DO NOT keep reading if you are embarrassed, awkward, grossed out, squeamish, repulsed, etc. by a little thing we like to call menstruation (or Aunt Flo, or the confederates in the funhouse, or a period, or the monthly gift.....).
If you keep reading despite my warnings and choose to leave a comment voicing your disdain for the topic on a public forum, it will be deleted.
Anywho, now that I have that over with, who's still left standing?
This month, I bought a menstrual cup. A Diva Cup to be exact, which are one of many brands of menstrual cup. Menstrual cups are delightful little inventions made up of surgical grade silicone that are inserted into the vagina to catch the menstrual flow. There are many reasons women choose menstrual cups over pads or tampons:
1. Menstrual cups have no risk of toxic shock syndrome, which are associated with tampons.
2. Cups do not contain any chemicals, like tampons and pads do.
3. Cups are reusable for up to 10 years, so they do not fill up waste dumps like pads and tampons do.
4. Cups can be left in for longer, up to 12 hours or so, because they are made of surgical grade silicone.
5. Cups do not mess with the ph levels of the vagina because they are essentially neutral. They also do not dry out the vagina, because they are simply collecting the fluid and not absorbing it.
6. Cups hold more than tampons or pads, so they can be changed less often and work well for women with very heavy flows.
Why did I get one? Because I am lazy.
I don't like buying tampons. It's a waste of money. A cup I can buy now (for around 30 dollars) and keep for 10 years. The average woman spends 80 dollars a year on disposable menstrual products. I no longer have to.
Also, I don't have to worry about when I am going to change it. A cup can be put in in the morning and emptied at night before bed. Then re-emptied in the morning to restart the process. No having to carry tampons around. No wondering when I will be near a bathroom. No awkwardly carrying my purse in with me to change. None of that.
I have a fairly light flow (I've never leaked through a tampon since I started using them) so I figured I wouldn't have any problems.
Now, on to my actual experiences.
This is the first day of my period and the first day I've actually used it. I did a trial run a few days ago just inserting it and taking it out, and boy, did it hurt. But vaginas actually change during your period, making it easier to insert. I'm not going to go into that at the moment. I've already scared away enough people without going into an anatomy lesson.
So I inserted it this morning, left it in a full 12 hours, no leaks. So the suction was good, the alignment was good, and I didn't feel it at all. Just like a tampon. Woot woot!
I'm still wearing backup protection in the form of a liner, but I now have faith in myself and that this thing will live up to it's claims.
I also didn't make a mess taking it out because I took it out in the shower, which most people recommend. But even so, my flow is light enough that I think I could do it in a public bathroom without making a mess.
The "learning curve" on menstrual cups is about 3 cycles. So, similar to tampon's learning curve, maybe a little longer. I find inserting it pretty easy and haven't had problems with suction, which seems to be the problem with a lot of people at first. The removing is a little more time consuming, but I can tell that once I get used to it and work out a routine it'll be as easy as a tampon.
OVERALL: SWEET SUCCESS!
I will keep random updates on this if any problems or something arises. But for now, I think cups totally live up to their claims.
Here are some more awesome resources on cups for anyone that is interested, intrigued, too grossed out to look away:
Menstrual Cup Livejournal Community
Video on how to use a menstrual cup (SFW)
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