Am I a Mooncup minger?

[MooncupMinger]

I use a Mooncup (actually a Boots copy one, but that’s beside the point). When I empty it, I pour the contents into the loo, then wash it out in the bathroom sink next to the toilet. Whenever I wash it out I think to myself that DP would probably find it gross that I’m washing it out where he washes his face/brushes his teeth etc. He could also walk in at any second, as we never lock the bathroom door, so there’s always the fear that I’m going to be outed as a Mooncup minger. Tbh he might think it’s a non-event.

I COULD turn the other way and wash it out in the bath, but that seems a bit overkill. Also… what do people do in their downstairs loos (which I don’t have)?!

So…

YABU - you’re a minger and should wash it out in the bath.

YANBU - it’s a normal bodily function (/fluid 😂) and it’s fine to wash it out in the sink.

Why insane? I was in a shared house when I bought it and didn’t think it was fair on my housemate. I find boiling shifts discolouration better than just washing, so it gets a boil every few months.

@PrivateMolecule0

Creep.

if any bloke asked me early on, he'd get told to mind his own fucking business and to move on!

@Latenightreader it's NOT insane, it was the right thing to do. However, I'd just use miltons.

I sometimes do the flush clean and I've never had an infection or anything untoward. We have an immune system and all sorts of clever defences to protect us from bacteria and so far they're all working well for me and @Barleymilk

I think everyone is going a tad over the top in their reactions!

Carefully, while you're sitting on the loo. It can get messy and I can get through quite a bit of loo roll wiping my hands, but it's quite manageable.

Fold it up, sit on loo, lean forward, poke it up, wiggle it around to make sure it's in place.
Where are you getting stuck?
Squatting on the floor can be easier or try while you're in the bath.

You can just dump the blood out and stick it back in w/o washing. As long as your hands are clean it doesn't need washing every time.
I do this just before I race (run) and am using a porta loo.
I have used a cup for years and years and only ever wash it in hot water.
The only time I tried to sterilise one (to remove the discolouration) I used neat Milton and it sort of melted. I've never used Milton before!

As far as BBVs go both HIV and Hepatitis have membranes and so will not survive for very long on the surface of a sink and will be killed by soapy water. And the next person would need to have an open wound for a BBV to enter their system. As Diana famously proved, you don't get HIV from shaking hands.

You want anything you put in your vagina for a prolonged period of time to be free of bacteria.

How do you propose I sterilise my husband's penis? Mooncups just need to be clean not sterile, even if you do sterilise a mooncup properly (which I can guarantee no-one on this thread is doing) as soon as you take it out of its gamma irradiated bag with your fingers it is no longer sterile.

Sink here too, with warm water.

If I'm in public I pour down the toilet then use some bottled tap water to rinse, if I forget the water I always carry a small pack of femfresh wipes in my handbag so can wipe with those.

How do you propose I sterilise my husband's penis?

Scrub it well with neat Dettol, then immerse in boiling water for at least 10 minutes.

Dishwasher on a hot cycle surely?

I don't have a dishwasher, so I always forget that option.

If its good enough for the MN loobrush.....

I've never used one but if I did I would use the sink then clean it afterwards.

Once more for the people who didn't read this the first time I posted it:

Tampons are not sterile.

If you think about how non-applicator tampons are wrapped, that wrapper is not airtight, so the tampon cannot possibly be sterile. Applicator tampons are not sterile either. The clue with those is that there is no "use by" date on the box. If you look at a box of sterile plasters, there's a "use by" date on the box, after which the manufacturer does not guarantee the integrity of the wrapper.

