Bloom - HelloFlo: The Guide, Period.

T here is no such thing as clean underwear. At least for a girl. You may start your day with a nice, fresh pair of underwear, but by your first trip to the bathroom? Yup, theres always something crusty waiting for you.

Sometimes less crusty than cottage-cheesy.

Sometimes less cottage-cheesy than yogurty.

It can often feel a bit like your body has taken it upon itself to produce its own personal dairy section. If you know what its for, it can be magical (some might even say vagical). If you dont, its shameful, confounding, embarrassing. But its there. Always.

Being a girl is messy business. A fact widely known, though rarely discussed, by half the worlds population. At nearly every stage of a girls development something is spurting or sprouting or budding or blossoming. Garden metaphors abound! Based solely on evidence provided by decades of feminine hygiene advertisements, youd be forgiven for concluding that getting your period is basically a monthly frolic through a field of sweet-smelling flowers.

But have you ever actually spent any time in a garden? It is dirty business. Literally. Plus, there are thorns and worms and, if you know anything about gardening, likely some sort of manure. So while its not a perfect field of sweet-smelling flowers, a real garden may actually be the perfect metaphor. Puberty is messy business.

Oh, and there will be blood. A lot of it. Think: horror movie. Sometimes it may look and feel like a waterfall of blood when in actual fact you merely overslept and your maxi pad, the one that all the commercials tell you is so good at absorption, was simply not up to the task of your heavy flow day. Some people call those ruined panties period underwear and only pull them out of the drawer each month as needed. We like to think of them as our Red Badges of Courage.

And while were on the topic of maxi pads, can we discuss the blue dye that we see in commercials as proof that the pads work? Since you probably havent gotten your period yet, I want to let you in on a little secret: the blood youll see when you get your periodits not blue. In fact, sometimes its not red. It can be all sorts of shades from red to brown. Just being honest here. Youll find thats the tone of this whole book.

So why does puberty get such a clean rap in all the commercials? Why do we usually talk about what happens to our bodies as though actual information is a tampon we need to quietly slip up our sleeves when we walk across the room? Im not really sure. But what I do know is that it needs to change.

Girls, bear with me for a momentwe need to loop in your grown-ups.

ADULTS:

T he girl sitting next to you is smart. She needs to know whats about to happen. Good thing you bought this book because I can guarantee the information she needs isnt at the bottom of a Yahoo Answers rabbit hole. Its a bit like reading Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret had it been written on the bathroom wall of Penn Station. With a Sharpie. Think thats an exaggeration? Please pause here for a moment and go Google pubic hair.

See?

Thanks to the prevalence of unrestricted pornography on the Internet its nearly impossible to Google anything about female anatomy without being immediately confronted by pornographic images. In fact, some studies suggest that children are encountering online porn as young as eight. Not your children, of course, never your children. But the children they know and talk to and play with. Thats because online porn is the contemporary equivalent of your friends older brothers contraband issue of Playboy that somehow made its way to your sixth-grade sleepover.

But even without those images there is simply so much information out there. How can a curious young girl, in search of answers about the changes she is experiencing, going to be able to differentiate between what is true and what she finds on the fourth page of a grammar-free message board?

I believe its critical for your girl to understand whats happening to her own body. She needs to know that the world may start treating her differently just because she now looks like a woman. She also needs to know the basic essential fact that puberty is connected to reproduction. If shes not armed with this information she will have a much harder time processing the world around her and making good decisions. So take a deep breath and kindly hand the book back to her.

OKAY, GIRLS, BACK TO YOU.

A s founder of HelloFlo.com Ive been in the unique position to hear from thousands of girls and women about how they relate to their own bodies, and Ive come to realize that the way we talk about physical changes is, well, lacking. Im writing this book because you deserve honesty and real information. And you deserve to understand whats going onboth in your body and in the world around you.

Thats why Ive written this book. To supply you with all the facts, even the messy ones and the ones you may find most embarrassing to talk about. And Im doing this in a way that acknowledges how intelligent and sophisticated you are.

Underlying everything HelloFlo does had been a determination to talk honestly with young women about what is happening with their bodies. No euphemisms, no avoidance, no blue dye.

We also celebrate it. Puberty is not a curse. Its confusing, uncomfortable, sometimes painful, but also interesting and ultimately powerful and empowering. Its like if a Girl Punk Band made a musical and your body was the orchestra. All Girl. All Punk. All power. Thats what this book isPunk Rock Puberty.