I started using a menstrual cup about 10 years ago, my first one being the diva cup. I recently tried out my second menstrual cup, the lunette cup, and want to share with you the greatness that is a menstrual cup (and also some of the problems some people might have with them).
To start with, let me tell you a little more about what a menstrual cup is, because you may not have heard of them even though they are getting much more common recently. Basically, it’s a silicone or rubber cup that you can use for your period. Like a tampon, you insert it into your vagina. Unlike a tampon, it does not absorb your blood. Instead, it forms a seal with your vaginal wall and collects blood. You can simply dump it out, clean it off, and reinsert it.
Because of that, a menstrual cup is much more eco friendly since it’s reusable and much better for your health because it isn’t potentially leaving behind pieces of absorbent material when you pull it out.
When I first got a menstrual cup I got the diva cup. There were FAR fewer choices at the time. The only ones I knew about were the diva cup and the keeper cup. After I tried it a couple of times I absolutely fell in love with it.
Fast forward a bit and the diva cup stopped being great for me. I just couldn’t get it to work without leaking (starting from when I first got a copper IUD over 7 years ago), it wasn’t an overflow problem it just… wouldn’t work. No idea why.
Ever since then I have been thinking “I need to find another cup to try” and just haven’t done it. BUT, I was recently offered a lunette cup to try and I took that up right away.
I found the lunette really comfortable. Even just in my hands I liked the feeling of the silicone. It is somehow really flexible and soft while still being firm enough to not wonder if it’s going to stay in place or never open up how it’s supposed to. Though I found the stem long and I want to cut it off, I liked that the stem was solid and not a hollow tube like the diva cup. The combination of that and holes that were slightly bigger around the edges made cleaning this cup a lot easier than the diva cup.
In terms of actually using the lunette cup, I didn’t have any leaking, which was a huge plus! One thing I didn’t like, that was also something I was not a fan of with the diva cup, is that it presses just enough on my vaginal canal that it pushes into my bladder a bit. I always feel like I need to pee more frequently and actually peeing is less comfortable.
Overall, I am super glad I got the opportunity to try to lunette and I’ll definitely be using it as one of my period products in the future.
Here are my tips if you are thinking about getting a menstrual cup or have one and are still trying to figure it out:
1.) Find the cup that’s right for you.
I recommend joining a facebook group like this one and this one, which will help you guess which cup is right for you and potentially try some out without as much financial investment.
2.) Try different folds.
Here are some of the different folds you can do. I’m a big fan of the punch down fold. I don’t get the popular “C” fold at all. Be willing to try a few out.
3.) Getting it out might be terrifying at first.
You will probably be scared that you are going to pull your cervix out. Or when you feel how slippery it is you might think you will never get a grip on it and freak out.
My best tip is to stay calm, remember it can not get lost inside of you, and bear down while you look for it. Don’t even try to pull on the stem. I seriously don’t know why the stem is there because it certainly isn’t good for tugging on. What you really want is to get your fingers to the very base of the cup and to pinch the cup so you break the seal. That will make pulling it out infinitely easier. If you can manage to get your finger high enough, use one finger to push on one side of the cup to break the seal. I promise it works wonderfully.
I’d love to know if you use a cup and what your favorite has been so far and why. Let me know in the comments!
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I started to use a menstrual cup about one year ago and I’m just loving it!
I’m from Brazil and I’m using the HolyCup, it’s made in Germany and the company who sells the cup here in Brazil recalled it, the original name is Meluna.
I absolutely recommend join a facebook group when you are thinking about use the cup, it helps a lot with all the problems and doubts you might have.
Once it goes right you will not want anything else. It’s just amazing!
Thanks for the comment, Isabella!
I haven’t heard it called the holy cup, but I have heard of the meluna. Do you know why it was recalled? Or was it that they just stopped selling it?
The meluna cups are still sold. The woman who brought it to Brazil just wanted to creat another label to sell directly from here and chose the meluna to be her provider. I think the idea was to make the cup more atractive for the brazilian women because it’s not very commom around here, we can’t find any at the drugstore, for example. So the website has a very beautiful design and all the information in portuguese.
Very cool! You can’t really find them in the drugstore here, either. Every one in a while you will see a health food store carrying the Diva Cup. That’s about it, unfortunately. I’d love to see them more widespread and I think the time is coming!
Thanks for sharing this helpful info Hannah! I used a keeper for many years and eventually it started leaking. Then I read somewhere that most menstrual cups are only expected to be good for about one year. Have you heard that? I used the keeper for probably 5-7! Also, you say that your cup presses on your bladder. I always had the problem of it pressing on my rectum which affected my bowel movements.
Now I’ve moved to cloth pads, combined with tampons when cloth isn’t feasible. I had tried the diva cup but had a horrible time removing it by pulling the stem. Maybe I’ll try again with your ‘pinch’ technique. :)
Yes, the stem is crap! I actually think the keeper has a shorter lifespan than other cups due to the fact that it is natural rubber rather than silicone. Many say 10 years is about right for how long they last. I HAVE seen the annual thing, but I think it’s BS. I think you’d know if you had to replace your cup. It could be some brands have a worse quality silicone, though.
I started using the lunette cup about half a year ago because tampons didn’t work out for me anymore. I had taken antibiotics over the course of several months and was very sensitive, I struggled with dryness and yeast infections. My “first time” with the cup was kind of scary. I was determined to practice with the cup before my menstruation started. So I inserted and removed the cup several times and – while at it – tried which of the folds works best for me. While this was technically a good idea, it was also very stressful for both my body and mind. As I imagined everyone does, I was scared of not being able to remove the cup and worried about hurting myself with my clumsy attempts to break the seal. Eventually though, I mastered it and actually looked forward to my first period with the cup. Everything worked out beautifully and from that first week on I loved using the lunette cup. Unfortunately though, during my last period I experienced what you describe in your article. Somehow the cup pushed against my bladder and at the same time made it somewhat hard to… uhm, well… pee. So, lucky me, ended up with a bladder infection that just two days later became a really serious kidney infection. I recovered, but now I’m kind of scared to use my cup again, which is a real bummer. But I want to make this very clear: I’m sure my illness wasn’t caused by the cup itself. I might have inserted the cup differently from before and caused it to bother my bladder. I was also just overcoming a cold at the time, so this might have made me more receptacle for the bladder infection. Maybe, I didn’t drink enough water and didn’t use the toilet frequently enough. I don’t want to scare anybody. I really think menstrual cups are awesome and definitely worth a try and I’m planning on using my lunette cup again in the future. But right now, I’m not so enthusiastic about it anymore. I can only advise anybody using the cup to be very responsible about it and not to force themselves to use a cup if it feels uncomfortable in any way. Most of my “special days” with the cup however were great, I didn’t feel the cup at all and almost forgot that I was bleeding. The lunette cup is a great product, easy enough to use and to clean/maintain. Just give it a try, but make sure to listen to your body!
Yeah, I hate that bladder push you can get with a cup. Some people will wear it higher (if you don’t have a low cervix during your period), but that just does not fly for me.
It’s definitely a balancing act getting it all figured out but when you do it’s amazing!