I’ve been hearing about them on the Board, and apparently a lot of people like them better than the other options. So… tell me what they’re like.
The Diva Cup website left me with some questions, mainly having to do with cleaning out the cups. What are you supposed to use while you’re washing them? What if you have to change your cup and you’re in a public restroom?
Are they comfortable? Do you feel them inside of you?
Are there disposable menstrual cups, or are they all reusable?
I adore mine and would leave it a legacy in my will if I could. On the rare occasion I have to dump it in a public bathroom, I don’t bother washing it; I just dump it, wipe it off with some t.p., and re-insert. The outside doesn’t really get messy. At home I just wash it with mild soap and pop it back in. When I’m done with it for the month I soak it overnight in a mix of alcohol and hydrogen peroxide, which the website says not to do, but I’ve been doing it for over four years and haven’t had any problems.
It’s very comfortable, as long as it’s inserted correctly. It had a little “stem” on it when it arrived, which I had to trim because it was rubbing on things in a not-good way, but since I did that I can’t even feel it.
I believe the disposable ones are the Instead brand; I’ve never tried them so I don’t know how well they work. I think they’re shaped more like a diaphragm than a cup, though.
I keep trying to encourage my daughter to let me buy her one, but she’s only 11 and she’s squeamish, refusing to use anything but pads. Maybe when she gets older and is a bit more comfortable with this out-of-control body of hers she’ll be more willing to give it a try.
Diva Cups are amazing! I used the disposable cups, Insteads, for a while and hated them. They sit right at the base of the cervix and I could never get it positioned right. I’ve heard them compared to diaphragms, so if you have a diaphragm and don’t have any problem inserting it, Insteads may work better for you.
I finally got a Diva Cup last May and I love it. For some reason, the price was keeping me from getting one for a long time, but they aren’t all that expensive. I got mine off Amazon and got a great deal. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to get it. Once they’re in, you can’t feel it if it’s positioned correctly. I left my stem on because I quickly realized that the times that it was rubbing funny were also the times that I leaked, so it’s a good indicator of if I need to reposition.
It takes a little bit of practice to get in correctly, but I don’t have any issues now and haven’t the past few cycles. I just wore panty liners or old panties until I got the hang of it and it wasn’t any big deal.
I live in dormitory style housing, which makes cleaning mine…interesting. Once a day, I just dump the contents in the toilet and wipe it out with toilet paper. The other time I empty it in the shower and give it a good rinse then. At the end of my period, I boil a cup of water and soak it for a bit. Next time I’m out and thinking about it, I’m going to pick up some hydrogen peroxide. I have some staining around the tip and I’ve heard that soaking it in a 50-50 solution of water and hydrogen peroxide will take care of that.
As far as the price goes, I figured I easily paid for mine in three cycles, considering the quantity of disposables I was going through.
I knew I had somewhere come across a web site that discussed cleaning a discolored cup, so in looking for it just now, I came across this site, wherein a woman compares all the different cups available, based on how much they hold, ease of insertion, and, somewhat bizarrely, how “pretty” they are. :dubious: But otherwise, it has some good, if subjective, info.
Yup, every few months I just take a clean yogurt cup, fill it with peroxide, and soak the Divacup for a day or so. Comes out looking new.
I’ve never had to change mine more than twice a day, which you should be able to do at home, morning and night. But I do understand that some women have much heavier flows. In that case a quick swipe with TP ought to do until you can rinse it properly at home.
Love love love mine. Wish I’d gotten one about 20 years sooner.
Love it. Mine has never leaked, never been uncomfortable, and it makes my period much less of a nuisance.
I found it to be really really uncomfortable, but I can’t stand anything near my cervix and find tampons to be uncomfortable. Tried for several months, switched sized, trimmed the tab, tried each of the 96 ways the internet will tell you to fold it to make insertion foolproof and - I’m a pad girl.
In retrospect, it isn’t surprising that someone who cramps so bad she can’t walk using ultrathin girl tampons would find this intolerable.
No, not comfortable. Yes, you can feel it, somewhere between irritation and pain.
They’re not easy to get in, not easy to get back out (intentionally. Sometimes, they just kind of slip) and if I do need to remove it in a public restroom, I better have backup, because that’s it for the day.
But they’re better for the environment and I really want this thing to work.
They’re the best invention ever with regards to the environment and saving money, but I’ve heard complaints from people with a history of sensitive nethers or vaginismus (including myself - it wouldn’t work for me). If you belong to either group, it could be a good idea to get one you can return. The DivaCup brand specifically will refund your money if you’re not happy with it. At least the last time I looked at their site.
I’ve been using one for four or five cycles now. I neither love nor hate it. When I started, I had constant low-level cramps from it - about a 0.5 on a scale of one to ten. They are gone now, so the body seems to adapt.
