5 Reasons why I love my Mooncup!

Mooncup

I love my Mooncup. I really do. Completely, totally and utterly love it. I’ve used one for about 9 years now and I hate it on rare occasions when I’ve had to go back to disposable sanitary products.

Some of you may be asking “what is a Mooncup?”. Well, a Mooncup is a menstrual cup. Menstrual cups are used instead of tampons to deal with menstruation, but unlike tampons, instead of absorbing menstrual blood, the catch it. They are about the size of an egg cup, made of clinical grade silicone, and sit just inside the vagina. They collect the menstrual flow and when it’s full, you just empty it, rinse it and put it back. Simple!

The next question, I guess, is “why do you love it so much?” and the answers to that one are many!

1. They save you lots of money. I have been using the same one for 9 years (although I’ve been pregnant and breastfeeding twice in that time!), so I haven’t had to buy tampons for 9 years. Even assuming I only bought one box of supermarket’s own tampons a month, I would have saved £80ish. £80 is a lot of money!

2. They save tonnes of wasted going to landfill. According to the Women’s Environmental Network, a woman will throw away between 125 and 150kg of landfill in her lifetime. (Source WEN report “Seeing Red”) Imagine if everyone stopped switched to reusables!

3. They are healthier. Tampons can and do cause toxic shock syndrome, a potentially life threatening infection. Although they are bleached white and wrapped in plastic, they are not sterile and cannot be sterilised. Menstrual cups are made of clinical grade silicone and can be sterilised either by boiling or soaking a sterilising solution such as Milton.

4. They don’t dry you out. Tampons are made of fibre and work by absorbing fluid. They don’t just absorb menstrual blood, they absorb all the moisture in the vagina, meaning they can leave you dry and uncomfortable. As menstrual cup’s collect the menstrual flow rather than absorbing them, they are not as drying.

5. Less need to change them. As they are safer, non-drying and hold loads, you can safely leave them in for up to 12 hours.

So there you have it, 5 reasons why I love my Mooncup. What do you think?