I’ve decided to write about my first encounters with a menstrual cup!

“Finally! But why are you doing this Jen?” Because recently I started to feel very enthusiastic about the idea, and wanted to share it with others. I was thinking if only one or two people switch to it because of reading about my experience, it would reduce the amount of waste being disposed of in landfills by…..like loads. Especially if I end up hating it and not using it myself….

“But aren’t menstrual cups just receptacles of lady-waste?” When I first heard about these things called menstrual cups, I was pretty horrified. I really didn’t want to be in such close contact with goo or liquid that comes out of me. I am desirable and fresh smelling at ALL TIMES. In case a man asks.

Tampons and pads are so lovely in their pretty packets with the butterflies and the flowers, and some with REAL SILK or others that smell cotton fresh. Technically cotton smells like nothing but anyway. And on the ads the lovely ladies are pouring their glasses of blue water onto the lovely pads, and the whole things is very feminine and pretty and they go dancing off into the night with their friends and then go rock-climbing afterwards.

FOR GOD’S SAKE DON’T LET HIM KNOW HOW DISGUSTING YOU REALLY ARE!

On the other hand, the images something like cups elicited for me were more related to struggling with a rubber container full of my own waste in a forest at a hippie festival.

But then….I’m not really sure what happened. It was a mixture of having less money, doing more yoga, reading more feminist stuff about the male-driven industry of feminine hygiene products, one time having to buy non-applicator tampons and becoming more often acquainted with my insides as a result, and basically just drinking more herbal tea, that started to get me thinking that maybe it was actually an extremely good idea and not that weird at all!

A cupful of ladystuff better than a field-full?

Apparently, each woman will dispose of approximately 125kg of period-related waste, or 22,000 pads or tampons in their lifetime. Each one takes about 25 years to break down. It’s possible that your very first pad is literally still sticking around somewhere. The plastic applicators take even longer to break down. And we spend anything from €5–10 per month on these products. Every month. For ages. These cups are around €25, so it ends up cheaper after only 5 months. They last for 5–10 years.

The thing is, if you don’t really use tampons for whatever reason, maybe you wouldn’t be big into using this because it’s also internal. BUT! There is a range of washable pads that you can get, that my slightly hippy Chilean French teacher uses, and she says they’re great. But she says she only wears them at home. These are what they look like, but I don’t know much about them.

Look at the lovely re-usable pads!

“Ok, so they’re better for the environment, and better for your pocket. Is that all?” Well they are also better for your ladypocket too!

They are better for the vaginal flora, because tampons soak up all the good and nice bacteria that live there, and all the natural moisturizers that are released. Pads also create an unfriendly environment. This means less chance of infections if we use a cup.

Not associated with toxic shock syndrome. That’s actually a real thing, my Mum got it years ago!

Also, personally I think anything that helps us get to know our bodies more (because you will see the amount, and type of blood) is good for our health generally.

Selene – my new containing friend

So the brand I went for was the French Lunacopine, made in Finland. I was happy about that as I really trust Scandanavians for designing things. This translates from French to English kind of as moonfriend, which I think is very cute. They also have Fleurcup, and in the UK I think the brand is Mooncup, and in America, it’s Divacup. But I don’t want to task anything that sounds so bitchy and volatile the task of hanging onto my womb secretions while I get on with my important day.