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 dont use the contraceptive pill, a lot of women dont, however, every woman needs sanitry products at some stage in their life

I was considering buying one after I have had my baby (when all is settled down that is) but Blood In The Sink slightly puts me off.

PCOS, the implant, and now pregnancy have resulted in so rare a period I haven't bothered. Were they to regulate themselves I would certainly give them a go.

plus the packaging on cntraceptive pills can be made to be recycled, you cant recycle a used tampon can you?

I love my mooncup but have had two and lost both. Can't bring myself to shell out another £20 as I'm skint but as soon as I have the money I definitely will again. The last two months of wearing tampons have been uncomfortable to the point of painful pain in the arse hell.

Um lost? [scared to ask where emoticon]

i thought the pill was causing weird things to happen to fish in some areas

anyway can't have mooncup as have coil

do you mean tadpoles

Erm why can't you have mooncup with a coil? I know people who use both. (When I had the mirena I didn't need to as I didn't have periods, but I'm fairly certain in the transition phase I used mooncup without issue).

Mooncup FAQ: IUD/Coil

"There should be no problem with an I.U.D as long as you remember to place the Mooncup low down in the vagina and take care to release the seal properly when removing the Mooncup.

When an I.U.D is first placed, please wait one whole period before using the Mooncup. This will help the I.U.D settle in. Also, it?s a good idea to ask your GP/clinic if they can trim the IUD strings to keep them short. You should continue to check your IUD strings periodically to make sure it hasn't been dislodged."

did i miss that thread shiney? were you putting it in right

(have to go home now but will search for it later)

surely it's down to capitalism and the benefits of selling a product you can sell more of every month compared to a one-off. Hence a bigger marketing budget.

Must have taken masses of marketing to get women who were used to pads to start using tampons - and indeed, it was the Tampax lady who came to give us our menstruation talk at school - presumably that all came out of their marketing money.

If there was a huge, massive campaign with full-page pics in all the women's magazines every month, plus a Mooncup lady visiting all the schools, most people would probably be using Mooncups instead.

YANBU, I wish I'd known about them years ago.

ethelina's right - you don't see mooncup on the shelves at tesco. I bought mine on Amazon. Seth's right too about the marketing.

Just started the mooncup about three months ago, and it did take a bit of fiddling around to get it right. Definitely a convert now though.

Everyone has heard of tampons. Not everyone has heard of mooncups.

Am not saying this is right, but it seems to be how it is...perhaps that's why.

Don't KNOW why mooncups are seen as 'alternative' or users are in a minority though...perhaps someone should research feminine hygiene products throughout the ages etc...

YANBU - when I think of all the money I wasted on tampons over the years, particularly when I had heard of the mooncup, but was too chicken to try it! I got one last year (because of MN!) and am a total convert! Much more comfortable, much easier, much cheaper, much better for the environment - what's not to like!

Having tried and failed disastrously to use a diaphragm, I'm assuming that I'd fail just as badly with a Mooncup, except with more mess.

I quite like the idea of a mooncup but am scared. What happens if it overflows? Do you end up with blood running down your legs? And if things are slightly stretched down below following childbirth, will it still stay in? Oh, and I have a big fat tummy (size 18/20 and still look about 6 months pregnant)......would I be able to reach to insert it properly ?

I love my mooncup. Partially because it all feels so efficient - none of the nasty waste - and partially because I am a lazy sow and constantly forgot to change tampons, leaving me at risk of toxic shock or pant leakage. Mooncup happily sits in all day at work and then I can change it when I get home.

Did have to call my best mate the first time I used it to check that I wasn't inadvertently giving myself a prolapse when trying to pull it out, though...

sapphire: it doesn't overflow in a big gush - there's tiny little overflow holes near the rim, so if you leave it too long to empty, you end up with spotting as a warning that it's time to pop to the loo :D

I'm a complete convert too - but the problems are:

• tampons are big business: there's a lot of money invested over the years in making them seem safe and normal. Moncups have to compete with that from a position of what I assume is a minimal marketing budget
• many people are uncomfy with the idea of their periods - and we've learnt that the idea is to make the process hidden - mooncups do require a level of comfort with bodily secretions that I for one didn't have pre-kids...

Lost as in I have an annoying habit of washing it and wrapping it in loo roll after the last er, innings as it were! Then I put it somewhere safe with the intention of sterilising it asap. Except it disappears because dd has found it and eaten it or something or dh blew his nose on the tissues or whatever. I didn't mean lost up there :o

They wouldn't overflow, it's a period you're not a stuck pig! If you have heavy periods then presumably you change your tampon more often, same thing goes. It's fine to sleep in, swim in etc

I'm a size 22 and I find if easier to put the mooncup in. You don't have to ram it as far up as a tampon! :o

oh i read on here about someone losing their coil with a mooncup that's why it worries me and makes me loathe to try it

I've tried the mooncup. Doesn't fit comfortably for me because I've had three huge babies.

I suppose if they became more popular, they'd make them in more sizes.