The Story Behind The Day One Kit: Why I Built a Period Kit for Girls & Women

So here it is… the origin story. Where, why, and when it all began. Let’s roll back the tape to the very beginning…

I remember in sixth grade, my best friend's mum was a nurse and she had volunteered to conduct our first “class” about puberty and sex. I don’t actually think this was part of our official curriculum as it was just so random, not a legitimate class as there was just the one, and it was my best friend's mum! I was so embarrassed. They had separated the boys and the girls, so it felt like we were being taught that our changing bodies was something we needed to hide from the boys - if this was normal, why wouldn’t the boys be learning this too? 

After that class we had lunch, and I said to my best friend that I was never going to go through puberty. We made a deal, that neither of us would. What an idea that was. Little did I already know, I was probably already going through that process without even realising it. I got my period the year after. How bloody awful. 

My first period was such a punch to the guts, I went to my mum's bedroom door and knocked on it… I said “mum, I just got my first period” and she went into her bathroom and handed me a packet of pads. I don’t remember much else other than the story mum told me about hers, she said I was lucky that I even knew what it was. Back in her youth, no one said a thing! She looked down one day to see blood, had cramps, and she ran to her nan and cried to her saying that she was dying. Now THAT is an awful introduction to periods. 

Thankfully I started my first period in the comfort of my own home. I think mum knew that having my own bathroom was going to be a good idea as I grew into my teens. I always wondered why I had to change rooms not long prior. Now I know. Thanks mum <3 

Now all the girls at school were talking about bra sizes, how big their boobs grew, and I was still as flat as a pancake. The puberty goddesses did not bless me with boobs, rude. But then as the years went by, I heard of this magic pill that girls took that made their boobs grow and skip their periods! That really did sound like magic to a 15 year old. So I looked it up, the pill was actually for when you were sexually active, and hundreds of girls said their boobs grew when they took it. Now me being me, I was NOT sexually active but that seemed to be the prerequisite to be written a script. So I told mum that I needed to go on the pill… yeah, still a virgin but I just wanted the magic big boobie pill. Sorry mum. 

Spoiler alert: the magic pill did not work its magic on my chest. What a scam. So I stopped taking it. 

All this time and not once did anyone mention period tracking. So every month was a surprise and another pair of knickers getting stained. I also went through this phase where I hated my body, I hated the idea of becoming a woman and being girly and having periods. I figured, if I dress more boyish and not be girly then my periods will stop because periods only happen to girls right? It’s like I just disassociated with being a woman purely because I was uncomfortable about the whole topic. It wasn’t something I felt like I could talk to mum about, it wasn’t something that they normalised in school - it all just felt very secretive or overhyped/oversexualised. There was no balance. I might get some flack for this, but I am SO glad I went through that phase back then rather than today where someone might have told me that wanting to dress like a boy meant I was born in the wrong body. As a naive, uneducated, impressionable young teen - I probably would have eaten that up. I have 4 brothers afterall.

So. I tried hard to avoid my period, but month after month I kept getting it. I never tracked it, there weren’t any apps back then that I knew about and the concept of tracking was unheard of anyway. I never kept any period products with me for if it started when I was not at home. So folded toilet paper was my go-to. And for years this happened. Don’t ask why - periods weren’t talked about after that one class in grade 6. 

Suddenly I am no longer in school and I have decided to use all my birthday and Christmas money to move to Australia (because I really wanted to go shopping at Supre). I started to find my groove and I bought a car! A second hand 2012 Nissan Almera, I still miss that car to this day. By now, social media was huge and I remember seeing videos of girls when they bought their first car and what they kept in it, you know the ones. Anyways, I figured I’ll do the same, and one of the ideas I had was to keep a little zipper bag with pads, tampons, spare undies, hair ties, pain relief and emergency cash. A little grab and go for any emergency, back when $20 could get you more than it does today. 

And because the car kit was such a great idea, I made a smaller one for my handbag too. Smaller but had all the same stuff included. These kits changed my life. I used them quite often and even was able to give pain relief or a spare pad and tampon to my girl friends on a few occasions too! Why didn’t I do this sooner? By this point I was also dabbling in period tracking through an app, but no matter how well I tracked it I couldn’t pinpoint when it would start. Sometimes it would come a few days early, sometimes a few days later, my cycle was completely unpredictable but I felt like I always had it under control because I had a period kit in my car wherever I went and one in my little bag. I was sorted. 

More years go by, and I’m pregnant! No more periods! I have my little girl and not long after that I am pregnant again, this time I didn’t know I was until I was in my second trimester. No periods again! Woohoo! But after I had my second little girl, I started looking at my old period kit thinking I needed to upgrade this. I want to include things like wet wipes. If I learned anything in my new life in motherhood was that wet wipes are a lifesaver, and having a fully packed nappy bag was just the same concept as my period kits. I also noticed a lot, like hundreds, of tiktok videos and reels on instagram of other mums packing their nappy bags “What’s in my nappy bag” and not one of them had any sort of section or bag for themselves, no period prep - which is what struck me the hardest because the most unpredictable first period - excluding the first from puberty - is the first period you get after having a baby. It could be as little as a few weeks after birth to many months later. I felt like this was such an essential to have in MY nappy bag and I wanted other mums to also feel like they can also put the same effort in for themselves too - we pour so much from our cup into our babies and family, it’s hard to step back and put ourselves at the top of the priority list sometimes too.  So I jumped online, started googling “period kits for girls, “period kits for mums” and “period kits for women” but there wasn’t anyone who sold something that was as functional as what I had made myself as it was - and I still wanted to make it better! But nit didn’t exist.

This led me to looking at manufacturers, different materials for bags, bag sizes, wet wipes, the tin to store my pain relief packets to stop them getting crushed in the bag, and so many other options. It was the most exciting rabbit hole I ever went down. And then I registered the business name The Day One Kit  under my ABN, started playing with logos, and there we have it! The Day One Kit was born. It was a real thing that I was going to do. My partner, J, was very supportive of the idea - he insisted I do it, I have free time during the days when my girls are at daycare and I earned enough money at my job to put towards the business. So I ordered my samples, obsessed, ordered the first box of stock, organised my office space, and created the social media accounts and before I knew it, I launched on the 14th of January 2025 and immediately everyone was loving it. The rest is history. 

There you have it - the story behind the brand. A brand that I am so beyond proud of. I can say proudly that I create Period Kits for girls and women all across the country. The Original Period Kit is the queen of the brand, and its little sister The Mini Period Kit is now having her moment too. Now, if you’re reading this and you haven’t purchased a period kit yet, I hope this story helped you learn a bit more about me and the brand and why we exist. Period prep is important, it helped me feel more in control of my body and my life, like my period didn’t dictate how I lived my life anymore. I could go anywhere and know I’ll be okay. I am using my business to normalise periods, puberty talk, perimenopause, to normalise every stage of womanhood because we as women deserve to know what to expect and how we can help support ourselves and others through these very important seasons of our lives.

Historically speaking, we as women have come a long way - but there’s a lot more that needs to change, and I will use my voice and platform to do so. 

Chat soon!

Phoebe

Founder | The Day One Kit