What is Menstrual Cup?
It is most commonly used in the United States and other Western Countries in replacement for disposable tampons for women's period. Its more similar to tampons because you put it inside your vagina hence the tampon.
Here in the Philippines, we commonly use disposable pads so it will take us more time in getting used to compare to tampon users. We are still in the discovering stage when it comes to using this as a pad alternative and I'm speaking from my experience when I asks some of my friends and colleagues if they knew about it and they often said “No” and have no idea at all. It is mostly made of medical grade silicon or thermoplastic elastomer.
What are the Advantages?
1. It is Eco -friendly.
You can use it for several years without replacement which in the long run prevents a lot of garbage like disposable pads and tampons that we threw every month and dump in the garbage.
2. You Don’t Have To Worry About Back Leaks And Ruining Your Favourite Sheets.
When I started using menstrual cup 3 years ago, I no longer need to worry about what my sleep position is . As long as you put it in place, it never ever leaks. I remember when I was using pads where I had to use the one we call “overnight pads” and these are longer pads thus it still leaks because of the way I often moves when I sleep so the pad is often dislocated or either just too many blood flows on all sorts of direction.
3. You can Swim While on Your Period.
You will never ever miss the fun on your summer getaway with friends and family even on your period because you can swim while your shedding blood because it will be trapped inside the cup so you will never worry about blood going into the water.
4. You Saves A Lot Of Money.
You just don’t notice it but we spend too much money on pads every time of the month. In my experience, I spend more than ₱300 every month just to ensure that I will not run out of stock on my period. So imagine, that’s ₱3600 in a year while menstrual cup normally just cost ₱500 that you can use for 3 years or more.
5. You Can Workout Or Do Yoga While On Your Period.
As long as you find the best cup for you that fits and sits in place, you can workout and do yoga since it keeps the blood from going into your back as its sealed inside the cup .
6. No Sticky Feeling.
Once you get used to it, sometimes you forget that your on your period and you will hardly feel it. In using pads, blood tends to accumulate on top of it which makes it uncomfortable and tends to be quite sticky when it get mixed with the chemicals in the pad.
7. You Can Leave It Up To 12 Hours.
You may think that we shed too many bloods every month but what we don’t know is that when it get mixed to the chemicals on the pads, the pads expand appearing to have so many blood when in reality we only shed 35 ml of blood during heavy days and cup normally holds 25 ml of blood.
8. Lastly, No Allergies.
Some women have sensitive skin and vaginal skin and does not respond well when in contact with the materials that are used in making pads. I often have rashes when I was still using pads especially when combined with heat and moisture but you have very low chance of allergies when using a cup.