As promised, here’s my review of the Diva Cup and Lunapads I bought from Lunapads. If frank discussion of menstrual matter bugs ya, don’t keep reading.
The Diva Cup is a silicone cup with a little handle sticking out of the bottom (see the product description for a photo). It’s made of silicone, so it’s flexible and translucent, plus it’s hypoallergenic! Rock! It feels a little funny when inserted, at least at first. I got used to it pretty quickly. What took some work was getting good at putting the darn thing in. You fold it up and get it partway inserted, then it pops open. Somehow this was tricky for me, but I seem to have it down now after a few days.
One very groovie thing: I emptied the cup 2-3 times a day but really didn’t need to do it that often. I think it was half full at most, and that was on my heaviest day. With tampons, I had to go to the bathroom and change ’em every hour or two on my heaviest day! ROCK!
The only downside I can see (aside from the learning curve, which I also had with tampons) is that you get kinda messy dealing with it. I’m talking blood on the fingers, man. WAY more than with a tampon. No applicator here. But yanno, that’s what soap and water are for. If I think I might have to change it in a public bathroom, I can always take handiwipes in with me or something (cleaning up my hands with toilet paper didn’t work so well here in my bathroom at home – the blood gets too dried to wipe up easily. I wound up hobbling over to the sink with my pats around my ankles so I could clean up before pulling up my pants). That’s kind of a hassle, I admit.
On a side note: It’s really … interesting? weird? neat? gross? to see menstrual gunk gathered together in the cup when I remove it. I’m used to seeing that stuff soaked up in a tampon or pad, not loose in front of me. That was kinda cool. Also, it was nice not to have to deal with clotty bits that slide past the tampon! None of that with the cup. I did have some trouble with leaks, but I attribute that to my own inexperience putting the darn thing in. Fortunately, the leaks were no big deal because I also ordered mini pads with my cup.
The mini pads are washable cloth, with a layer of plastic sewn in so that you don’t have to worry about soaking through. They are AWESOME. Seriously. I am, like, in love. Regular pads chafe me starting about 3 or 4 days into my period (which runs about 6 or 7 days, so you can imagine how much that bugs). I had always thought that was inevitable and put up with the irritation. BUT! No chafing with these pads. NONE. They are soooo comfy. WOO!!!
They are soft cotton and flannel, and come with neat patterned cloth to boot. They wash very clean – I didn’t bother soaking them like the pamphlet suggested, just sprayed them down with the generic anti-stain spray I have before washing them like normal (after all, who cares if my pads are stained? Gimme a break!) — and they didn’t stain at all! Who knows if that will last, mind you, but it was pretty cool.
So in short: The diva cup is tricky to use but worth it (no more tampons to deal with schlepping around! AND it doesn’t have to be fiddled with nearly as often) and the pads rock my world.
