I have had the Keeper and the Diva Cup. The only difference is that the Keeper is rubber and the Diva Cup is silicone. They are the same shape and everything.
On the the topic of the OP. I gave both of my sisters Diva Cups for their birthdays one year and they were happily received. Neither one of them ended up sticking with it, but they were both happy to get them and give them a try. I should note that my family is very close and not discrete at all.
I don’t understand what’s bizarre about not wanting to use a particular feminine hygiene product, or how that choice would correlate to not being okay with sex or (vaginal) childbirth. Surely it’s reasonable to dislike using tampons/cups and still want to have a penis go in your vagina and/or have a baby come out. I guess everyone has their “gross” line on menstruation; for me, it’s reusable pads. (To clarify, by “gross” I didn’t/don’t mean “eww, my disgusting bodily fluids and mysterious ladyparts!” or anything like that. It’s a word I use to describe anything I don’t like, not necessarily stuff that disgusts me. Sorry if I caused confusion by using juvenile language!)
In any case, some the reasons why my friends rejected The Keeper were concerns about sudden torrential leaks (it’s possible if your ‘cup runneth over’, I guess, but it’s never happened to me), worry that the cup would be far less comfortable than a tampon, and a preference for pads.
Yep, it does! And no, it doesn’t cave in much at all – it’s designed to stay open as long as you’ve made sure it’s not accidentally smooshed shut post-insertion.
I’ve heard of individuals who might encounter some difficulty keeping it in when doing #2, but I would be VERY surprised if anyone had it just randomly fall out. You pretty much have to bear down on it, and even with that, I need to use my fingers to ‘break the seal’ and pull it out.
Tampons never really worked for me – I was always springing a leak. And besides, I disliked having to toss them in the trash. 
[quote=“monstro, post:29, topic:474181”]
snip there’s a major crime scene in your pants!
QUOTE]
For me, it’s a feminine hygiene product.
I tried once a couple of years ago and it didn’t work at all. Decided to try the Diva Cup about a month or two ago after being annoyed when I ran out of tampons. I shop out of spite. Got it at a health food store. For me, there are two possibilities - (a) it feels minorly awkward all day long, but does its job or (b) it feels minorly awkward for a while then OH MY GOSH, THAT HURTS in an area that I do not normally feel pain and the aforementioned crime scene. When they leak, they leak.
I don’t know which situation I’m going to get when I walk out the door in the morning; it could go either way. I find insertion a bitch, as is removal, and they are less comfortable than a tampon. On the other hand, probably better for the environment, and I’m not going to run out of it at an inopportune time (though I might not have it on me, either).
duplicate post
I’m one of the (apparently few) people for whom the cup caused my cramps to increase. I had the Keeper, and liked it quite a bit, but eventually quit using it because of that. I would recommend it to the following types of people:
The Keeper made dealing with my period much simpler. Even though I had a very strong flow, it never leaked on me. It seemed much more sanitary than pads and tampons, which are made of paper, after all. And it was comfortable, at first. My theory is that if tampons don’t cause you pain, the Keeper won’t either. I was a pad user from the start.
Hmm…seems like DivaCup has more leak complaints than the Keeper, probably because the Keeper is so stiff. I’m not bored enough to go do an official count, though.
If you’re not changing your tampon more than every 8 hours, you probably would only need to empty your Keeper once a day. That is, empty and rinse in the morning, reinsert and forget about it 'till tomorrow morning.
And, for some odd reason, “dealing with” your period is something that we’re so used to, we don’t realize what a pain it was until we’re not doing it anymore! It’s really hard to describe how, in retrospect, I spent WAY too much time on this stuff before, when at the time, it took like 2 minutes 6 times a day. It’s just really nice to use the bathroom and be done, instead of trying to keep a tampon in while pooping, or wiping a zillion times to get all the blood off, using a huge length of tissue to wrap used products in, or dancing around to avoid touching the bloody surface of the pad with my thighs while I pulled up my underwear. Just a zillion little inconveniences that you’ve become so used to, you don’t realize how inconvenient they really are.
One thing that I think is great about them than you don’t hear mentioned much is that there’s NO risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome with a menstrual cup. The risk of TSS from tampons comes from having DRY cottony material up against the moist vaginal wall, irritating it and creating microscopic tears where staph can grow. The cup, being smooth and rubbery and non absorbent, gets moist and stays moist, so no irritation, no tears, no TSS. If you’re a light bleeder, you’re at increased risk of TSS from tampons, because you’re leaving dry material in so long. I’d seriously consider switching away from tampons for that reason alone.
