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.

Ooh there are pivot tables, even better!

Might be a while before I report back though - only had 2 periods since 2006!

Yes, agree about the name. I visualise a hippy with unshaven armpits and a fringed skirt waving her mooncup at the summer solstice.

I do not believe that mooncups can stop cramps. how on earth could that happen, physiologically? It's just a blood catcher! the cramps are the body expelling the blood. It doesn't know you have a little rubber bucket in your fanny!

i have never, ever spilled anything from my mooncup, seriously. not even once. you must be a weird shape.

oh and i don't boil in a saucepan. i have a manky old mug that i keep in a drawer and i pour boiling water and then whack in the micro for three mins. that should do the trick, i reckon.

and if you piss me off... check which cup i give you for your tea.

'and if you piss me off... check which cup i give you for your tea.'

he he... clearly I am missing a trick by using a small simple microwave steriliser box.

Tampons aren't just made of cotton though. These ones are, so god knows what is in normal ones. If they aren't made from organic fibres there will be all sorts of pesticides present, and bleach too of course to make them white.

I also 'LOVE' my mooncup, but if I'd always used it I'd probably be ambivalent towards it. I love it in the same way that I love being able to control my bladder, for example.

I had heard of Mooncups before Mumsnet. However I don't think most people have. They might be on the shelf at Boots, but two boxes right next to the floor, compared to half an aisle of Tampax, Lil-lets and Always at eye level? I'd guess that most people have never even used another brand than the leading ones, so why would they pick up something that looked completely different?

(If you are still sold on the disposable products BTW I thoroughly recommend the Cottons brand as linked to above. Same price as Always/Tampax but so much more comfortable and fewer chemicals)

Oh and I have to laugh at the idea that a mooncup might fall out! Do you quite often have tampons falling out then? That would be an unpleasant surprise!

I use a jam jar in the microwave.

I don't think I used that one when I was making chutney the other day...

I prefer tampons.
Seems most women do, going by sales

no therei s some scientific shit i have read that describes why periods will be less painful with your rubber buddy......something to do with leaching or dragging out your wetness with tampons or some such thing rather than free flowing. First timei used mine i didnt know about the seal thing - its right important to break the seal or its like plunger draggin out your insides and will put you off for life.

mine has been wased at end of play in the cutlery bit of dishwasher - i am going to get a cup ow and use microwave from now on.

I have looked into getting one before and am interested but have been slightly put off with 'suction release' and sloppy slippy fingers which will probably make me drop the damn thing! I do run alot and would be mortified if it decided to work its way out which sounds entirely possible. I'm not at all squeamish but I do like to feel in control!

oh that must be rubbish goodmanners. how on earth can 'wetness' affect your body's cramping? I remember having horrific cramps when my very first period started and I had nothing in at all! I have cramps even before my period starts. I think this is just psychological or misremembering.

No need to boil - you can use the dishwasher

I am a mooncup convert, but I am envious of you non-leaking freaks. The first 2 days of my period IS like a chainsaw massacre/stuck pig etc. etc. I have to empty it HOURLY, and still wear a washable pad for the inevitable leaks. Overnight is a nightmare too (sleep on towels). However even tampons could not cope with that flow so I haven't lost anything. As you can imagine I try not to venture far from the house on those days (not looking forward to returning to work though!) I carry a mental map of all accessible toilets that include a hand basin in the cubicle for miles around!

It totally has made a big difference to my cramping though, I get the odd few twinges to remind me something is starting, rather than the day laid up with a hot water bottle surgically attached to my abdomen.

There's nothing like a good mooncup thread for over-sharing

whatkatydid- f&z used to sell them at trade price, not used afaik .

I have also been pain free since using mine- had no idea it was anything to do with the mooncup though, just thought it was a coincidence.

website says:
'The Mooncup can safely be used with painful periods and many women report that using the Mooncup reduces their pain. One reason for this could be that the Mooncup is worn lower down in the vagina than a tampon and allows your menstrual blood to flow more naturally. '

Well, they would say that, wouldn't they ? I can't see any medical evidence or even a proper hypothesis.

If only they weren't called mooncups; it just sounds so ditzy.

definitely not a coincidence. i have told this story before but i have a friend whose life has been transformed by her mooncup, because she was absolutely destroyed by her periouds every month. basically she has a stoma thing, she's had one for longer than anyone else in europe, like thirty years pretty much, and she suffers a lot with infection etc so really has no bowel left at all. anyway, her doctor told her that using towels/tampons leaches out moisture in an indiscriminate manner, whereas the cup just catches what is supposed to come out anyway. i don't think anyone's saying that cramps only come from moisture leaching, not at all, it's your womb expelling stuff as well i think, but more pain than you think is coming from tampons etc.

coldcomfort - rubbish i may have writeen but honestly it does.

The positive reviews really make me wAnt to click onto Amazon and buy one right now.

But I am really afraid to say the thing that puts me off is the fiddling around inside. I have used applicator tampons for 20 years and am just not familiar with my fanjo in the way I assume the MC demands.

Don't care about the disposal issues (don't work, so not goi g to be bothered by Sheila from Accounts) but cannot imagine putting my fingers inside me. I know. I am hopeless. Don't mock me.

Just advise how much fiddling is required, pls.

I always been put off by the sterilising on the stove bit, it had never occured to me that a wizz in the microwave could do the trick.

Money is a bit tight here atm, but I've nearly got enough points on my Boots card to cover the full cost of getting one, so I might just be your 2nd convert