The Diva Cup is a menstrual silicone cup that is meant to be inserted into the vagina in place of tampons. The first time I heard of the Diva Cup was on a YouTube video by Safiya Nygaard – it was her process of trying it and learning how to use it. I watched the video in passing and didn’t think much about it afterwards.
Later, my mother’s friend gave me a Diva Cup to try out. When she first gave it to me, I didn’t think I would even try it. I thanked her and decided that it probably wouldn’t be for me. But then I learned about the plastic and pollution problem and the more I thought about it, the more guilty I felt. Not only was I putting my body at risk of TSS and damage by all the chemicals in tampons, but I was also adding to the ever-growing mountains of waste created by one-time-use menstrual products.
The first time I used the Diva Cup was over a year ago. It’s been a long ride, but I think I finally have it down. Why did it take me so long to perfect it? The answer is simply that I am lazy. I wasn’t consistent about it and I definitely didn’t use it over the course of an entire menstrual cycle until this month. My first time using it was horrifying – I still believe that a small part of me died that day.
It started like every regular period – which means that I wasn’t particularly happy about it. The cup had been sitting in my room for over two months, still in its box and that day, I decided that enough was enough and it was time to give the cup a shot. Putting it in was an ordeal in and of itself. After about 15 minutes of standing in my bathroom and basically doing origami – I finally got it. I wanted so badly to get it into the shape of a tampon because that’s what made the most logical sense to me.
Anyways, I finally got the menstrual cup to go in and stay in. At the very tip of the Diva Cup, there is a tip that extends outward in order to aid in removal. And because I hate myself and can’t seem to do myself any favors or even make decisions that would slightly benefit me, I decided to cut it off. Why? Because I thought that the tip might be uncomfortable.
Fast-forward to that night when I realized I should probably remove the cup and clean it out. I had found myself at a classmates house, working on a project that we had to turn in at the end of the week. I excused myself and went into the bathroom – cool and collected. Because I had cut the tip off of the cup, I quickly realized that I was going to have to reach in and pull it out. The designer of the cup luckily had people like me in mind because after about five minutes of struggling and long after I had started nervously sweating – I found ribs in the cup meant to help grip. I squeezed the cup and pulled it out – accidentally tipping it a bit. This would have all been fine if I would have been over the toilet. Just my luck – I was standing over a light baby blue microfiber bathroom rug and there was now blood everywhere.
This is probably due to me not realizing that menstrual blood is a lot less viscous than I had imagined and it had – more or less – the consistency of watercolor paint. This is when I really started sweating. Nearly in tears, I cleaned the cup, reinserted it, and got to cleaning the rug.
At that moment, my stars decided to align and I was able to get the blood out of the rug. Once clean, I went back and pretended it never even happened.
Ignoring my horrific first run-in with the Diva Cup, my transition into it got easier the more that I attempted it. Like all things, it takes practice. I realized that wearing it at night was probably the safest thing to do because I would be home – just in case anything happened. Not going to lie, it took some finesse to learn how to use it. Folding it was the hardest part for me, but like all things – it just takes practice. It’s different for everybody because everybody has different bodies.
While it may be an expense at first – typically around $30 – it’s an investment. Considering that a box of tampons is about $7, you end up saving money in the long run. Plus, you don’t have to check the Diva Cup as often as you would tampons or pads – you can wear it up for 12 to 14 hours depending on your flow. That means you can wait until you get home to check it!
Not to mention, it’s a more sustainable way to go through your period. It felt incredibly amazing to go through an entire menstrual cycle without having to feel guilty about the waste I was producing. Now we just have to figure out a way to get people to start buying metal straws. Save our oceans, people!
Photo Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6