
ohne began pretty much from a point of total frustration! I’ll never forget the moment Nikki and I were having a girl’s night at my place and she suddenly runs down the stairs, already in rant-mode, waving a purple flowery pad around indignantly. We spent the whole night shouting over each other (thanks, wine) about everything we hated about the period product industry, and by the end of the night we had pretty much come up with the idea for ohne. It seemed so obvious to us - where was the brand that didn’t infantilise users with childlike packaging, didn’t perpetuate stereotypes and shame around periods; the brand that could be gender inclusive, body-safe, and felt fun?
Okay, so there was slightly more to it than that - I’d always wanted to start my own brand after running a café business in Devon, and had been a long-time champion (Nikki would say I was utterly obsessive) of organic products - name a product, I can name an organic alternative to it. And Nikki had experience working with NGOs focused on both women’s initiatives and sustainability development. But even though it’s fair to say we should’ve seen an idea like ohne coming from a mile off, we’d never even imagined we’d go into business together til that night!
What advice would you give to a woman wanting to set up her own business?
Don’t go into it lightly! It’s going to be a lot of long nights, you’re going to forget what a weekend looks like, and there are going to be more frustrating, disheartening hurdles and obstacles than you can even imagine - so you need to passionate enough about your idea and believe in it enough to get you through it all (even - especially - when no one else believes in it). Also if you’re going out for investment, prepare yourself for sexist, cliched questions - they do, unfortunately come up (Nikki and I have been asked about when we’re going to “go off and have babies” many times!) But you can’t let them shake you - if people still think like it’s the 1950s, that’s on them, not you. Just prepare a killer answer and move on!
Top 3 things you’ve learnt in your career?
If you think there’s a need for a product, there’s a need for it. You are your best customer - you’ve had the idea because you’ve identified a gap in the market, and you need to keep that energy with you as you build your business. Don’t do something you wouldn’t respond to as a customer, be that as big as launching a new product or as small as the wording on one page of your website. Trust. Your. Gut.
Never underestimate the importance of good mentorship. Loads of people either think they don’t need it, don’t know how to find it, or don’t know how to ask for it. We would not be where we are today without some of the incredible people who have inspired us, believed in us and our ideas, and patiently explained the complicated intricacies of securing funding or building a website to us!
Having a sense of humour about everything will get you through even the darkest of times in your career!
What advice would you give to 20-year-old you?
You don't have to have it all worked out. Things change, your desires and needs change, so let go of trying to figure everything out and go with the flow!
Why/how does the period product industry need to change?
For us, community comes first. If we can create a space online where talking about periods is completely normalised, then our hope is that this will trickle out into wider society. If every single person in our community takes a little bit of that confident and shame-free attitude towards periods back into their other communities, we’re having a subtle but strong impact on the normalisation of periods! Periods are not taboo and treating them as though they are leaves a lot of people who have periods in the dark about how their bodies function. This means no more stereotypically gendered packaging, no more harmful products sold to consumers as though they should be kept a shameful secret, and no more blue-liquid ads!
Do you think men have a role in changing attitudes to menstruation?
Absolutely! I mean, we chat below about the need for society as a whole to change their attitudes towards periods, gender, and bodies, and cis men are no exception to that. As long as men are saying ‘ew’ in response to periods or making their friends, family members, or partners feel gross about periods, we’re never going to move past the harmful taboos which have left so many menstruating humans in the dark about their bodies for so long!
Besides, everyone on the planet is here thanks to a human with a uterus that did, does, or at some point has, bled. Periods should not be shameful!
Are there any great books/podcasts/articles you’d recommend for women wanting to learn more about their cycle?
Maisie Hill’s Period Power is the most accessible, informative, incredible book for anyone wanting to not only understand their body and cycle better, but also how to make it work for you!
You’ve written about your commitment to being inclusive to the trans community – what do you think needs to change in the period product industry (and society as a whole) to move away from cisnormativity?
We are adamant about using non-gendered language at all times - there’s always a word you can use instead, e.g. saying ‘people who have periods’ instead of ‘women’. On top of wanting to cater to the experiences of all people who bleed, whether they’re trans men, non binary, or another gender identity, it’s also inaccurate to suggest that all women bleed even if we’re only looking at cis women, as there are plenty of people who are post-menopause, pre-pubescent, have had hysterectomies, are over or underweight enough to stop their periods, have an illness that interferes with their cycle, or, and perhaps most importantly, are trans and do not experience a menstrual cycle. The word woman should not be synonymous with periods as it erases so many of our lived experiences!
Additionally, we avoid talking about sex or fertility within the gender binary or heteronormative language. We never assume our reader/follower/customer’s sexuality and we never want anyone to feel excluded from a discussion about their own bodies, safety, and pleasure. We also always try to prioritise trans visibility in our spaces online and irl (though irl feels like a thing of the past now, doesn’t it!) by working with trans folks in our campaigns and content.
