Disclaimer: The following review contains much TMI. You are warned.
A while back, my brother's girlfriend wrote a review of the Diva Cup in her blog, spurring me to try it out. I loved it so much, I wanted to do the same; hopefully introducing another woman to the magic that is the Diva Cup.
If you've never heard of it, the
Diva Cup is a menstrual cup. Inserted in the vagina, it collects the menstrual flow, and gets emptied (typically) twice a day. If you're completely grossed out, bear with me. It's not as icky as you think. The big advantages it has over tampons are:
1. It doesn't suck all the moisture out of your vagina (which would throw your pH out of whack and leave you susceptible to things like Toxic Shock Syndrome).
2. You only have to take it out every 12 hours. No more hauling around pads and/or tampons and scrambling to find decent public restrooms.
First, let's dispel a quick myth. You have likely been brainwashed by countless Summer's Eve commercials into believing your vagina/period is dirty. In reality, your mouth is filled with
way more bacteria, yet you don't think twice about sticking your fingers in there, do you? If you use the Diva Cup, you are going to come into contact with your period. Wash your hands. Problem solved.
Okay. On to the review! Obviously, I loved it. I found mine at an organic grocery store, and also bought the Diva Wash for it. The cup is about $30, which seems spendy at first, until you realize that if you go through a $5 box of tampons each period, it pays for itself in 6 months. When my period came about a week later, I was eager to try it out.
I inserted it the morning before I went to work. One of the great things about the Diva Cup is that you can put it in before your period even starts, unlike tampons. It hangs out kinda low in your vagina, but you can't feel it. I was really paranoid that it was going to leak, so I used a pad too. At work, I must have ran to the bathroom five or six times, convinced it was going to leak. It didn't.
That evening, I took it out at home, emptied it, washed it with the Diva Wash, and stuck it back in. No problems.
Now, on the second day I did have some issues, but they were my own fault. When I reinserted the cup in the morning, I could feel it. That should have been a big clue that I had put it in wrong. It leaked until I got to work, where I reinserted it. After that, I had a teeny bit of spotting, which I believe was due to a small amount of menstrual fluid that was below the "seal" when it was reinserted. That happened a few times after emptying it, but nothing a pantyliner couldn't handle. The third, fourth and fifth days of my period went off without a hitch.
There are a lot of questions that I felt the website didn't answer in a super specific way (probably to avoid sounding icky), so here's what I found:
-I got some blood on my fingers. Not much, but I did. Have you ever accidentally soaked through a tampon, then got a bit of blood on your fingers from the string? It was like that. Amazingly, it washed off!
-It doesn't smell. The "period" smell you're probably familiar with comes from menstrual blood oxidizing on a pad. A healthy vagina and menstrual fluid do not smell- if they do, there is something askew and you need to talk to your doctor.
-During a typical period, I went through a regular tampon every four hours or so during the heaviest part of my cycle. With the Diva Cup, I filled it halfway or less (1/4 - 1/2 ounce) every 12 hours in the same part of the cycle. So even if your cycle is pretty heavy, you should still be okay.
-I couldn't poo with it in. The website says you can, but I was seriously afraid of "pooping it out" since that's how you get the Diva Cup out- you bear down on your abdominal muscles. But I prefer to go #2 at home anyway, so for me it wasn't a big issue.
-It never once spilled while taking it out. And I am a completely uncoordinated clod. Although, it was always only half full or less, which probably helped.
-My favorite part? Having something to use at night that won't leak! Before I would have to use a tampon and an extra huge pad at night, in order to avoid changing the sheets. Ugh, I hated sleeping in a huge, bunchy pad! But no more, thanks to the Diva Cup!
The Diva Cup is pretty great. Try it, and you won't be disappointed! After using it for just one cycle, I can't imagine going back to anything else. If you are interested, you can order one from the
website, or look for one around town. You'll probably have better luck locating one in a college town, or places that cater to the organic and vegetarian crowds- since another advantage of switching to the Diva Cup is reducing the amount of trash you produce. So help save the planet, save some $$, and go get a Diva Cup!
