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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be completely baffled as to why the tampon is more popular than the mooncup?

436 replies

YunoYurbubson · 09/09/2010 16:24

It just doesn't make sense.

I am a very recent convert to the mooncup and all I can think is wtf was I doing with tampons all those years?

I feel almost... betrayed by the generations of women who have made the tampon the mainstream menstruation product of choice.

Ignore your prejudices because those would work either way. If you were used to using a mooncup and someone suggested carrying around a bloodsoaked wodge of cotton wool on a string in your vagina instead you would think that was gross. It's just what you're used to.

So, prejudices aside. Agreed?

Lets just look at this logically.

The mooncup produces no waste, so no flushing things you shouldn't, no filling a bin with smelly waste, no furtive smuggling of used tampons wrapped in loo roll up your sleeve when there is no bin and you don't have pockets.

It's every bit as comfy and convenient.

It's cheaper.

And it is SO COOL seeing how much blood you have lost. I'm sorry, but it is. It's much less yucky because it's not old, brown drying smelly blood. It's a fresh little pot of new, clean blood. It's just not yucky.

And this isn't a thread to critisise or judge or feel superior. I just REALLY want someone else to be converted and feel the joy too Grin. I want someone else to have the scales fall from their eyes and feel as delighted as I do right now.

OP posts:
Aitch · 09/09/2010 23:43

no, just read the thread ffs. Hmm [irritated]

Aitch · 09/09/2010 23:45

i'm sorry i'm too important to spend time reading threads on mn so could you just spend your time answering a question that has been answered fifty times already...

Appletrees · 10/09/2010 00:12

you ARE irritated aren't you

Aitch · 10/09/2010 00:15

yeah. you can't see why?

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 10/09/2010 00:16

I too love my mooncup. No spillages or mess here after years of use. You really really really don't need to wash it out if you are in a public loo just empty (and wipe if you wish) nor do you get covered in gore when you remove it because there is little or no blood on the outside as the seal stops it flowing down. I sit on the loo to remove it so if it were to spill it would go down the loo anyway.

Its just so easy, you don't have to think about it, you don't need to take your handbag to the loo etc. I think its cleaner and more hygienic and much more environmentally friendly. On top of that, it works out cheaper in the long run - I have had 2 mooncups in 7 yrs (switched from B to A after DS2) total cost c£38 so that's around £5.40 per year to date and that figure will go down as I expect my A mooncup will do quite a few more years yet.

Appletrees · 10/09/2010 00:16

Not really Aitch. It's only a post on a thread. If people don't want to say again, it's no skin off my nose. If they don't mind, how nice. I'm so sorry you're upset by it.

gingerwig · 10/09/2010 00:19

Why are they so expensive?
Please dont tell me about what tampons cost x 12 a year, that's not my point

Appletrees · 10/09/2010 00:20

Thank you Chaz.The bit about little or no blood on the outside is what I was thinking of.

theressomethingaboutmarie · 10/09/2010 08:50

Mooncups are ace. I ran a marathon during my period wearing a mooncup and didn't have any issues at all. I've had one for over 2 years (I sterlise it regularly!) and would never go back to tampons.

nearlyuptheduff · 10/09/2010 08:55

YABU - it's personal choice. If i don't want to try a mooncup... I won't.

Anyway, what happens if you are out and need to visit a public toilet? You can't really take out your mooncup and go and wash it in the communal sinks outside the toilet cubicles!

Personally, I think the idea is disgusting and I'll be sticking to my tampons!

AnxiousLand · 10/09/2010 09:04

this is absolutely fecking disgisting lmao
i feel weak

Olifin · 10/09/2010 09:34

Why is it fecking disgusting though? Why do you think your bodily processes are disgusting?

I sound like a hippy now, don't I? And I really am not a hippy, honest.

I love my mooncup. Just makes for a hassle-free period in my experience. No leaks, cheap, easy to clean etc.

To those who sterilise in the dishwasher- you're not meant to, I don't think, according to the leaflet that came with my mooncup. Not sure why, to be honest, but not recommended. I boil mine up in a specially-allocated pan.