One tip: snip off the friggin’ stem. I don’t know why they’re made in that shape, I suspect it’s where the injection mold takes the latex or somethin’. It’s not needed, and it’s the thing that gets pokey and ouchy at inopportune moments. Just cut it off and everything will be fine.
Oh, and don’t try to take it out while standing. It makes a really strong seal while you’re standing, much stronger than while you’re sitting on the toilet. We have a couple of funny stories around here somewhere about vice-grips and pliers with panicked newbie cup users!
WhyNot–you make a good point. Tampons are small, but on the off chance you forget one, it’s still obnoxious.
I also hear they’re good for cramps which would be nice. Anyway, I do hate change, but I’ll consider it for the future.
I have run into others with the attitude that my Diva Cup is gross, and I just can’t fathom it, especially when these women have had children, and presumably, sex. I figure if you have had a baby you should be more comfortable with putting things in or taking things out of your body. If that is not what your friends/family mean by gross, then I’m sorry. That is the way I took the statement. It is a reaction that I get often when I discuss my Diva Cup, and I get a little defensive about it.
I’m with you on dirty pads. I definitely don’t want a bloody, smelly pad in my panties. When I was young it was the only choice.
It’s not putting it in and out, it’s looking at and dealing with a cup of blood/uterine lining. I can pull out a tampon and wrap it up and dispose of it.
I was excited to see that Playtex has an even more absorbant tampon now, Ultra.
They didn’t have tampons back then? Or were you not able to use them?
Well, this is the post wherein **WhyNot **goes off the deep end and you all go, “Um…ooooookay…” and stop inviting me to your parties…
I love the captured menstrual fluid. I try really hard not to spill any into the toilet, because it’s so PRETTY when I spill it out into my white sink. If the sink is dry, it makes deep rich lines and blobs. If I get the sink wet with water first, and drip the blood into it slowly, it makes these gorgeous feathery dots and swirls that look like a rosy Mandelbrot set.
I always clean it up when I’m done, and my husband has no idea about my shortlived menstrual blood paintings, but they give me great delight. I’m such a weirdo.
For the first six months or so of my period, my mom was instructed to have me use pads only. When I needed to go swimming, she asked and they said tampons would be OK.
They weren’t very common, and my mom didn’t buy them until I got older. I don’t remember wearing them until I was in my mid-teens, about 3-4 years after I started menstruating.
:: slowly backs away from WhyNot
Personally I find that dealing with DivaCup blood is a lot less gross than dealing with used tampons. Sure, it’s a little more hands on. But tampons are bits of blood soaked cotton that have been festering in a warm, damp place for hours. They are discolored and smelly, and more importantly they don’t just go down the drain. DivaCup blood is fresh and clean, doesn’t smell, and disappears forever in a second. It feels so much cleaner.
I have a Mooncup, currently out of service (someone has recently taken up residence in my uterus, we’re hoping they stick around), but it is on my list of favourite things ever.
My job means often working 12 hour shifts and NOT being able to run to he bathroom whenever it is convenient- often only at the start and end of a shift. A menstrual cup makes that a perfectly liveable situation. Also, if you know you’re due, you can pop the cup in and don’t actually have to wait for the flow to start.
I think the capacity is about 25mls-the average woman loses less than 80mls in an entire period… changing it every 12-24 hours is perfectly do-able for most people. I usually change it in the shower and empty down the plug hole in the AM, and then empty in the lavatory just before I go to bed. The sewer system is perfectly capable of dealing with menstrual blood.
I soak it fo a couple of hours in Milton sterilising fluid (the stuff you would use to sterilise baby bottles) at the end of a period and it is good as new.
The blood is red, not smelly and nowhere near as nasty as a pad. Also, it’s all on the inside of the cup, so you don’t get much on yourself.
It is about £20 and lasts up to 5 years- compared to £3-5 per month, every month, on pads, tampons and extra toilet paper and you save a LOT of money. Mooncup actually gives a you a money back guarantee if you don’t like after 3 months.
I think everyone who can handle the concept should at least give it go.
If it was me though, I’d give it as a small gift in private as a sort of “I really think you will get a lot out of this” rather than a main Xmas gift under the tree.
Period blood doesn’t smell till it hits oxygen. Blood that’s congealed in a cup for ten hours can’t be any fresher than that absorbed in clean cotton.
Of course it’s fresher - it hasn’t hit oxygen. There’s plenty of oxygen in your pad, not so much in your vagina (y’know, under normal operating conditions.) The smell of being on your period? Old oxidized blood + chemicals from your pad. There’s no odor with a cup at all.
