WARNING! THIS POST TALKS OPENLY AND IN DETAILS ABOUT PERIODS AND CONTAINS LANGUAGE AND IMAGES THAT MAY CAUSE OFFENCE.
Over the last few months I’ve been looking into a more environmentally friendly approach to periods. Not only are sanitary towels and tampons bloody expensive, they are also super harmful to the world around you! Did you know that over the course of our lives, we will use over 11,000 disposable sanitary products! How crazy is that! One woman from the age of 9-12 till her mid to late 50s… Over 20 BILLION of these products will end up in landfill and even worse THE SEA!
So this year I’ve decided that I’m not going to make stupidly unrealistic resolutions, but to make one simple change. To cut down, or better yet stop using disposable pads and tampons. I’ve been thinking about it for quite sometime, looking at all the different options and let me tell you, there are LOADS, so there will always be something to suit you. You may look at these products and the first thing you see is the price, do not let that put you off. Reusable products are so much easier on your wallets than disposable. In one year you will use over 250 pads/tampons… yet one, yes ONE menstrual cup will last and then some.
Last week I was sent by the lovely Be You (http://www.beyouonline.co.uk) one of their menstrual cups and cleaner to try. In the box you get your lovely looking cup and a fold out poster with how to use it, clean it and some handy hints and tips. Ive never been so excited for my period to come. I was rather nervous about trying it out, I mean it’s basically a foreign object that you have to put up into your vagina… and looking at it, it’s not the smallest of things.
I am not going to sugar coat anything in this post, I mean we all bloody go through it, so if you’re squeamish or just an absolute moron then this post isnt for you. Anyway, sure enough my period arrived… Yay. Before you use your cup I reccomend reading the leaflet that comes in the box, it’ll explain in detail how you use the cup. So after washing my hands and the cup, which I used the cleanser. I plonked myself on the loo with my big fold out leaflet and had a read. It suggests that you wet the cup first before trying to insert, which helped!
It then shows you little pictures on how to fold it, before putting it in… which I demonstrated below.
As you can see, its fold small so it’s not so frightening. It definitely helped being sat on the toilet, but you could just kneel on the floor or squat down and you literally just push it up. Now, you probably think it needs to go up super high, nope it doesn’t as it says on the leaflet, it’s made to sit low and still feel comfortable to wear. You may need to move it to make sure the seal it made and that the cup is opened out fully, but once again it’s all fully explained in the leaflet! Once I had done, obviously washed hands and got on with my morning. I wasnt worried or contious about leaks or if you could see my bulky pad through my leggings. You cant feel it!
To take it out, I found it easier once again to be sat on the toilet, you just squeeze the base, gently… I cannot stress that enough! And you may need to use your muscles and little pushes, like you’re trying to have a wee to help it out. I wont lie, I did panic at first because you obviously dont have the little sting, but once I calmed and relaxed it was easy. I was shocked at how little blood there was. (GRAPHIC IMAGE BELOW) When you were pads and tampons, because its absorbed and its absorbing natural moistures they seem “full”, but after wearing the cup for about 4/5 hours there was hardly anything! I was amazed.
There are so so many perks to using a cup rather than a pad or tampon. No worrying about making sure you’ve packed extras in your bag when you go out, or rushing into the shop to buy some. You simply just place it in and you’re set!
They’re no where near as scary as they look or feel nothing like you would expect. I honestly cannot reccomend it enough and I am so so happy I made the change! So say goodbye to disposables and invest in a cup!
I hope you found this post helpful and that it’s made you look into different more environmentally friendly products, whether that be cups or reusable pads and ever pants!
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