It's to reabsorb the lost blood, obviously.

If you've ever wondered what people with periods do with their used tampons, the answer is simple: We eat them. How else would we reabsorb the blood? No, this isn't some weird Goop health advice. It's actually a hoax started by a teen girl on TikTok, and it seems a lot of boys on the app can't quite work out if it's true or not. It started with this video from Caroline Majcher, an 18-year-old TikToker in Toronto.

"Guys are so clueless. So today I was talking about periods with my guy friends and just explaining some stuff to them," she says in the clip. "And they had no idea that girls eat their tampon after they're done with it to reabsorb all the blood that they just lost."

Caroline Majcher

Majcher told BuzzFeed News she had been chatting with her sister about potential videos when the idea came up. "I thought I could probably make up a lie about girls and any boy would believe it," she said. It all could have ended there, but it didn't. Other TikTokers kept the hoax going in the comments.

TikTok

Girls started posting videos of their boyfriends reacting to the original video.

"There’s one with a whole group of guys and at the same time you can see all their jaws drop," said Majcher. Note how they look to the girl in the group for confirmation.

The magic of it all is you can't quite tell whether the boys watching believe it or not.

And now girls are keeping it going with yet more videos.

It's all pretty funny.

Plus you've got to admire the commitment.

It's also spilled over to Twitter.

guys really think girls dont eat used tampons? how else do we get the blood back into our system for the next cycle luv😌

just found out that men didn’t know that we eat tampons and pads to get back the blood we lost. unbelievable

And in definitive proof that girls like gross humor too, people have been suggesting alternative consumption methods. Like, DivaCup shots, tampon tea, and wringing your pad out into a cup.

you mean to tell me men really don’t know we eat tampons and take shots from diva cups to get the blood back into our bodies? dumbasses

"I saw one girl say that she would use her tampon and freeze it as a popsicle," said Majcher. "One said she used it as a salsa dip." Ew? Yes. Hilarious? Also yes. And just in case it needs to be said — we promise this is just a prank. Please don't eat your tampons.