Taking it out is a little weird. My husband reads here, and he will get icked out by this, so I’m putting it in a spoiler:My menstrual fluids seem to be thick, viscous, and ‘stretchy’. When taking out the Diva Cup, sometimes I wind up with a long string that snaps and swings around, hitting the toilet seat, my legs, or other things, depending on the position I am in.I am mostly sticking with it because it’s pricey to just give up on, and because I work in a construction-oriented field. It can be very difficult to deal with tampons in the woods surrounded by construction workers and the Diva Cup can easily get me through a long day.
This might be the only ambivalent review of the Diva Cup you ever read. People really seem to love them or hate them.
I absolutely love mine – I can forget I’m on my period all day when I’m wearing one, which was never the case with either tampons or pads.
It did take me about 3-4 cycles to get used to putting mine in easily, and in a way that didn’t make my cramps a lot worse, but I’ve got the hang of it now. I don’t have a history of sensitive genitals or anything, FTR.
Loved mine, I bought 2 and carried the second one in a snack sized ziplok baggie along with individual packettes of baby wipes.
I always took into the stall a swatch of dry paper towel, a smaller swatch of damp paper towel. Removing, emptying and replacing them can occasionally get a bit messy on the hand. Dump into the toilet, wipe out lightly with TP and reinsert, wipe the hands with the paper towels and dry. Baby wipes are always a part of peeing for me to prevent UTIs. I also use canadian crutches, so wiping my hands before using the handgrips on my crutches keeps my hands from cross contaminating everything by touching the handgrips with dirty hands. I still wash up with soap and water still =)
I carried a spare diva cup because god forbid I oopse and drop it into the toilet … and be stranded in the stall oozing blood … [i used to bleed out, as in filling a 1 ounce diva cup in an hour to an hour and a half. PCOS sucked ass for me.]
I still have them, though I no longer have the girly bits to need to use them. I suppose I could always bronze one and mount it on a placque and hang it in the bathroom 
I love mine. Apart from my typical first day cramps, most of the time I can forget that I’ve having my period. The best thing is that it’s so much cleaner than pads and even tampons. Plus you can leave it in for hours and hours. I don’t need to change it at public restrooms very often. When I do, I dump it in the toilet, wipe it out the best I can with toilet paper and reinsert. You don’t have to get it squeaky clean each time. At home I take it out, dump in the toilet or sink, wash with warm water and soap, and reinsert. Usually takes about a minute.
I still have problems inserting it after over a year - sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 times. But I think it’s because I tend to insert it up instead of more horizontally. Horizontally works better. When it’s inserted properly I can’t feel it at all. I did trim the stem to 1/4".
One of the greatest inventions ever! Get one!
My DivaCup changed my life and is probably the best thing I ever bought. It’s turned my period from an expensive pain-in-the-butt mess to something that I barely even notice.
I wash mine out in the shower. It takes all of ten seconds- just pop it out, rinse and soap, pop it back in. I only need to wash mine in the morning and at night, so I’ve never had to do it in a public restroom.
LOVE IT!
For public restrooms, I just developed the habit of carrying around wet tissues.
Diva cups are awesome. It does take some practice to insert them properly though. I always give it a quick tug after re-inserting it to make sure it’s in there and won’t leak.
Okay, now which stores carry them?
So far, I’ve looked in a normal Duane Reade, a department store-sized Duane Reade, and a building that said “Pharmacy” and was so narrow and twisty people kept blocking the isles just by walking through them. Nada.
I bought mine through Amazon about a year ago and I’ll never go back (actually got a combo pack with the Diva Wash). I’ve converted one of my friends to it and have a few more contemplating the switch. I had been using Instead for a few years, but was suddenly having a very hard time finding them in stores near me, so I made the leap to the Diva Cup.
It does take a little practice, and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to handle it when I was younger and less comfortable with my own girly bits.
I’ve seen them at Whole Foods. I bought mine online, but I forget where.
I love mine - it holds enough that I’ve never needed to change it in a public restroom, I only need to empty it in the morning and before bed.
I think the instructions tell you not to trim the entire stem off, but I did, it’s pokey even when it’s short. You don’t need the stem to get it out, anyway.
I like mine OK. Don’t love it, but like it enough to keep using it. I like that I don’t have to remember to buy tampons – which also saves money over time. And I don’t have to change/empty it as often as tampons. I have a heavy flow, so I used to saturate tampons really fast.
I have few difficulties with it:
[ul]
[li]When my period is at its heaviest I sometimes have trouble getting a good seal. Therefore, it sometimes leaks around the edges. I have to back it up with a pad.[/li][li]When I lay on my back, it seems like my vaginal walls relax too much. This breaks the seal and I get sudden leaks. I use a pad at night so that when I stand up in the morning I don’t drip everywhere.[/li][li]After using it for a few days, my vagina starts to feel achy. Like it’s tired of having something shoved up in there. I don’t get this same reaction to tampons.[/li][/ul]
Mithril, I have the same thing happen when I take it out!
rivulus, me too on your first two points. After the first 48 hours I’m ok. Sometimes I think it may be a fit issue, or that my cup is getting old/holes are getting clogged even though I clean them with a pin. Mine is a few years old now. But I will never go back to tampons.