One for the girls
Tuesday, 23 September, 2008
Kathleen's post on vintage books and “advice for young ladies” has emboldened me to post something, um, a tad odd for a blog. Gentlemen, stop reading now: I'm going to be talking about periods.
Oh, and product endorsement.
I warned you!!!
Um.
All right, there's no polite way to talk about this, and the reason why I want to say something about it so publicly is because I was talking to Elsie about it and she had no idea such things existed. Such things? I mean menstrual cups—silicone things you put inside of you which catch the blood. They're a more environmentally friendly alternative to pads and tampons, and they last for up to 10 years.
I had heard about them in passing while exploring BellyBelly one day (that's a site about pregnancy and birth which a friend told me about around the time she fell pregnant). I even investigated the brand they recommended (Mooncup) but didn't do anything about it.
Then another friend sent around a bulk email to all her friends, saying something like “This is a weird topic for an email but I just wanted to tell you I've been using this thing and it's really great, plus it reduces landfill so why not consider using it too?” Amazon is right; I may not care if some stranger recommends it to me, but I'll care a lot more if it's a friend. Anyway, this friend was using the Diva Cup. Up to that point, I hadn't realised there was more than one. Turns out there are lots of different brands! But, weirdly enough, none of them are readily available in Australia. (This site explains why.)
I was pretty much persuaded to get one—mostly because I wanted to reduce landfill, but I was also attracted to the idea of saving money as well. (Just think how much you spend every year on women's sanitary products!) But which one? Fortunately this site had some helpful comparisons and ratings, and this site described one woman's experiences with them (warning: contains pictures of actual menstrual blood!) In the end, I bought a Lunette (the cleaning aspect in the comparisons reviews I cited before was the clincher). It cost approximately AUS $50 (paid for via PayPal), and it arrived in two or three weeks, shipped from the UK. So far, I've been quite happy with it.
*End of public service announcement.*
Blinks:
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I wouldn’t go back and I’m really peeved that there’s not more information out there about these because it is really hard to start conversations about them and I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time & energy & anxiety over the last 14 years that I wouldn’t have otherwise (Diva, for the record, and possibly responsible for me getting relaxed enough talking about such things to actually make that rather coy post:).
Incidentally, re not being available in Australia, I wonder if that’s why applicators aren’t seen here to the extent they are in the USA.
Hurrah! A fellow user! I wouldn’t go back either.
Why is it hard to start conversations about them? Have you done it a lot?
Very interesting! Actually the only time I ever recall hearing about these was in my early adolescence in some magazine (Dolly? Cleo?) talking about how best to deal with periods when you were camping. Other than that, I’ve not heard a thing!
Well, that was most informative
. I’m intrigued (but right now I am picturing myself in the (public) loos at work washing out something in the sink, which isn’t a pleasant vision).
Yeah, that isn’t so great. But I’ve found I can usually get away with just emptying it at work and then washing it properly when I get home.
Ew ew ew ew ew. I can’t believe such things exist. Ew. But thanks for the info. I think.
Hee hee! Are you going to give them a try, George?
Yeah, I had that reaction. But it’s surprisingly not ew, when you get used to it. At least less so than the alternatives.