Menstruation cycles are one of the most challenging subjects to speak on.
Not because not many people have them - in fact, roughly half the global population menstruates - but what it is associated with.
The word itself leaves many squirming, often basked in colourful expressions such as 'time of the month' or 'code red' to disguise its occurrence.
But all that these euphemisms do is continue to perpetuate a negative stigma and add shame to what is a natural occurrence in young girls and women's bodies.
Now two women are on a mission to break the taboos with the help of the Amazon Launchpad programme to ensure their products are accessible to all those with periods.
"Think about how prevalent blood is on television. It's everywhere. Every action movie, blood, guts, everything. The second it relates to vaginal discharge, the whole world is freaking out and having a hissy fit", states Martha Silcott, Inventor and CEO of the eco brand 'FabLittleBag'.
"It's fine to show people's sides hanging out and blood everywhere, but the second there's menstrual blood, then suddenly a crime has been committed."
Martha, 52, had started her company after an extremely unfortunate incident during a dinner party where she found no bin in the bathroom and was forced to wrap her tampon in toilet tissue and stuff in her sleeve.
Determined to ensure she would never be in a predicament like that again, she searched high and low for a solution but could not find any.
"My company was born out of a very bad experience that left me feeling very awkward and then cross that there was no solution out there", Martha explains.
She spent years crafting the perfect product to allow any woman to discreetly dispose of their feminine hygiene products and educate those who wrongly flush their products down the toilet but faced many obstacles in the beginning stages.
"Getting funding was really difficult because so many of the investors are male", Martha explained.
"So I had to really educate the men in the room about the realities which is quite hard because not only do they not have empathy, but they are genuinely grossed out by the whole thing".
Martha herself had struggled to navigate her period as a young teenager, feeling embarrassed and hiding her periods like many other girls in her boarding school.
But she is hopeful that her struggles in the past will not be the same for girls in the future.
"Historically, men were quite scared about it, so they feel they have to control it. And therefore, the easy way of doing that is to deem it to be polluting and bad", she says.
"But the youth of today are way more progressive in this subject than my generation. And I've got a lot of hope especially because the boys of the youth of today don't have the same reactions."
Much like Martha, Iranian refugee and founder of natural period care brand 'Freda', Affi Parvizi-Wayne had struggled to navigate her period as a young child.
Affi, 56, had gone to a Lebanese school in Kuwait until she moved to the UK with her family when she was 12 years old.
"I'm Middle Eastern, and Middle Eastern girls generally get their period quite early, and I had no idea about periods", she says.
"In my last year of primary school, I remember rushing to my mum, and she was sort of angry. It was a combination of 'oh my, you are too young' and 'what am I to say', and she just said, 'well, you're a young lady now'."
Affi began her company after finding that many refugees struggled to receive period products as they often aren't included in the hygiene kits donated by relief organisations.
"I even came across a list for Ukrainian refugees, and it had no period products on it", she says.
"I had to message the people and say 'you know 'battery chargers are all very good, you need to add some tampons'. And good on them, they immediately updated their list, but that is why it's constantly an afterthought".
Affi not only grew tired of the lack of period products available to refugees, but the materials they were made off - In fact, a pack of sanitary pads contains the same amount of plastic as four carrier bags.
Now her award-winning organic period products are sold worldwide, with a portion of profits donated to initiatives worldwide tackling period poverty.
And her own mother, who had shied away from the subject for so many years, wishes she had a company like Freda as a young child.
"For my mum, it was almost like a relief. She wishes she knew all this when she was growing up", she says.
"Even my 13-year-old niece had rung me up, and I was with my mum and she said, 'Affi, I've got good news, I'm going to be needing Freda'.
"And my mum thought it was incredible. My niece was celebrating it whereas my mum had dreaded it when she was younger".
Both women have praised Amazon's Launchpad programme - a scheme helping entrepreneurs launch and boost sales of their sustainable products - for their growth in success.
"Companies like Amazon do more to help break innovations into their showcase because ultimately I believe that shoppers want as much innovation as possible available to them", says Martha.
"And I want Fab's message to be out there. Fab is about empowerment. It empowers you to be able to manage your period wherever you are, whatever your circumstances, however you're feeling about it."
"That's where my emotional passion comes from".