This should be industry standard in the period product world. There are some serious taboos to shift when it comes to periods and we believe that everyone of all gender identities will benefit from the dismantling of harmful gender stereotypes and the ‘othering’ that occurs all too often when we talk about periods. Once we start talking about them as something that can happen to anyone, regardless of what they look like or how they identify, they’ll become way more normalised.
As for society as a whole, I’d say the exact same thing applies! Just on a much bigger scale. We have to stop assuming gender, stop obsessing over genitalia, and start giving everyone the agency to self-identify however they want. Gender stereotypes have always been reductive and the only people who benefit from keeping things the way they are are privileged straight men who can profit off other people’s marginalisation!
You’re doing lots as a team to educate yourselves on the BLM movement. What have been your favourite books/courses/programmes?
Our favourite books list would probably take me all day to write out - we’re huge book worms here at ohne so it’s safe to say the vast majority of the team’s individual learning since we launched our Doing Better plan has been via reading! But I’ll list a few of our collective faves. There are all the big hitters of course - Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge, Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad, and Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall. We’ve also loved Are Prisons Obsolete By Angela Davis, articles such as The Travyon Generation by Elizabeth Alexander and There’s a Divide in Even the Closest Interracial Friendships, Including Ours by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman.
As for courses, we’ve all Loved Rachel Cargyle’s #DoTheWork 30 Day email course and The Other Box’s introductory seminar to anti-racism. This week we’ll be working with the human library which is very exciting. We’ve also been doing sessions of our own of sorts, as we’ve joined a mentorship programme for Black startup founders. We’ve bloody loved mentoring the founders we’ve worked with so far and we can’t wait to see their businesses take off!
Can you give us any advice on how to get through our period?!
CBD! CBD is the totally legal cannabinoid extracted from the cannabis sativa plant, which has been found to have a relaxant and analgesic effects which can help relax muscles - read: cramping! Another reason we love it is that CBD can also hold its own against NSAIDs. CBD has been known to help reduce inflammation – without any of the associated risks and side effects of NSAIDs (good at reducing inflammation) or paracetamol (not so good at reducing inflammation), but with the added bonus of being totally natural and plant-based.
For cramps we also recommend: ginger tea, magnesium bath salts, dark chocolate (because it’s high in magnesium), and a vibrator! Seriously, they help ease your cramps.
But the BEST thing you can do is take it super easy, because over exerting yourself with high intensity workouts, stressful situations, or going too hard on a night out can put your body under a lot of stress when it’s already losing a hell of a lot of energy working to shed that uterine lining!
Dream dinner guests?
Is it cheating to say my mum and my sisters? They’re my favourite people in the world and we don’t get to spend enough time together, especially with COVID keeping us in different countries this year. I’d love to get them in a room together, cook up some delicious food made from fresh ingredients from my Mum’s garden, and drink wine til the small hours.
Go-to period food?
Popcorn is my go-to comfort snack throughout my whole cycle, but especially when I’m bleeding! That or CBD-infused chocolates to help ease my cramps.
Last three favourite places you ate/drank in?
I've been lucky enough to be based in Portugal over the last few months of lock down, but we've still really limited the amount of time we've spent in public places. That being said, my partner and I did treat ourselves to date night last weekend, and ended up at a tiny restaurant called 'The Food Temple' where everyone sits outside on the steps to eat. It's a vegan restaurant, serving many typical Portuguese dishes but with the vegan twist! The food was amazing! Prior to that we had some really lovely al fresco beach dinners with friends, and we did recently go paddle boarding with a picnic too. Eating from the middle of a lake was a definite first!
Any tips for how to eat/drink throughout your cycle?
We actually talk about this a lot at ohne hq, because it’s amazing how much your cycle can change for the better by making small but consistent changes to your lifestyle! The biggest one for me was cutting out dairy as I can really feel the effects it has on my body and how my hormones fluctuate throughout my cycle. But a few of our team members absolutely swear by eating to the ‘seasons’ of your menstrual cycle - your bleed being winter, just after being spring, your ovulatory stage being summer, and the PMS stage being autumn. Think about the seasons of the year and how your diet naturally varies throughout. You’re probably not chowing down on hearty roast dinners and warming soups in the middle of summer, are you? Just like how fresh salads seem more appealing in warmer weather, you should respond to the seasons of your body and feed it what it needs.
Ohne tampons are organic, unbleached, and biodegradable. The company also donates 1% of revenue to the Girls Programme run by the School Club Zambia for every month you subscribe. L.O.R. Patrons can get their first box of tampons for free.