Yet the majority of tampon users do so with no problems, indicating that objects inserted into the vagina, even for protracted periods, need not be sterile to be safe. Yes, I know about toxic shock syndrome. TSS comes from your bacteria growing like weeds in amongst the cotton fibres, which make a perfect breeding ground once they've got damp and bloody inside your body. Your mooncup has no fibres, it's solid impermeable silicone. "Biologically inert" does not mean clean, it means that it does not react with your body's tissues. A tampon is not biologically inert because it absorbs your menses, which is a bodily tissue. Your mooncup absorbs nothing, which is why it does not encourage bacteria to grow. It is biological inertness, not sterility, that makes your mooncup safe to use and safer than tampons.

Hear hear.

"Biologically inert" does not mean clean

Nor does it mean sterile.

I soak and wash the hamsters cage tubes in the kitchen sink then anti bac/bleach it thoroughly twice afterwards before dishes go in the following day. Bottle brush, sponge and tea towel all designated separately and washed or disposed of.
Period blood in a bathroom sink is no worse than washing your hands after a poo. You wash your hands afterwards? Soap or anti bac hand wash goes in the sink and down the same drain.
Think what goes into washing machines all the time. And pet bedding. But once things come out and dry we treat it all as clean.

You've read my mind!

I've tried a soft cup a few times and I think it's totally gross cleaning it where people brush their teeth but I've done it and thought if DH saw that he'd be sick! It's one of the things that really puts me off using one.

Inert doesn't mean it can't transmit infection. Tampons aren't sterile, but we don't wash tampons with soapy water and leave them sitting for a month before using them again do we?
You can get TSS from menstrual cups. It tells you that on the packaging. You can get TSS from anything that sits in your vagina for a long period of time. And soap messes with your vagina's pH, which also increases your risk of infection. If you introduce bacteria into your vagina, that cup will provide it a nice oxygenated environment to help it breed.
Why do you think these products tell you to sterilize them? Why do you think they tell you to change/empty it every few hours? Then there are people here fishing them out of toilet bowls or rinsing them in toilet water then popping them back in!

But maybe you're right. I'll tell my hospital on Monday to throw away the Clinell and get some Dove in instead. There is no need to stick bedpans in the steriliser between patients because they're inert so soap and water is enough to stop the spread of infection.

Why do you think these products tell you to sterilize them?

They do? The leaflet for mine said that sterilisation was optional and it just needed a good clean. If yours says to sterilise, then probably best to do what it says and I won't laugh any more at you for doing so.

You can get TSS from menstrual cups. It tells you that on the packaging.

Again, not on my leaflet. Perhaps new evidence has emerged in the last 20 years.

There is no need to stick bedpans in the steriliser between patients because they're inert

If you are sharing a mooncup, then absolutely do sterilise it between users, to prevent possible spread of HPV or HIV. Sharing an item is not the same as one person using it and has a different set of risks attached. You cannot give HIV to yourself.

Twenty years ago when I bought mine, it not only came without a requirement to sterilise, it came with an absorbant, germ-harbouring, porous, lint-shedding cotton bag.

soap messes with your vagina's pH

Yet the leaflet says to use soap. When you rinse it off with water, it's gone and cannot mess up your vaginal pH any more. That's kind of the point of rinsing.

Mooncup and TSS - Boil or use sterilising solution or tablets after period
Rubycup and TSS - Boil, microwave or oven after period
Lunette and TSS - Boil after period
Pixie Cup and TSS - Boil or steam before and after period
Diva Cup and TSS - Boil after period

That's just some of the big brands. But maybe yours is special and carries no risk of TSS or need to be sterilised after. Maybe you should share what brand it is so everyone else here can save themselves the bother of having these extra steps.

Mine's a Mooncup from around 2003-4. I think they've sold out of that vintage.

A serious answer to your question is that Keeper make cups in both latex and silicone and recommend against boiling or sterilising either.

The Mooncup leaflet shown online is not the same as the leaflet that came with mine, which is probably in a box in my attic. Back when I bought mine, even Mooncup were pushing the reduced TSS risk argument, that's why I bought the damned thing: I would have bought a Keeper long before Mooncup came out but I'm allergic to latex. Websites are annoyingly easy to rewrite to erase inconvenient past statements.