As a direct result of you Dopers, for whom I will be eternally grateful, I have been a happy user of the Keeper Moon Cup for a few months. Before I bought mine, I read about different brands, but ended up choosing this one mainly because it was the only one available at my food co-op. But, yay, no regrets, I loooooooove it. I constantly want to proselytize about it, thinking of the millions of poor young women whose lives could similarly be changed, but simply aren’t aware of the option. Usually I hold back.
So anyway, I want to give one to my sister for Christmas and I am probably overly concerned about choosing the “right” one. I’m hoping my fellow cup-lovers can help out with the following:
What type of cup to do you/have you used?
What made you choose that type or brand?
Have you used any other type or brand?
What do you like and/or dislike about any of the cups you have used?
If you are in the U.S., did you buy yours in a store or online? How was the ordering experience?
BTW, this won’t come entirely out the blue; I wrote her an email about it after my first try, and she didn’t seem completely squicked out, but we’ve never spoken of it again. I think it’s one of those things where once she has one in hand she can get used to the idea and decide whether or not it is right for her, so I am happy to take that chance. The main thing is I have to decide is whether to give it to her in front of the whole family or be a little more discreet about it. The sadistic big sister in me would love to see the mortified face: :eek:
Well, the DivaCup comes in two sizes, based on age and (I think) whether you’ve given birth. Presumably you know those things about her if you go that route.
I bought my DivaCup a few years ago at a natural-foods co-op, based on recommendations here. I still can’t always get the thing to pop open on the first try, but I sure love not having to buy tampons or worry about carrying them around or running out. Plus I like the reusability, earth-friendly and all that.
Re family squickage: My aunt used to stuff her daughters’ Christmas stockings with tampons. :eek: My sister was totally squicked when I showed her my DivaCup. And she’s given birth!
If you wanted to be a bit more discreet, you could give her a coupon for it, or better yet, for a “girls-only” shopping excursion (the part about what you plan to buy could be just between you two).
Wait, you’re seriously thinking of giving a feminine hygiene product as a Christmas gift?! I think it’s great to share something you’ve found that you’re really happy with, but I do not think you should push this on anybody. You told your sister about it, and she hasn’t talked to you about it since. Let it be. If she wants one she can get one, and if she wants to know more about it, she can ask you. But this is a choice she should make for herself, absolutely. Even if you don’t embarrass her with it in front of everyone, she’ll likely still be asked what you gave her for Christmas.
I have to agree that this is an odd, odd Christmas present. If your sister knows you are that happy with yours, I’m sure she would try one if she wanted to.
If someone gave one to me I’d be as gracious as possible and then throw it in the trash as soon as they left.
Um. While my sister and I have talked about feminine hygiene in the past, and she’s the one who convinced me to wear thong underwear, I think a Diva Cup crosses the line for “acceptable gift”. You brought it up to her – now she makes the next move – either she buys one or doesn’t.
You could, of course, give a general gift card to a place where one buys Diva Cups and hope she might get one there, but yikes, opening one in front of others might be a bit much.
What, because nobody likes the idea of having to answer the inevitable what-you-got questioning with, “Well, my sister got me a plastic cup to shove up my coochie and collect all the goop that comes out every month”? If that makes a person no fun, I’m glad to be a born stick in the mud.
I’ve only had the Diva Cup. I just didn’t like it. I forgot where I got it. Probably some crunchy online site with cloth diapers and other of those types of things.
In the past 4.5 years, I’ve been either breastfeeding or pregnant. My period is all out of whack. I don’t have a normal flow at all. It’s made the Diva Cup very uncomfortable. I don’t get a period anymore (thanks to my IUD) so I don’t have to worry about it.
On a side note, my three year old found it and was trying to drink water out of it. Thank goodness it’s been sterilized since last usage and out of commission for quite a while. Still, ew.
And I’d get it for her for Christmas, along with some other type of gift. But I have a weird sense of humor.
Look, think what you want, but if you read the OP, I am asking for specific feedback on your personal experience with menstrual cups. If you have no answers to these questions, or you find the whole idea distasteful, there are many other fine threads which would no doubt benefit from your participation.
