I haven't used Tampax in years because I prefer the non applicator brands. When I first started out at the age of 12 Tampax was my first tampon, I use to use sanitary towels at first but had a major accident in class, luckily one of my school friends saw and ran to me with a jersey to tie around my waist & cover the big round red spot which soaked through my school dress, how embarrassing!!!!!!!!!!!!! then we had to find the guidance teacher who made me stand on a chair in the teachers restrooms while the teacher & my friend tried to get the mark out, even more embarrassing :( I was just hoping nobody else saw it and from that day on I decided Goodbye sanitary towels, Hello Tampax. I had learned about Tampax in guidance class and was given free samples. At first it was difficult to insert and I just hoped it wouldn't disappear or get lost inside of me, but over time it became easier and I was loyal to Tampax ever since then. After about 5 years I decided I'm a PRO now so I don't need the applicator brand anymore & switched to Lil lets non applicator, I used Lil Lets for a few years and then had problems with the string breaking off, sometimes even before I could remove it. Since this incident I have moved over to Kotex non applicator and am very happy with this brand.