So, at Brighton Pride this year I bought a Mooncup. This piece of plastic is an alternative to tampons and I’ve tried it for two periods now. The concept is kinda cool – a menstrual cup which you empty rather than a tampon which you throw away. It’s good for the environment and it’s good for the way you think about your body. No longer do you discard something associated with a perfectly natural, healthy part of your life; instead you embrace it and get it all over your fingures. Sorry to put it so brutally, but that is the reality. So, the pros:
- it’s better for the environment
- it’ll work out cheaper (one Mooncup costs about £17)
- it removes the association of period = rubbish
- it doesn’t absorb all of the moisture in your vagina wall in a desparate bid to catch some blood
- you don’t have to carry tampons or towels around, as you just need the one Mooncup
The cons:
- it’s messy
- you have to clean it, instead of conveniently throwing away a tampon or towel
- it can be fiddly to insert and remove
- it’s normally not possible to wash it in public loos, so you end up wiping it on toilet paper with potential for really mucky consequences
So far, I’ve found the cons to be bad enough that I’ve not used it for the whole of my period, but the pros are certainly enough for me to use it for some of my period. I reckon, this way, I can get the best of both worlds, but it does feel like a bit of a cop out. Perhaps it just takes a bit more getting used to.