I once read something written by a mooncup user about how she 'marvelled at the sight of the blood in the cup and was amazed at how it glistens....' I read it and thought OFGS....but actually, I can sort of see what she means. Seriously, this is honestly not representative of me. I am pretty squeamish generally and did I mention that I'm really not a hippy?

Towels and tampons go into landfill (or at least, that's where they're supposed to go...a worrying amount of people here seem to be flushing them down the loo :( Would you flush a condom down the loo?!) Into the sea or into landfill...either is really wrong, IMO.

mollyroger · 10/09/2010 09:35

how do some of you reproduce and give birth?
Do you all shit in the dark and have magic elves which wipe your arses for you?

You are so squeamish, it is unbelievable.

Olifin · 10/09/2010 09:35

...and LOL @ loop the loop splatter.

Alpinechildcare · 10/09/2010 09:37

I find it odd that people are so freaked out by their own blood. you wouldn't say wiping blood off your finger was disgusting if you cut it, so why it is so disgusting if
(which very rarely happens if you do it right) you have to wipe some off your finger after emptying your mooncup?

I think it's more gross to fill the sea our children swim in with your blood rotting on a bit of man made material that takes years to bio-degrade.

(nb - I was in the sea in Cornwall when I was about six and unbeknownst to us a sewage outflow pipe had leaked and we were suddenly surrounded by used tampons etc. My brother picked one up out of the water and took it to my dad on the beach to ask what it was. Now that is disgusting!!)

sethstarkaddersmum · 10/09/2010 09:40

Appletrees - no globs, just nice fresh blood neatly contained in cup.
No blood on fingers generally, if there is you just wipe with loo paper so there's just the merest trace left.

I just got back from camping in the most basic campsite in the world - I'm talking, two loos without basins or even bins and one stone sink in the farmyard.

Heavy period, no Mooncup problems.

It was quite good actually because it meant I didn't have to go to the loos with a sanitary towel up my sleeve.

The Mooncup holds enough so I didn't need to empty it during the day when I was on the hills and weeing in the bracken, but if I had had to it wouldn't have posed a problem! Whereas if I had been using disposable sanitary protection I would have had to carry little bags of manky used towels around with me all day.

ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts · 10/09/2010 09:56

If I was still having regular periods I would definitely try it.

I think the problem is that not many people have heard about it. I only heard of it from MN annd had to google it to see what it was.

But I have been spreading the word and my mum is thinking of giving it a go. If it were available in more shops in the sanitary aisle I'm sure more women would try it and be converted :o

Bumpsadaisie · 10/09/2010 10:01

Agree with you - Mooncups so much nicer, no contest!

Sadly I only had 6 months of use before getting pg with DD, and post-DD, it just doesn't work down there any more, sadly, because things are a little wider than they used to be and even the bigger one slips down and is uncomfortable.

Sad
Bumpsadaisie · 10/09/2010 10:03

Agree that people seem weirdly squeamish on here.

I don't have any feelings at all about my blood - if it gets on my hands I really couldn't care less, just wash it off.

I actually like the mooncup and seeing how much I filled it ! (Competitive - "wow, 10 ml just this morning!")

Sorry, tmi! Grin

VinegarTits · 10/09/2010 10:07

oh they are messy, ive had mine for 2 years and still look like i have just slaughtered and small animal when i change it

BaggedandTagged · 10/09/2010 10:27

I think it's partly a branding problem.

"Mooncup" because of it's hippy conurtations does basically stick it in a product category with things like those crystals that some people think work as well as Mitchum [note to said people: they don't]

How about "Fanjo funnel" instead?

BaggedandTagged · 10/09/2010 10:28

...and I cant believe I spelt connotations like that. How bloody (no pun intended) emabarrassing.

sethstarkaddersmum · 10/09/2010 10:32

excellent post though Bagged&Tagged - Mooncup does sound very very hippy.

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 10/09/2010 10:32

Can you swim whilst using a moon cup?
.

sethstarkaddersmum · 10/09/2010 10:37

Yes.
In swimming pools, the sea, lakes, rivers, under waterfalls.... Smile