Dear ladies, I have
blogged about the
Mooncup® (known in the USA as MCUK®) earlier this month. As I have promised I will give you a detailled review now.
When I received the mooncup in the mail, I was surprised of the well designed packaging. It's a very classy design and I like the choice of paper. It totally reflects the spirit of an ecological product and company and keeps in mind the target group: women who are seeking for some extra relief in yuckie times. So thank God, no vagina graphics or medical looks. The mooncup comes with a well designed (ok, most people will skip the design part, but I just am a designer, so I notice such things!) manual in tons of languages. But the "how to" part is really kept short and very encouraging. You want to try it right away because it sounds so easy.
Which was the bad part: I had to wait over a week for my period. I haven't been keeping track of my period in a while. So my guess was just wrong and my worrying for the mooncup to arrive too late for nothing. So I had it sitting in my bathroom - anxiously waiting to be used. (It also caught Lenara's attention and she kept asking me about it and I had to take it out of her mouth at least one time. How do you explain a 2-year-old what these things are good for... ?!)
So finally my period came and YESSSSS I got to use my very own mooncup for the very first time (aren't you excited!?).
PUTTING IN/OUT:
Easier than I had expected. You have to fold the flexible cup twice and put it in basically like a tampon. It folds up right in place. You're supposed to cut the pull-back part to a good length adjusted to your body. It's not supposed to stick out, so you can feel or it hurts. I cut twice, just to be sure. To take it out, you just pull very slowly so some air gets in to break up the vacuum. Very similar to a tampon I would say. '
WEARING EXPERIENCE:
I didn't feel this thing at all!!! Meaning AT ALL! Even now that I write this, I had to think a sec, if I'm still wearing it. A tampon always moves a tiny bit up or down in some moments - i.e. when going to the toilet with a tampon I always had to make sure it's not being sqeezed down. Not with the mooncup though. Unless you pull the little string, it stays right in place.
EMPTYING:
I went hiking the first day, and when I had to pee in the woods, I first realized what a mess this would have meant with a tampon. After 2 hours I would have had to exchange the tampon. But there wasn't any place to dispose it. I would have wrapped it in a tissue and put it back in my backpack. Great! (I hate when I have to take home stinky diapers. Not talking of yuckie tampons.) But with the mooncup I didn't have to pay attention to my period. It can stay in up to 8 hours (depending on how heavy the period is). And if I had to empty it, I could have simple taken my bottle of water into the woods to rinse it a little and put it back in.
I also hate, when people don't have a garbage in their bathrooms (mainly male singles!). You have to wrap the bloody tampon in some toilet paper, try to hide it in your hand (or your pocket) and try to get to some close garbage without attracting any attention. (Not talking about the ones I found a couples of days later in my bag...). So that's a plus for private bathrooms: you only need a sink - no garbage.
But, that's the point. In a public bathroom, what do I do? Lock myself in, take the mooncup out, pull my pants up again, go outside again to rinse it in the sink - with everybody watching... ? I suppose you have to take some water with you then. Which makes it more complicated compared to tampons. Unless you don't rinse it, just empty it and put it back in... which would work as an exception. I personally would prefer to rinse it every time though.
I thought it to be very fascinating to actually see the exact amount of blood I'm losing - for the very first time!! During those past 18 years I have never had a clue how much it is - I simply felt like a slaughtered pig at times. What a revelation! I like to know and explore my body. Being faced with plain blood in a sink, might be a problem for some though. Which could be a minus. But I personally really don't mind. I don't think a bloody tampon is any less nasty. And I just thought about it, there's no odor with the mooncup, whereas a tampon starts smelling, if you leave it in for too long.
OVERLL RESULT:
I personally am VERY fascinated by this product and I'm going to stick with the mooncup. Definitely! It feels much more comfortable, natural and compatible with my body (no matter, if I'm going to safe money by using it and/or safe the rainforests - which is not a bad thing either! great!). Especially the fear of leaking is extremely diminished since a mooncup works like a "plug" and not like a "sponge".
I love it!
Go get yourself a mooncup, Ladies! ;)
