Heads up, today I will be talking about periods. There will be blood.
As we had a spare DivaCup (you may know this as the Moon cup) lying around Her Campus HQ AKA mine and Alex’s house, I decided to trial run the reusable menstrual contraption. As a girl for whom monthly periods continue to come as a surprise, I was worried that the cup could be too much responsibility for me. Though with the cup being something you could pop in place and forget about, perhaps it was ideal. Only time would tell.
Selling points of the DivaCup are as follows:
- “12-hour leak free protection”
- “Reusable and eco-friendly”
- “Empowers women to connect with their bodies and menstrual cycles”
(Source: DivaCup.com)
Initial reactions to the DivaCup are as follows:
- “Concerned for my vaginal pH – how to clean cup with the correct form of soap”
- “How great is my flow”
- “How do I get it in”
Obviously, the proper time to start my voyage of menstrual discovery was on a two-day Halloween bender spanning from Bristol to London. What better way to road test my promised 12-hour leak free protection? If a hungover me could manage it, then anyone could. It was only after the cup had found its new home in my vagina, that it dawned on me that I may not be in a fit state to care for my new cup when I returned home in the early hours.
Day 1:
Inserting the cup.
I think the most daunting aspect of the cup is working out how to get the fairly large sized circle through the fairly small sized opening of the vagine. The DivaCup gives two options: “U Fold” or “Push Down”. I spend a few minutes trying to battle my cup into the perfect “U” shape fold before finding that pushing down the rim with your finger is much easier.
Next hurdle: Getting it in. With some jiggling the cup goes in with surprising ease, popping back into shape once inside. The instructions advise turning the cup once up to ensure that it is properly placed. This part’s trickier as the cup only has a small stem to hold on to. Terrors of losing it or pushing it too far upwards set in. Crisis averted though when I found the cup sitting neatly where it was supposed to be.
So far, I do not fully trust the cup. I opt to use a pad for extra protection, thus undermining the eco-friendly aspect of cup and spending extra money through use of pad. Oops.
Day 2:
The morning after my night at Lakota, I am lying very still in bed, ignoring the inevitable first emptying of the cup. It has been 14 hours. I can’t hold off the need to use the bathroom forever though, meaning I soon have to face the blood.
Emptying the cup turns out to be an exciting educational experience. Once you’ve managed to wiggle it out, you finally get to know just how much blood you produce. This is something that I think every girl has been interested in since their very first P. Yes, so you know that you are either a Regular, Super or Super Plus flow, but what does the size of a cotton tampon really tell you about the amount of blood? It’s just an absorbent strip. I quite enjoy learning about my 1/4oz cup full. I don’t enjoy cleaning it out quite as much though. (I opt for unscented hand soap and hope for the best).
Day 3:
After 3 days without a leak and 3 days without having to rush off to the bathroom every few hours I love my new cup. It is easier to use with each changeover and I nearly reach the 1/2oz mark at one point. I am becoming master of my period!
Then I drop the cup into the toilet.
It’s pretty hard to convince yourself of cleanliness after you have fished your little cup from the bottom of the loo (I should say that there was only water in there at this point). Extremely tired and at the end of my Halloween tether, it was at this point that I decided to cut short my DivaCup experiment. My vagina’s health was at stake. Also, the admin of washing up became too much to handle when there was the option of an easy use tampon staring at me from my bathroom drawers. (In other words, I am lazy).
I return the cup to its decorative bag.
My verdict? There’s nothing to fear in a reusable menstrual cup. You change it less frequently. Tampons are probably more uncomfortable to use. It’s cheaper. And you get the added bonus of a lesson in biology. That’s a win, win, win, win in my eyes.
Just don’t drop it in the toilet. Same goes for tampons.
– Ella XO