Periods are the worst. I love being a woman and how powerful my femininity makes me feel, but menstruating is torture. And so after many years of using and attempting to depend on tampons, I decided to make a change.
I’m going to be completely honest here, I initially switched to my preferred brand of menstrual cups so that I wouldn’t have to miss out on sex one week a month. While I truly do have awful and heavy periods, what really peaked my curiosity was the concept of getting it on without the mess. And while in most cases the cup did prevent awkward staining, I did some research and found out just how much more the cup really did.
No risk of TSS
Unlike tampons and pads, the cup does not put you at risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome; a bacterial infection that puts women at a life-threatening risk. This was huge for me, having once suffered from TSS, I was all about trading in that uncomfortable cotton ball for something guaranteed not to poison me.
I also learned that,
Cups can be worn up to 12 hours without spilling
Ladies, this is huge. I was working as a server for a busy coffee shop when I started using the cup. This is important information because, if you have ever worked in a restaurant, you know you sometimes barely have time to pee in a shift let alone worry about having to change your tampon/pad every hour. The cup allows you so much more leeway. I’ll level with you and say that I’m only able to make it twelve hours on my light days. However, on my heaviest days, I’m able to go a couple hours at least without any unfortunate leaking. Can you even imagine something so marvelous exists?
They are better for the environment
The disposable cups can be worn for an entire week and they come in packages of fourteen, but I ended up buying the reusable one. I am all about taking care of Mother Earth, even if she did curse us females with monthly blood baths, so finding a product that not only takes care of my personal needs, but also the Earth’s was a big plus for this girl.
Y’all are going to save money
Let me break this down, us ladies did not choose to menstruate, so why pay to constantly replenish your tampon supply? With the cup you can dramatically cut down costs when it comes to feminine products. It’s been two years since I started using the cup and I haven’t spent money on tampons once.
There is one catch
Nothing is totally perfect so it only makes sense the cup would have one tiny flaw. You have to clean that baby out sometime, and yes, it is going to be gross. The only way to clean out the cup out is to remove it and empty its contents into the toilet. It can make things difficult in public restroom situations, but it isn’t impossible to take care of. At home, emptying the cup is a piece of cake, in public is more of a challenge. But cleaning out a cup is still eons better than ruining a hundred pairs of my expensive lace underwear. I’m choosing to pick my battles on this one.
Even with the grossness of the cleaning process, I am totally in love with my menstrual cup. I adore having the flexibility to road trip on my period, have sex, save the Earth, and save my much-needed cash. Making changes are scary and you should definitely do your research before implementing a pretty significant change in your healthcare, but this was a switch that worked for me and made my period ten times less stressful, and for that I am grateful.
