Nobody knows exactly when a first period will arrive, so the useful thing is to be ready rather than to guess. Being ready takes about five minutes and one small bag. This page is health information for learning, and a doctor or a trusted adult can help you with anything that worries you.
What to carry
Two pads is enough. Keep them somewhere that is always with you — a pencil case, an inside pocket of your school bag, a small pouch.
If you can, add a spare pair of underwear and a folded plastic or paper bag. The bag is for wrapping a used pad, or for putting stained underwear in until you get home.
A dark jumper or a hoodie tied round your waist is the other thing people wish they had. It covers a mark on the back of trousers or a skirt completely.
You do not need to buy anything special or expensive. A pad is a pad. The differences between them are covered in period products, and how to choose.
If you cannot get products easily
Not everyone has money for them, or someone at home who buys them. This is common and it is not something to feel bad about.
Most schools keep pads in the office, with the school nurse, or in the toilets, and asking for one is a completely ordinary request. In several countries they are free in schools and colleges. A teacher, a school nurse or a pastoral lead can usually hand you some without any fuss, and they are used to being asked.
In an emergency, folded toilet paper or tissue in your underwear will hold for an hour or two until you can get a pad. It is not comfortable, but it works, and it is much better than staying in a toilet cubicle worrying.
Who to tell
You do not have to tell anyone. It is your body and your information.
That said, telling one adult usually makes life easier, because they can keep supplies at home, write a note if you need one, and answer questions. A parent, a carer, an older sister or cousin, a school nurse or a form tutor are all reasonable choices. Pick whoever you actually find easy to talk to, not whoever you think you are supposed to pick.
If there is nobody at home you feel comfortable telling, that is worth knowing about in advance too — there are adults outside the home whose job this is.
What to do if it starts when you are out
- Go to a toilet. There is no rush and nobody can tell by looking at you.
- Put a pad in the middle of your underwear, sticky side down.
- If you have no pad, fold toilet paper into a thick pad shape and use that for now.
- If there is a mark on your clothes, tie a jumper round your waist and carry on. Cold water gets blood out of fabric later; hot water sets it.
- Ask someone if you need something. A teacher, a school office, a shop assistant, a friend's parent — this is a normal thing to be asked for.
There is more detail about lessons, PE and asking to leave the room in a period at school.
What it will probably look like
The first one is often light, and it may be brown or dark red rather than bright red [NHS]. Some people only see a few small marks for a day or two. It can also stop and start.
The first few periods often come at uneven gaps, sometimes months apart, and that settles over the first couple of years [ACOG]. If you want to understand why, what a period is explains the cycle behind it.
When to see a doctor
Starting your periods does not need a doctor. You or a trusted adult can arrange to see one if:
- bleeding soaks through a pad every hour or two, or lasts longer than about 7 days
- pain stops you going to school or doing your usual things
- you have not started by about 15, or about three years after your breasts began developing
- you feel dizzy, very tired, or faint around your period
You can ask an adult to help you make the appointment, and it is fine to say you would rather they came in with you, or waited outside.