Ok – real talk – Women unless they’re currently pregnant or have gone through menopause will have a monthly menstrual cycle. How they decide to live with and cope with that cycle is up to them. This is how I choose to do it.
I use a Diva Cup. A Diva Cup is a silicone cup that you insert (much like a tampon) into yourself to catch your flow. To insert, you bend a side of the cup in, insert and twist internally. This creates an air lock which prevents leaking (for the most part).
Continuing the real talk though – you get pretty intimate with yourself. Emptying the cup often involves getting a little bit of blood on your hands as you rinse it out. The cup is made from medical grade silicone and I simply sterilize it with boiling water at the beginning and end of my cycle. I pop the cup in before my period starts and check it in the shower daily to see if anything’s happened – often my period has begun and I don’t even know yet!
I’ve had great success with the diva cup – my only issue has been that sometimes mid cycle on a heavy flow day if I remove the cup to empty and then reinsert some blood may then be lower in my vagina and then leak onto my underwear. In 8 years of usage that’s been the only type of leak incident I’ve experienced and then it’s just some light spotting. To combat this, I use reusable pads during my cycle. My last batch finally died and as I’ve been yet able to replace them, I’ve been buying disposables: cheaper initially, most cost over time.
In addition to being cheaper over time – they’re also more comfortable. Disposables have sticky stuff on them which can often stick to your leg or move around. The fabric is much much softer than disposables and when buying organic cotton you are sure of what is going to be touching the most intimate parts of you. That shit is important when you think about
My current plan is to buy 7 more reusable pads on pay day and then donate my disposables to Share the dignity once they’re no longer required. Since they’ve already been purchased it makes sense to donate them to women in need – one of the few times in my conscious choices year that the more conscious choice is to shop for a new product sooner since I have the flexibility to do that to allow others to receive the disposables since their need is urgent.
Conscious Choices 