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

[YunoYurbubson]

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 . I want someone else to have the scales fall from their eyes and feel as delighted as I do right now.

I felt that £20 was too much to pay out too, but I stood in Boots looking at them and thought ' Ok, I'll go overdrawn for a while, but I won't be paying out every month for towels, so it should quickly pay for itself'. And it did!

I left half the stem on for about 6 months and found it copmforting that I could put my fingers 'down there' (when using toilet paper after a wee) and check on it as I was convinced it'd fall out into the loo, but then I just cut it all off.

Mine seems to come down slightly when it's getting full, so that I can feel that it's there and know it needs emptying.

RavenAK, I was 45 when I got mine and felt the same, but since I'm willing my body to carry on with menstruation for at least another 4 years! I might just need it for a few more years which will save me bundles!

3 THREE? OMG so you put them in like trains and carriages not like a bundle of asparagus? Do you not 'lose' the string of the first one? I hate using the applicator tampax because they are too long - I can't imagine getting 3 in? How do you use 3 pads?

My periods are heavier now of course, but nothing like that - poor you :(

YANBU, I absolutely love my mooncup. I also stumbled on them on another forum and decided to invest in one just to see what the hoohaa was about and I fell in love....... I just hated tampons and can never go back

How long have you been using it?

Any other hints and tips??

ROFL Chipping yes, the trains method not all at once at the idea, I'm not into fisting oh no.

I don't lose the strings because I have a nifty little cervix which stops them disappearing.

Mind you, I pulled my IUD out of it once so it isn't that great.

I have a blood-clotting disorder undiagnosed until I had DD when she was found to have a severe version so that was why I suffered from an early age until the age of 30 with no medical bugger taking me seriously.

My repressed adoptive mother refused to let me use tampons or go on the pill so I developed the three pad trick. One in the middle, and two crucially at the back because I found to my cost that it seeps backwards

As I got older it got worse hence the need for the Train of Tampons as well

It's better now though. I love my mini-pill and DD won't have to go through the trouble I did as she has a team of medics looking out for her

Gah I can see it now, I'll get up with DS (again) at five in the morning, click fearfully on Threads I'm On and spend the rest of the day cringing and considering another name-change

My Mum used to wear two tampons side by side...I bet she'd have used a Mooncup if she'd have known about them...

Ow! Sounds like she would have really benefited from one.

I wish my Mum told me things like that.

Mine told me I'd die a horrible death from toxic shock and if I didn't that no decent man would want to marry me if I used them. Bless her

I am loving 'TrainofTampons' as a user name. Brilliant!

Actually, a post on the last page reminded me that I do have one slight issue with the mooncup. At night (for some reason only on day 2 or 3 when flow is heaviest) it makes its way further up and I sometimes have a slight panic in the morning trying to locate it and get a decent grip on it!

Like a previous poster, I can tell when it needs emptying. I get what can only be described as a slightly 'full' feeling inside. A bit like having a full bladder but further down!

It is fab though and I wouldn't ever go back to tampons.

Mine does that at night too. I blame big hips!

Oh God what have I done? I think if I see the user name 'TrainOfTampons' I'll have to shoot myself!!

Misty poor you - 'no man would want you' - she sounds very... umm..... shall we say old fashioned! You have only just had a name change you can't have another!! I'm busy racking my brains as to your previous name!

Olifin it was probably me, I'm a little concerned about being able to remove it, but everyone keeps assuring me I just need to 'push' and it will be easy... now I'm a tad concerned that I'll go to the loo and it'll drop out... sigh. I was going to buy one today but the local Boots is closed and I don't really feel up to going to 'town' to get it.

Shineon thread from last year

Regarding the pushing thing - you only need to push if it's migrated further up than you can reach easily. You still need to pinch it between finger and thumb to break the seal, you wouldn't push it out completely without some considerable effort on your part.

