Products · Clothing & underwear · Saalt
Saalt Leakproof Cotton Brief
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Period underwear from a maker that publishes lab reports: an SGS report from 2023 that lists a Cotton Brief found no fluorine; later reports cover other items. The gusset is polyester, and no certificate number is given.
Best for Someone who wants period or leak-proof underwear and wants the PFAS question answered with published lab results, accepting a synthetic gusset.
- Our quality rating
- Fair (3 of 5)
- Price range
- Mid-range
- Size
- Women’s XXS to 4XL; Regular, Heavy or Super absorbency
approx. $29 per pair (some Heavy sizes and colors $22)
See it on Saalt’s site →We are not affiliated with Saalt. This link goes to the maker’s own page, with no tracking code. How we're funded.
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Your review
Reviews are personal experiences, not research, and they never change our quality ratings. Every review is read by our team before it appears.
How we evaluated it
Why we chose it What put it on our list
- Saalt posts lab results on its PFAS blog. The March 2023 SGS report (5018859TX-01) lists “Cotton Brief Black XL”, gusset and body fabric, among 24 samples. Fluorine was not detected in any, at a 50 mg/kg reporting limit.
- Later reports found none either, but they do not cover this style by name. An April 2024 total-fluorine test of 12 items (named by color and layer, with no lab or date in the image) and a July 2025 Bureau Veritas report (5125)176-0021, titled for Saalt’s Bonded Brief High Absorbency, on 18 lettered samples, read “Not Detected” at a 20 mg/kg limit.
- A party that is not Saalt agrees. Mamavation, a consumer advocacy site, had Saalt underwear tested: 10 ppm fluorine in 2021 (the lab’s detection limit) and no organic fluorine detected in 2023. The page does not name the lab.
- The page states the fibers: body 95% cotton and 5% elastane; gusset 100% polyester; lining 92% recycled polyester, 8% elastane and polyurethane. A 90-day return and exchange guarantee.
Trade-offs What to weigh before you buy
- It is not all natural. The gusset is polyester and the lining includes polyurethane, which is how leak-proofing works. Our microplastics guide notes that synthetic fabrics shed microfibers.
- The tests measure total fluorine, a screen for PFAS, not individual PFAS compounds. Saalt publishes them as images, and we could not confirm them with SGS or Bureau Veritas. The 2023 test is more than three years old.
- Saalt says its cotton fibers are Standard 100 OEKO-TEX certified, and gives no number. We found no OEKO-TEX Buying Guide entry and no GOTS entry for Saalt. The page does not say whether any antimicrobial or odor treatment is used.
- Our period products guide found no peer-reviewed measurement of PFAS in period underwear, and no data on how much would reach the body.
What to know Details worth knowing first
Period underwear is a category our period products guide treats with caution. Textile impregnation is a known use of PFAS, and the guide found no peer-reviewed measurement of PFAS in period underwear. Thinx settled a US class action in 2023 over claims that its underwear was free of harmful chemicals while containing PFAS, which is why we ask for published testing.
Saalt publishes it. Its PFAS page shows lab reports from 2023, 2024 and 2025. The 2023 SGS report lists a style called Cotton Brief, gusset and body, among its samples, and found no fluorine; it may be an earlier version of this one. Later reports, which cover other items, and Mamavation, which is not Saalt, found none either. These are screens for fluorine, not tests of every PFAS, and Saalt hosts the report images itself.
This brief is cotton on the outside, but the layer that stops leaks is synthetic. If you want no fabric at all, see the cup option in our guide. If you want underwear, wash it before wearing, as our clothing chemicals guide advises.
Quality & testing How it measures up against our checklist
- Third-party tested
- Yes
- Tested by
- SGS (2023) and Bureau Veritas (2025), reports published by Saalt; Mamavation (2023)
| What we checked | What we found |
|---|---|
| Certified textiles Maker’s claim | Saalt says it sources fibers that are Standard 100 OEKO-TEX certified “for this garment”, with no certificate number. We found no Saalt entry in OEKO-TEX’s Buying Guide or in the GOTS database. |
| Natural fibers, synthetics stated Maker’s claim | Body: 95% cotton, 5% elastane (excluding elastic). Gusset: 100% polyester. Lining: 92% recycled polyester, 8% elastane, polyurethane. |
| No PFAS finishes Maker’s claim | The product page says “not treated with PFAS”, and Saalt’s PFAS blog says it uses no PFAS in its fabrics or finishes. |
| Published PFAS testing Verified | SGS report 5018859TX-01 (6 March 2023): fluorine not detected in 24 samples, including a style named Cotton Brief (gusset and body), at a 50 mg/kg reporting limit. It may be an earlier version of this product. An April 2024 test (12 items named by color and layer, no lab named) and Bureau Veritas report (5125)176-0021 (11 July 2025, titled for the Bonded Brief High Absorbency, samples lettered A to R) also show none detected at 20 mg/kg; neither names the Cotton Brief. Mamavation’s 2023 test of Saalt underwear found no organic fluorine; its lab is not named. All are screens for fluorine, not tests for each PFAS. |
| No antimicrobial finishes Not verified | Not stated on the product page. |
| Dyes and trims named Not verified | Not stated: no dye, thread or elastic details beyond the fiber percentages. |
What the labels mean
- Verified We opened an independent record that confirms it: a certifier’s listing, a regulator’s list or a lab report. It is linked under Sources.
- Maker’s claim The maker says so on its own page or label. We read it but found no independent record.
- Not verified We looked and could not confirm it, or the maker does not say. Treat it as unknown.
Sources Where our facts come from
- Saalt Leakproof Cotton Brief product page. Maker’s page. Fiber percentages, price and guarantee, read on 2026-10-22. Open ↗
- Saalt: everything you need to know about PFAS and period underwear. Maker’s page. Describes the 2020 pre-launch finding, the testing and the published results. Open ↗
- SGS test report 5018859TX-01 (6 March 2023): styles tested. Test report. An image of the lab report, hosted by Saalt. Lists 24 samples, including Cotton Brief and Cotton Bikini gusset and body fabrics. Open ↗
- SGS test report 5018859TX-01 (6 March 2023): fluorine results. Test report. Fluorine (F) not detected for samples 1 to 24, reporting limit 50 mg/kg. Open ↗
- Bureau Veritas test report (5125)176-0021 for Saalt Holdings LLC, July 2025. Test report. An image of the lab report, hosted by Saalt. It is titled “Test results for Saalt underwear: Bonded Brief High Absorbency” and shows total fluorine (EN 14582:2016) for samples A to R, Not Detected, limit 20 mg/kg. Received 25 June 2025, reported 11 July 2025. Open ↗
- Saalt: April 2024 total-fluorine results (image). Independent source. An image hosted by Saalt: total fluorine (EN 14582:2016) for 12 items named by color and layer, not detected at 20 mg/kg. It names no lab and shows no date. Open ↗
- Mamavation: Saalt period underwear PFAS lab results. Test report. A consumer advocacy site’s own tests: Saalt 10 ppm fluorine in 2021, non-detect organic fluorine in 2023. The page does not name the lab. Open ↗
- Bloomberg Law: Thinx $5 million period underwear PFAS deal gets final nod (June 2023). Independent source. Class settlement in the Southern District of New York; plaintiffs said Thinx touted the underwear as free of harmful chemicals despite PFAS. Open ↗
Alternatives Other options to compare
- Knix leakproof underwear Also publishes PFAS test results, benchmarked to the AFIRM restricted-substances list (August 2026). It also sells cotton leakproof styles. We did not review a specific Knix product.
- A menstrual cup or disc Our period products guide covers cups, which are not textiles.