sevenhelz

Now that I have everybody's attention,
someone asked twitter about mooncups tonight.
I tried one once, when I was a teenager I think.
TMI part: I'm quite small, as ladies go, as far as I can tell. I'm not gonna go into how this affects sexytimes, but yeah. I'm smallish and sensitive. I don't use tampons. I tried the mooncup in good faith, hoping I'd be able to give up buying pads and wasting all that paper every month. Plus the cost.
I tried and failed to use the mooncup. I felt like a failure because I knew then, as I know now, that with a bit more practise and effort, I could possibly get on with it. I was enthusiastic in theory; I even tried to get them on sale at our college's production of the Vagina Monologues. What can I say, I was young and naive. People didn't want them.
They're a kind of weird idea, I suppose? Obviously I wasn't put off by that. I was put off by the physicality. True, once the cup was in I barely noticed it, but I had a hell of a time getting it in, and out was even worse. Bleah. It stays in because it's airtight, I think, so you have to break the seal to remove it. I had to basically fold the thing up again as though I were inserting it, and I was bleeding quite heavily at the time, so it got pretty messy. Not an experience I care to repeat, no matter whether I am better at putting things in my vagina these days.

What I do use (and want more of) are reusable pads. I like the feel, because they aren't sweaty like normal pads, they never stick to you, and they've a comforting thickness (YMMV!). I like feeling like I'm linked back through history to people who just used rags. I can't remember where I got mine, but one has a lovely paisley pattern, and another is red with white polka dots, and they are lovely things which nevertheless I do not mind bleeding on and then bundling straight into the wash. It is their purpose. Joy.