Why I Created Period Shapewear & The Value of Front Zippers

The Moment Everything Changed

Perimenopause crept up on me. I knew it was coming — every woman does — but nothing truly prepares you for what it actually feels like when it arrives. For me, the most devastating symptom wasn't the hot flushes, the mood swings, the inability to sleep or the weight gain. It was my periods.

They became so heavy, so unpredictable, and so debilitating that they started controlling my life. I couldn't commute to work without bleeding through super tampons and heavy duty pads. I'm certain I tried every product on the market — pads, tampons, period underwear, combinations of all three. At my worst, I was bleeding through maternity pads overnight. Maternity pads. And still waking up to ruined sheets, ruined pyjamas, and a growing sense of dread about what the day ahead would bring.

I ruined a lot of clothes and underwear during this time. With every ruined clothes - came another round of slowly destroying my self-confidence piece by piece. I started avoiding events. Fun personal events and important work functions. It is truly debilitating and I stopped feeling like myself.

Then Came the Next Chapter

Just as I finally moved through the heavy bleeding, something else arrived: light incontinence. Those sneeze moments. The sudden urgency. The little leaks that nobody warns you about but that almost every woman going through perimenopause eventually experiences.

To top off all of this, I had gained some weight through my perimenopause journey — which is completely normal, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept. I had special events coming up. Occasions where I wanted to feel confident, put-together, and like the woman I knew I still was underneath all of this. Shapewear felt like the answer.

But here's the cruel irony: shapewear and heavy periods are completely incompatible. Pulling tight shapewear up and down in a bathroom (public bathroom or at home) when you're bloated, bleeding heavily, and already stressed is not just inconvenient — it's a mess. A stressful, undignified mess that no woman should have to deal with. And yet, not a single product on the market addressed this. Not one.

So I decided to create one myself.

Two Years in the Making

From the moment the idea took hold, I knew I wasn't going to rush it. This wasn't just a business idea — it was personal. I started having conversations with other women and discovered their own personal journeys. No one's journey is the same - but everyone's underlying challenges seemed to be so similar! And No One was talking about it.

Over the next two years, I worked with multiple manufacturers to perfect three designs. I went through countless prototypes, fabrics, and absorbency technologies. I tested everything myself. I refined, scrapped, and started again more times than I can remember. From idea inception to launch was just over two years — and every single day of that process was driven by one question: would this have helped me when I needed it most?

The answer had to be yes before anything went to market. It's a personal journey but one that I was passionate about to try and make life easier for everyone. I share more of these reflections in My Carrie Bradshaw Moment — including what happened when I realised I'd been assuming too much about what women already knew about period care options.

Why the Front Zipper Changes Everything

Of all the design decisions I made, the front zipper is the one I'm most proud of — and the one that surprises people the most when they first hear about it. And here's what surprises them even more: it's incredibly easy to use. One smooth motion and you have full access — no fumbling, no awkward angles, no stress.

When you're wearing shapewear that has absorbed blood, the absolute last thing you want to do is wrestle it all the way down your body in a bathroom, manage your period, and then fight to pull it back up again — especially if you're bloated, at a formal event, or simply exhausted. The front zipper solves all of that.

• Quick, clean bathroom access. Manage your period or incontinence quickly and discreetly.
• Incredibly easy to use. One smooth zip — even with shaky hands, in a hurry, or in a tiny bathroom stall.
• Bloating-friendly. Perimenopause bloating fluctuates throughout the day. A zipper gives you flexibility that rigid elastic simply can't.
• Event-ready confidence. Wear shapewear to that wedding, work function, or dinner out — without spending the whole night dreading the bathroom.
• Dignity and ease. Managing your body with ease, without mess or stress, gives you back the sense of control that perimenopause can quietly strip away.

Who Is Calm Curve For?

At Calm Curve, we believe every woman deserves to embrace her curves and her normal bodily functions — without shame, without stress, and without having to choose between feeling protected and feeling beautiful.

I created Calm Curve from my own experience, but through testing I discovered just how wide the need really is. Calm Curve is for:

• Women navigating perimenopause and menopause with heavy periods or light incontinence
• Post natal women managing incontinence while wanting to feel confident and supported again
• Younger women with heavy flows
• Any woman who has ever chosen an outfit based on whether she needs to wrap a jacket around her waist - just in case
• Any woman who has cancelled plans or lost confidence because of her period
• Every woman who is done apologising for what her body does — and ready to feel good in it

You Deserve to Feel Confident, Whatever Your Body Is Doing

Calm Curve was born from frustration, from ruined clothes, from two years of refusing to accept that women should have to choose between feeling protected and feeling good. Every product in the Goddess Range combines real leak protection with genuine shaping support — because you deserve both.

Your body is doing something real and normal. You deserve products that meet you where you are — with dignity, with style, and with the confidence to show up fully to your own life.