If you’ve never heard of ‘free bleeding’, you’re not alone. It’s a practice that’s seen a growing number of women ditching pads and tampons and retreating to their homes while on their period, to simply bleed freely.

It sounds messy (and it can be) but according to one woman, it actually makes her crave getting her period so she can go into her ‘womb cave’,

“Free bleeding is when you don’t block the flow at all, not even with the pads or the underwear,” Annette explained on her TikTok account. “So I try to free bleed, which means I stay at home when I’m on my period and I intentionally don’t go out to the store, don’t go out to restaurants, I stay home and bleed because that’s what my body is doing, I honour that.

“If I’m at home and I’m on my period then I just lay in bed with a towel or on my couch with a towel. I actually really love the feeling of cramps and like the contractions of birthing the uterine lining. The whole point of free bleeding is just to tune into what your body is actually doing and honour that process. This makes my periods orgasmic.”

Of course, her free bleeding revelations prompted a huge number of questions from women, who can’t quite grasp the idea.

“I respect your choice but this just does not seem practical and I very much doubt you enjoy the pain of it all,” said Becky Doberstein.

“Pads don’t block the flow though. It’s basically putting a towel in your underwear to absorb the blood,” another woman commented.

“How??? Don’t you have places to be? Do you just bleed everywhere? I’m so confused,” asked Chloe.

How does free bleeding work?

Annette explained that she does work from home, and if she has to go out, she plans her trips.

“If I do have to go out then I will use the absorbable underwear. Hell no am I ever gonna stick something inside of me while I’m bleeding.

“The first thing that I do is assess the situation. One thing that I love about free bleeding is you get to start tuning into the pulses of cramps that your body has and how your cramps align to the dropping of the blood. One thing that almost every woman has reported about free bleeding is that her flow gets so much lighter when her yoni is less irritated from using period products.”

She says when people focus on the bleeding aspect of free bleeding, they’re missing the whole point of the practice.

“It’s not about the blood. It’s just not about what you do with your blood either, if you let it drip down your legs or if you catch it in a pad. It’s not the point. The point is about listening to the cycles of your body.”

While many of us have never heard of free bleeding, it’s actually been around for centuries, according to Healthline. Of course, things like tampons and pads weren’t around back in the day – so women used rags or made tampons from sponges. And there are cultures who have practiced different approaches to period – like menstruation huts in Bali and South India.

If you’re not quite ready to ditch the pads – make sure you check out this simple heavy flow period tip.

Would you try, or do you already practice free bleeding? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.