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.

you bear down so the thing kinda comes down your vagina, so not that much fiddling tbh, i promise. it's not like james herriot has to be involved.

it holds 30 mls; even ultra absorbent tampax only hold 18g of fluid and i imagine that blood is denser than water so less by volume.

I find they give me less cramp too; the are neutral to your body; they just sit collecting the natural blood flow; whereas your super duper absorbent wodge of fabric actively letches all the mositure around out. I reckon there is a good chance that that extra absorbency could 'pull' the blood from your womb faster than it naturally wants to go, casuing pain and cramping.

I also like the fact that the 'bottom end' of the old fanjo is completely unaffected. So the natural moisture etc remains making the wholke experience more comfortable.

I used to hate periods; initially post-mooncup I was obsessed with volume etc. Now I am pretty neutral.

I must admit to being a total slattern and mainly giving it a long wash and good scrub under the hot tap in the bathroom between uses (using plenty of soap). But then I figure that that's all the washing my DH's penis gets and that hasn't killed me yet...

what does "bear down" mean? kind of mini squat?
confused

do you have children?

re mooncups causing less cramping though, if that is the case then you would expect towels to cause less cramping than tampons - do sanitary towel users say they stopped using tampons for that reason?

i personally use towels at home as i find tampons uncomfortable - sometimes crampy, sometimes just like they've not been inserted right

stealth
are you asking me?
if so, yes! I have two.

(more confused than ever...do people who have children all know what "bear down means?)

Well I seem to remember it being said instead of "push" :o

i've seen fabric towel users say that on here, yes.

bear down just means push down a bit, not unlike when you are doing a poo. or the opposite of kegels. although for first insertion i highly recommend doing it in a squat position in the shower. that way everything is lovely and clean and can pop in easily.

I found the mooncup quite uncomfortable. But I have a very posterior cervix (tmi) so I suspect it's something to do with that.

stealth
ah, now it makes sense
i live abraod and had my babies abroad sp gave birth "in a foreign language". That was fun. But for another thread.

i'm sure that they cannot be for absolutely everyone, but the guarantee is very generous imo. no such offer from tampax if their product gives you cystitis, not even a coupon for cranberry juice...

so if you have to sterilise between uses then how do you change your mooncup at work then - I am intrigued? not sure colleagues would be keen for me to pop it in the office kitchen microwave, or wash out in the sink in the ladies?

I think you sterilise it every month

no, one period is one use. on your period you wipe with loo roll then rinse if you are in yer hoose, or if out and about, rinse with bottle of water or just don't rinse it.

re the blood thing... you don't walk about the communal loo like lady macbeth. if any blood is on your fingers you just wipe it off with loo roll. it works for shite, how come you're not all so squiffy about that?

No idea what a moon cup is but I switched from tampax to pads in my late 30's and I actually concieved - which is something the 'experts' thought was very unlikely without 'help'.

So I'd just say ditch the tampons and do something else.

I love my mooncup. Such a pleasing combination of saving money, feminist at-one-with-my-menstruating-body-ness, and eco-righteousness.

I do find that if you're a bit careless you can flirt large quantities of blood all over the bathroom floor, but you can always mop it up.

I was quite interested in these at the local Green Fair the other day party in my pants I'd never been keen on the idea of reusable pads but these are quite tempting.

As I approach menopause I find I can go about ten minutes before my mooncup overflows, so no I'm afraid. Very sad. Also probably anaemic. :(

Just googled and saw my first mooncup!

Dont know if this has been asked, but what do you do if it needs emptying and washing when you are out and about?

They look quite odd, wasnt quite sure what i was expecting it to look like, but they look like something you would use in the kitchen!

On the environmental front, you shouldn't flush tampax, pads, pantyliners or anything like that down the loo. See water company campaign here. It's bad for sewage treatment and if there is a flood it will come straight out of the sewer into the rivers.

So then it becomes yet more waste to go into the bin, into landfill and rot away for 500 years. I honestly feel the next generation will be ed at our use of disposable items.

Toilet paper disintegrates after a short time in water, the system is set up to cope with that.

I find tampons really uncomfortable, they tend to 'pinch' me when i sit down and towels smell of period.

Are they suitable for very heavy periods?

errrgh