‘I'm not waiting anymore' – The woman behind Ireland's first period shop
Briege Lynch wants to change the world, one period at a time.
She's stepping back from a career as a theatre producer to open the UK and Ireland's first Period Shop in Belfast.
Campaigning Briege plans to focus on products, education and women's wellness including life-changing conditions like endometriosis and PCOS.
She's holding a Big Variety Fundraiser later this month as well as launching a GoFundMe campaign, with plans to open a city centre store by Christmas.
Belfast theatre producer Briege Lynch
News in 90 Seconds - August 14th
'I'm a staunch feminist with no shame,' says Briege.
'My theme at the moment is getting 4,000 people to donate a fiver, and if I have to rap every door in Belfast I'll do it.
'I've been listening to women talking about womb-related conditions and waiting on government to help them, and I'm not waiting anymore.'
The 36-year-old is leaving her producer role in GBL Productions, set up by her playwright father Martin, to follow her dream.
She's been fired up by the dire lack of research into potentially devastating womb-related conditions for which women can wait between seven and 14 years for a diagnosis.
One Italian research paper in 2013 into endometriosis, when tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the womb, evaluated the attractiveness of women with the crippling condition. It was only withdrawn from medical journal Fertility and Sterility in 2020 after seven years of protest.
A study published just last year about period products found worrying levels of toxic ingredients, including arsenic, lead and cadmium in tampons. In separate research toxic levels of a pesticide linked to cancer have also been found in some tampons at levels 40 times higher than the legal limit for drinking water, while PFAs – known as 'forever chemicals' – have been found in some brands of sanitary towels.
Campaigner Briege Lynch
'We are hearing now there are products full of toxic stuff we should not be putting in our bodies,' says Briege.
'People say 'go to Boots' but we don't know what's on offer to us because that's all that's being offered to us.
'I want the Period Shop to be the good stuff, the luxury, made-for-you shop with period pants, moon cups, lots of different sizes and varieties for different shapes and flows.
'I want products that are disposable and reusable.
'I think periods are to be celebrated, and let's give us products that are good for us.'
Briege, mum to 15-year-old daughter Lana, also wants the Period Shop to be a women's wellness hub, in which trans people are welcome, offering encouragement to female entrepreneurs, as well as hosting experts on women's health conditions, highlighting period poverty and engaging with schools.
'I read recently about a schoolgirl here who has launched period packs. I'd love to do 'My First Period' packs for dads who want to be involved but don't really know what to do, or a pack for a friend who's been diagnosed with endometriosis or PCOS.'
She says any profits will be ploughed back into the business, and campaigning against the banishment of menstruating women in countries including India and Nepal to period huts. In 2023 a teenage girl in Nepal died from a snakebite in an isolated hut, and in 2019 a mother and her two children died from smoke inhalation when she lit a fire in a period hut in bitterly cold conditions.
'My dream is big and when this shop is a success in Belfast and Dublin or Manchester we'll make enough money to fix things for those women. I don't understand people who have money and don't fix things,' says Briege.
'We'll provide education or get them products or give them huts which are so good they can't wait for their periods to come.'
The campaigner believes such stigma often stems from religious beliefs and misogyny.
'If it wasn't for women having periods the world wouldn't exist,' she says.
'I don't think we should have the shame or stigma where girls are hiding the rustling of their pads.
'There has been progress but we're still behind the times when we don't have a period shop.'
Briege has enlisted the help of local government advice group Go Succeed to write a business plan and estimates £20,000 (€23,000) will get the venture started.
After years toiling behind the scenes in theatres she'll miss working with Belfast icons like Diona Doherty and Kerri Quinn, but says it's time to pursue her passion.
'I love women and I'm determined to make them love themselves and celebrate all the natural things we're told are horrible,' says Briege.
The Big Variety Fundraiser for the Period Shop Fund is at the Europa Hotel in Belfast on Friday August 29 with tickets available from TicketSource. The link to Briege's GoFundMe is https://gofund.me/35d47507
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