I’ve completed cycle #1 using a Moon Cup menstrual cup and it was not awful!!
If you don’t already know, menstrual cups are reusable menstrual products most commonly made of silicon that sit inside the vaginal cavity and collects menstrual fluid. Unlike tampons or pads, the silicon does not absorb menstrual fluid or regularly occurring vaginal fluid (which is a good thing). They need changing less frequently than tampons or pads. Changing involves removal, emptying, and re-insertion during the day. Once daily, they need to be washed with soap an water. When used correctly, you don’t feel the menstrual cup.
Why use menstrual cups?
For your health. Tampons absorb moisture from your vaginal walls and your menstrual fluid indiscriminately. Menstrual cups made of silicone don’t absorb your regular vaginal fluids. There is no risk of TSS (toxic shock syndrome) as there is with tampons.
For your wallet. Disposable menstrual products cost about $48 a year ($4 a month). A menstrual cup costs between $20-$50 and lasts from 5-10 years.
For your convenience. Tampons retain 6-9ml of liquid. Menstrual cups retain between 10-29(!) ml of liquid, requiring less frequent attendance. Also filed under convenience, emptying and renewing a menstrual cup is a self contained process. You won’t need to bring additional products with you going out, or going to the restroom. I can see this being especially beneficial when traveling.
To use fewer resources. Being disposable in nature, pads and tampons (along with their packaging) are produced, shipped, consumed, and disposed of very quickly; requiring renewal in, well, a monthly period. Comparatively, menstrual cups involve much less energy expenditure in all those fields. One product and package is made, shipped, consumed, and disposed of in a 5-10 year period.
If you’re thinking of purchasing a menstrual cup, the heavily trafficked message board, menstrualcups.org, is a resource that I found invaluable. There are lots of product comparisons, instructions on how to guage your size, answers to questions about use (with sports, IUDs, children, allergies . . .), as well as troubleshooting use.
Sizing across brands is far from standard so I found this cross-brand sizing chart very helpful. The chart organizes cups by volume and by size in mm. I chose not to buy the most well marketed brand in the US, the Diva Cup, because their size small is longer in length than many other brands large sized cups, and is at the upward limit in diameter of small sized cups. The Keeper brand Moon Cup was the least expensive for my size.
For purchase in Austin, I checked out Wheatsville Co-op’s personal hygiene aisle and found that they were carrying the Diva Cup, the Keeper Cup (latex), and the Moon Cup as of last Thursday (04/22/10).
The cons of menstrual cups are, in my opinion, few. The learning curve for use is a bit steep but mostly awkward. Secondly, using menstrual cups gives you a much better understanding of what vaginal fluid looks and feels like in it’s unabsorbed state. This knowledge may not make you happy. My reactions moved from ew, to wow, to disinterestedness pretty quickly, though I guess it would be best if I could continually be wowed by the stuff.
Wishing you a big wow from a new menstrual cup convert.
I’ve been using a Diva Cup (which is the only one available where I live. At least it was when I was shopping for a menstrual cup) for 3 years now and I LOVE it. I have 2, actually, one in both sizes. I’ve found that the bigger one is best when I first start and after a couple of days the smaller one fits better. It’s great when bike riding too!
From what I hear, a lot of menstrual cup users to have several cups for reasons like that. I’m considering joining you all and getting another larger cup. It’s not a common occurrence, but I have before filled up my size small cup over the course of a really really long sleep. Oh, and I agree that menstrual cups are perfect while biking.
Nice blog! I use a Ladycup and a Fleurcup (depending on where my cervix wants to hang out at any given time during my period) and I love them both. Switching to cups stamped out my cramps and made my periods shorter by a day or two!
I think all menstruating women need to know that these options are available to them. Personally, I would not go back to tampons or pads if you’d pay me.
Thanks for spreading the word!
Happy to hear from another menstrual cup user! I’m entirely in agreement that there is nothing that would make me return to using the disposable stuff!
Priscilla’s wonderful article can be found here: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/content/feminine-hygiene-goes-green-0. It gives many options for alternative menstrual products including disposable cups, cloth pads, and sea sponges. Also features an interview with a women and gender studies and health promotion fitness student who I think was spot on. Thanks, Priscilla, for promoting alternative periods!
Hey,
It was a pleasuring writing the article!
Could you please delete my comment requesting an interview though? Weird stalkerish websites have picked it up and all my info shows up on Google search.
Thanks,
Priscilla
*pleasure