I have read many, many Internet postings from women who have given and/or received cups as gifts and reported only a positive experience. I think I know my sister better than you do, and I am not asking, nor do I care, what you think of it as a gift idea. If it is a craptastic gift, I am sure my sister will tell me so and we’ll have a good laugh about it. Perhaps I could have chosen a better title, but I think my OP is pretty clear about what I’m looking for here.
However, I certainly welcome feedback from anyone who has received or given a menstrual cup as a gift, whether it ended up being a good or bad thing. At least then I would know it comes from real experience rather than ooginess about cups or menstrual issues in general.
I started using the Instead brand disposable softcups not too long ago, and they are God’s gift, baby! I wish I had made this discovery ages ago. You might buy her a box of those, and if they work out for her you could put a Diva Cup in her stocking later. I think it’s a good present, but throw in something impractical like earrings, too.
I tried the instead last month [i oopsed and left my diva at my moms 500 miles away] and was unhappy with them. When I use the diva cup, I have the impression that it sits vertically and catches the emissions … with the instead i felt that it was shoved in so that instead of sitting like a cup [you know, opening at the top, little stem out the bottom] and was shoved in so the opening was to the back and the ‘bottom’ was to the front, so the only way it would catch the ounce an hour was if I was laying on my stomach … and it was bad enough that I basically said fuck it all and used tampons and pads. I have now ordered a replacement diva cup which should be here soon for the next run through my annoyance phase of the month. I cant wait to get back to my gyn and get back on norethindrone!
Have you all used DivaCups? It is a life-changing thing, not just a feminine hygiene product.
I use a DivaCup. I chose it because the reviews said it was a bit sturdier. I got it off Amazon, I think. I love it like mad. The only tiny complaint I have is the clear silicon gets a little discolored. Like most, I cut off the stem and use the “folded taco” technique.
Obligatory Plug: This is the best thing in the world. No leaks. No carrying supplies in your purse. No emergency runs to the store. No borrowing tampons. No smelly trash. No having to change stuff in the middle of the day at work or whatever. No going home early because your period started or you ran out of supplies. No monthly expense. No more worrying " Is my period going to start today?" No mess. No fuss. No emergencies. You need to wash it out in the morning and before you go to bed, and except for those five minutes you can and will forget you are on your period. This gives me back a week of my life every month.
I’ve only used a Diva Cup - and I cramp up with it in so badly I can’t walk. But this shouldn’t surprise me - tampons are similar.
Sometimes I think I’ll try the smaller size (I’m old enough and have given birth that the big one should be the right one), but since slimline tampons aren’t comfortable, I don’t think I’ll get there with a Divacup.
I understand its the best thing ever for a ton of people - and I’m one of those where it is the worst of all possible feminine hygiene methods - unless I think lying in bed for five days in pain is a good way to have my period.
The only time I’ve ever heard of anyone giving a feminine hygiene product as a gift was when my father gave my aunt a box of tampons after her hysterectomy. Twenty five years later, I’m still trying to figure out what he was thinking.
Before I mention this to my wife, can I ask a question about how it is used? Is it significantly more involved than inserting a tampon? My wife is not intimately familiar with her genitalia, probably as a side effect of her upbringing. I think she manages to use tampons only because the alternative (bleeding all over herself) is far worse. Do you have to “get your hands dirty”, so to speak, to use a cup? That is, would she have to touch herself significantly more than she does when inserting a tampon?
[Please don’t suggest that she needs counseling or anything like that. In the eight years that I’ve been with her, I have never once seen her even touch her outer labia. She doesn’t think this is at all strange. She won’t go to counseling for a problem that, as far as she is concerned, doesn’t exist .]
Yes, there’s more touching involved than tampons. But fewer times a day - only a couple times a day for the DivaCup versus every few hours or so for tampons.
Definitely more involved. Tampons maybe involve touching the outer labia, especially with the (more common) applicator kind. Inserting and removing the DivaCup requires finger and thumb inside the vaginal opening.