The leaflet also says that if it's moved up too high then a few small pushes are more effective at moving it than one big one - remember it is a mooncup, not a baby

I got caught out at a friend's today actually and wow - I really hadn't imagined the difference between that and a mooncup - I definitely noticed, going back. Felt incredibly self conscious and just generally dirty and uncomfortable all day, reminiscent of my first periods as a teenager. Then by the time I got home it was sodden as I'd forgotten how often they need changing. Yuk. Now wondering if you can get some kind of airtight/watertight/etc case to carry a mooncup (or even a washable pad?) around in as I wouldn't fancy using one covered in biscuit crumbs and general detritus from the bottom of my bag!

Why not just use a small ziplock bag?

Am I the only one who gets wierd 'schlurping' noises?

This is the only problem I have in public toilets, not wanting anyone else to hear that!!!!

It's personal choice as to what people use in there own bodies and so yes yabu. Tampons work for me and I'm happy with them. Just becasue the OP likes the mooncup doesn't mean everyone else has to follow suit.

I work long hours and commute a long way. I'm not preapred to empty it and clean it out in a tiny lavatory stall that doesn't have a basin in it. If it's embarrassing to be seen sticking a tampon up your sleeve to go to the loo with, it's much worse to get seen going with a pack of baby wipes and diasppearing in there for a while.

I started using a mooncup about 3 years ago. Put it in but left the end uncut, so was a bit uncomfortable the first day. However I knew the minute it was in that I would never go back to tampons...and I didn't.

Yes, I get the schlurping noises too...

schlurping noises??

Yep! schlurping noise here too, but often only on the way in

Bertie, I keep mine in a piece of kitchen paper and in its own bag in the inside pocket of my bag with no biscuit problems.

If you can use non-applicator tampons, you can use a mooncup. (I'm in Canada and have a DivaCup.) I wish I'd bought mine years ago, I really do. Another big fan here!

Yes this is the "problem" with my daughter at the moment.

She likes applicator tampons as not keen on the idea of putting fingers inside herself.

Love love love mine too! I only empty in morning in the shower and before bed. Have had mine for about 4 years and would never ever dream of going back. I mostly love that you can forget about it, there's no gross smells, and it completely eliminates all period pains, which I used to get really quite badly. It's amazing!

I use a mooncup (actually currently it's a lunacup but mooncup seems to have been adopted as the generic name) and I still have to change it frequently when I'm out and about (not a problem, tip and wipe, bemused why everyone has visions of ladies waddling to the sink with their trousers round their ankles then back to the cubicle), have to double up with pads overnight, find it leaks/overflows sometimes and still have significant amounts of pain but it's still better than the alternatives: carrying loads of tampons round and having to change them more often.

No idea how I even first heard of them, but decided to try them on the basis I could get my money back if I didn't get on with it probably about 8 years ago. Actually didn't get on with at all at first and gave up for a while. It wasn't actually until I was in a steady relationship and having regular sex that I could get the folded mooncup to open up once inside! (age 25).

Always a bit sceptical when they say they can be used from the start of periods, it took me about 4 periods and loads of tampons before I managed to successfully insert one!

I'm glad I gave it another go though, it's not a miracle worker, but it makes things more bearable for me and is really great when I'm cycling or walking away from toilets, who wants to carry used tampons around with them? The only downside for me is I can't wee very fast with it in and sometimes don't feel like I've been able to empty my bladder completely with it in. It's a minor irritation for me, but something I'd be wary of if I was prone to cystitis/urine infections

Also it's made me understand my own body a bit more, marvel at just how much a cervix moves around (as a sidenote totally shocked by the tampontrain, my cervix is really low during period time, only the first tampon carriage would be below the flow!) and realise that my periods are actually really heavy and I wasn't just crap at them!

diddl if she doesn't like the idea of putting her finger up inside herself I don't think that a mooncup would work well for her at all.

I think most people would struggle if they were not at the stage to be exploring for themselves - for some people this comes after they begin having sex so I don't know that that is a good benchmark either. I think it would be good to tell teenage girls that it's available and it's an option but I think that most of them would probably prefer to use tampons and pads until they were a bit older.