When it comes to basic necessities like tampons, for example, you'd think that besides different brands and packaging, they're the same all around the world, right?
First off, there's the obvious size difference which is due to Australian tampons not including applicators.
As Beck points out, it's commonplace in Australia to purchase a pack of tampons like this (sans applicator, of course), with the small size making them easy to transport while on the go.
Plus, she also finds that Australian tampons seem to be more environmentally friendly. While they come wrapped in plastic, they have less packaging overall when compared to their American counterparts — which come with both a plastic wrapper and applicator.
Now, while Americans might think not using an applicator is weird and unhygienic — it's honestly just how Australians have learned to use tampons because we didn't have the other option available to us.
Personally, I don't vibe with tampons because I could never get them positioned right when I was younger. In saying that, an applicator could have been really beneficial at that early stage, which is a good enough reason to have both options available in Australia and the USA instead of one or the other.
That's not the only difference between these blood suckers — ahem, tampons — though. Aussie tampons are a lot more compact and come with a leakproof barrier (the blue line), while American ones look a bit more "organic" and "natural" according to Beck.
Moving onto absorbency, there is — you guessed it — another variation between Aussie and American tampons, and how they expand when coming into contact with liquid.
Australian tampons swell up in a similar shape to their original packaging.
Meanwhile, American tampons expand into a completely different shape. Strange, right? But as Beck notes, this most likely has no baring on how effective both tampons are.
In the comments, Americans, Aussies and other people from around the world expressed their bewilderment at learning about the different tampon variations. They also weighed up the pros and cons of applicators.
