The Other Red Cup – A Menstrual Cup Story

There has been a lot of buzz in the news lately about toxic tampons and why you should not use them. The FDA states that tampons are safe and that the rumors are nothing more than the media drumming up controversy. Either way, I have been wanting to switch to a menstrual cup and I have taken this as my kick in the butt to give them a try.

But which one should I choose? There are so many choices out there and quite frankly it was a little overwhelming. Then I found Ruby Cup. Ruby Cup looks like many of the other menstrual cups out there so I felt comfortable with the design, and they donate one cup in Kenya for every cup sold here in the states so I was really impressed with their business model.

So now that I have made my choice, it was time to give it a try. I got both sizes because I really wanted to give them a fair try and I was not sure which size was right for me. I was so excited when they arrived. I could not wait to get my period.

As luck would have it, I ended up getting my period on the worst possible day. We had a wonderful opportunity to be on Good Day PA and wouldn’t you know it… That is the day.

I decided to suck it up and give it a go anyway. What’s the worst that could happen? I started with the small because it was the less intimidating. It took about three tries to get it in there , but once I figured it out it was relatively easy. I did wear a panty liner just in case. I was going to be on live TV after all.

So let’s talk about how the cup stacks up to a tampon.

How does it work?

The cup took a couple of tires to get it in, but once I figured it out I didn’t have any problem getting it in or out. I have always used the applicator free tampons so this was an easy switch.

Getting it out was almost as easy. You just pinch the bottom to break the “seal” and pull it out. It did not spill.  I just emptied it into the toilet, rinsed it in the sink, and put it back in.

What about a public bathroom? 

I was lucky enough to use private bathrooms where I could just reach over to the sink (without getting off the toilet) and rinse it out. I imagine it would be a bit more cumbersome to use in a public stall where I would need to get up and wash it out, then come back and reinsert it. Softcup makes a disposable menstrual cup for just that purpose. It comes wrapped just like a pad does and looks like a Nuvaring with a bag to catch your flow. You just dump it out, then put it in the trash and open a new one.

Does it leak?

To be honest… A little. It was no worse then when your tampon gets too full though. I could always feel when a tampon was getting too full. It felt uncomfortable. The cup did not give me that warning. Because I could not feel it, I could not feel when it was full. I did notice that I could go much longer in between changes than I could with a tampon though.

Could you feel it?

Nope. Once I had it in the right way I did not feel it at all. I did have to cut off the “stem” because I could feel it poking me, but once that was gone I could not even tell it was in.

Over all, this experiment was a good one. I am going to stick with the cup over a tampon. Comment below to let me know your experiences!

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