Read Kotex Natural Balance Security Tampons 45 Count: 28 Super Plus & vs Tampons: which is safer?

Seventh Generation Tampons is our pick: better on PFAS and on the overall hazard picture.

Read Kotex Natural Balance Security Tampons 45 Count: 28 Super Plus &

Kotex Natural

Read Kotex Natural Balance Security Tampons 45 Count: 28 Super Plus &

PFAS grade

Good 70/100

Overall grade

Good 52/100

Verdict

Buy

Hazard flags

⚑ 3

Material

Cotton and rayon core, plastic applicator

Confidence

72%

PossiblePlastic applicator composition and leachables

PossibleMicroplastic shedding from applicator

ReportedToxic shock syndrome (TSS) association

Our pick

Seventh Generation Tampons

Seventh Generation

Tampons

PFAS grade

Excellent 100/100

Overall grade

Excellent 100/100

Verdict

Buy

Hazard flags

none flagged

Material

organic cotton, cardboard applicator

Confidence

88%

Where these two actually differ

  • We flag Plastic applicator composition and leachables, Microplastic shedding from applicator and Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) association on the Kotex Natural and not on the Seventh Generation.
  • The Kotex Natural is Cotton and rayon core, plastic applicator where the Seventh Generation is organic cotton, cardboard applicator, which is most of the difference in these two grades.
  • The gap is 30 points, wide enough that this is not a close call, and the Seventh Generation is the one to buy.

Both products run through the same public rubric: materials, coatings, brand disclosure, lab findings, and recalls, plus a beyond-PFAS hazard analysis. Grades are model-based estimates, not lab tests. How grades work →

More tampons: see the full ranking