Moontime

I bought a MoonCup some months ago now (from the Helios health food shop here in Oslo, distributed by http://www.froya-natur.no/ ) thinking what a great thing it would be to make the tampons that i hate using a thing of the past, and to save some money into the bargain. But it took a conversation with someone who actually uses one to inspire me to finally use mine. What was putting me off? I think i just thought it was more complicated and more messy to start than it actually was and then i forgot about it once i had put it in the cupboard. My period actually started at the weekend so i tried it out yesterday and now i wonder why i haven't been doing it for years.

But what is a MoonCup you may ask? Well it's a reusable menstrual cup designed by women to be a convenient, safe and eco-friendly alternative to tampons and sanitary pads. It offers an end to the waste and expense of disposable sanitary protection.

It's "around two inches long and made from soft medical grade silicone. It is worn internally a lot lower than a tampon but, while tampons and pads absorb menstrual fluid, the Mooncup collects it. This means it doesn’t cause dryness or irritation, and also that it collects far more (three times as much as a ‘super-absorbent’ tampon’!). Because the Mooncup is reusable, you only need one so it saves you money and helps the environment, too.

The MoonCup is designed to be folded and inserted into the vagina, then removed, rinsed and reinserted up to every 8 hours. A light seal is formed with your vaginal walls, allowing menstrual fluid to pass into the Mooncup without leakage or odour. This seal is released for removal, allowing you to empty the contents, rinse or wipe and reinsert. Comfortable, convenient and safe: the Mooncup can be used overnight and when travelling, swimming or exercising."

The first time i found it a little tricky to insert as you have to fold it first to make it small enough to go in, so that was a little messy, but the next couple of times were fine.  When it came to removing it to empty, as brilliantly advised by said friend ( i think i would have panicked otherwise), i found i needed to use my pelvic floor muscles to push it forward in order to get hold of the stem and pull it out. She also gave me a good tip to empty it out in the bath/shower when you are at home as it tends to pool in the bottom of the loo and doesn't go away very easily, infact even after many flushes!! All you need to do when you are out and about is to carry a bottle of water to rinse it out with and then pour it into the loo. It is a brilliant idea and once you have used it once or twice it is as easy as using tampons.

I had been using Natracare sanitary products for years before this as their products are made from 100% certified organic cotton ( and have the only fully certified organic cotton tampons available in the world today)  as it was a natural alternative to most of the widely available sanitary pads sold today which contain a blend of chlorine-bleached pulp, polypropylene, polyacrylates and plastics. But no matter how organic they are they still fill landfills and it is expensive so i wanted to go one step further in using the MoonCup. I would also like now to use reusable cloth pads.....when i find some for sale here, although of course there are many washable and reusable cloth pads available for sale on the internet, like the LunaPads  and different websites that can help you to make your own. No excuse at all then!

Celebrate your moontime in a different way!