Waste Free Periods - The Menstrual Cup
Ok so I was going to ease into this and do a post about my plastic free shampoo, but NAW I am going to start where I actually started myself, TAMPONS!!
According to D.J. Chase, et al, women use between 11 and 30 tampons per cycle, that is a lot of waste, and if you prefer tampons with an applicator that is plastic and waste. In order to reduce waste during my menstrual cycle I started using a menstrual cup, the Luna Cup to be specific. DON'T STOP READING!!! I know I did the same thing when I first learned about the menstrual cup "EWWW GROSS" but no really it is one of the healthiest and easiest ways to lower you waste, and is no grosser than a tampon or pad.
There are a lot of options for a menstrual cup the Luna, Lunette, Dutchess, Diva, and Athena. I picked the luna cup because there website is user friendly, they have a spinning wheel that gives you a deal if you put in your email address, there are so many options to customize the perfect menstrual cup for you and most importantly because it is safer for you, then traditional tampons and other menstrual cups that use silicone.
I don't know about you guys but if a companies website is not easy to navigate/user friendly I will leave immediately and try to find the product somewhere else or go without. That is not the case with the Luna website it is easy to navigate, easy to order from, and very intuitive to use.
DEALS woot woot!!! I love coupons and deals of any kind and the Luna website has a skinny deal wheel. This wheel offers free shipping, $3 dollars off, the dreaded no deal, and 15% off. When I entered my email I got $3 dollars off hooray!!!!
Deals are great and all however, with everything plastic free, that I have found, it costs more, if not in the long run then initially. Here is the breakdown I bought the Luna cup basic starter kit, which was $39.95, the menstrual cup can be used for up to 10 years but is typically replaced around 5 years. So if we break it down the menstrual cup at $40.00 costs $1.50 per month. If you buy tampons every month the cost is the cost is about $3.50 if you buy the Tampex Pearl 36 count and it lasts 2 months. So it will take about a year to start to see the savings, and after a year it is pure savings.
Menstrual cups are known to have less risk of causing toxic shock syndrome (TSS) than traditional tampons and the Luna cup has even less risk than most other menstrual cups. Why/How is this do you ask? Have no fear I will tell you. First just in case anyone doesn't know, TSS is caused by two different bacterial toxin. TSS is can be fatal 50% fatal in one bacteria and 5% with the other. If super absorbent tampons are used this increases the risk of TSS, even regular tampons are not supposed to be worn for longer than 4 hours and this is because of TSS. Any menstrual cup will reduce the risk of TSS but the Luna cup takes it even one step further. The Luna cup is made out of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) and not silicon like most other menstrual cups. TPE is made in Germany, passed the mucosal irritation test with flying colors, and is the same material that is used in pacifiers. A recent study out of France showed the bacteria that causes TSS clings more easily to silicon rather than TPE, make the Luna cup safer than other brands.
Using the menstrual cup I was concerned about inserting and removing the cup, leaks, and cleaning the cup. I did have a slight learning curve the first time I started using the menstrual cup but it was quick and after about 2 day of my period I had it down. It was slightly difficult to place but not overly so and removing the cup without making a mess was a lot easier than I had anticipated and in fact I never spilled ever. And cleaning I thought it would be super gross to clean it but actually the blood I just dumped in the toilet and other than that it wasn't that bad. It is recommended to boil the cup after using, to disinfect, so I would suggest you get at least 2 to 4 cups which will increase the initial cost but it will be cheaper in the long run the buying disposable tampons. Not to mention way more environmentally friendly.
Side note, I love my menstrual cup but about 6 months after getting my cup I got an IUD, and now I rarely have a period so I rarely use my Luna cup.
Have a great Sunday guys, hopefully I will get better at these, cause what I just wrote seems very dry to me sorry.
References:
Chase, D. J., et al. “A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind Study of Vaginal Microflora and Epithelium in Women Using a Tampon with an Apertured Film Cover Compared with Those in Women Using a Commercial Tampon with a Cover of Nonwoven Fleece.” Journal of Clinical Microbiology, vol. 45, no. 4, July 2007, pp. 1219–1224., doi:10.1128/jcm.02156-06.
According to D.J. Chase, et al, women use between 11 and 30 tampons per cycle, that is a lot of waste, and if you prefer tampons with an applicator that is plastic and waste. In order to reduce waste during my menstrual cycle I started using a menstrual cup, the Luna Cup to be specific. DON'T STOP READING!!! I know I did the same thing when I first learned about the menstrual cup "EWWW GROSS" but no really it is one of the healthiest and easiest ways to lower you waste, and is no grosser than a tampon or pad.
There are a lot of options for a menstrual cup the Luna, Lunette, Dutchess, Diva, and Athena. I picked the luna cup because there website is user friendly, they have a spinning wheel that gives you a deal if you put in your email address, there are so many options to customize the perfect menstrual cup for you and most importantly because it is safer for you, then traditional tampons and other menstrual cups that use silicone.
I don't know about you guys but if a companies website is not easy to navigate/user friendly I will leave immediately and try to find the product somewhere else or go without. That is not the case with the Luna website it is easy to navigate, easy to order from, and very intuitive to use.
DEALS woot woot!!! I love coupons and deals of any kind and the Luna website has a skinny deal wheel. This wheel offers free shipping, $3 dollars off, the dreaded no deal, and 15% off. When I entered my email I got $3 dollars off hooray!!!!
Deals are great and all however, with everything plastic free, that I have found, it costs more, if not in the long run then initially. Here is the breakdown I bought the Luna cup basic starter kit, which was $39.95, the menstrual cup can be used for up to 10 years but is typically replaced around 5 years. So if we break it down the menstrual cup at $40.00 costs $1.50 per month. If you buy tampons every month the cost is the cost is about $3.50 if you buy the Tampex Pearl 36 count and it lasts 2 months. So it will take about a year to start to see the savings, and after a year it is pure savings.
Menstrual cups are known to have less risk of causing toxic shock syndrome (TSS) than traditional tampons and the Luna cup has even less risk than most other menstrual cups. Why/How is this do you ask? Have no fear I will tell you. First just in case anyone doesn't know, TSS is caused by two different bacterial toxin. TSS is can be fatal 50% fatal in one bacteria and 5% with the other. If super absorbent tampons are used this increases the risk of TSS, even regular tampons are not supposed to be worn for longer than 4 hours and this is because of TSS. Any menstrual cup will reduce the risk of TSS but the Luna cup takes it even one step further. The Luna cup is made out of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) and not silicon like most other menstrual cups. TPE is made in Germany, passed the mucosal irritation test with flying colors, and is the same material that is used in pacifiers. A recent study out of France showed the bacteria that causes TSS clings more easily to silicon rather than TPE, make the Luna cup safer than other brands.
Using the menstrual cup I was concerned about inserting and removing the cup, leaks, and cleaning the cup. I did have a slight learning curve the first time I started using the menstrual cup but it was quick and after about 2 day of my period I had it down. It was slightly difficult to place but not overly so and removing the cup without making a mess was a lot easier than I had anticipated and in fact I never spilled ever. And cleaning I thought it would be super gross to clean it but actually the blood I just dumped in the toilet and other than that it wasn't that bad. It is recommended to boil the cup after using, to disinfect, so I would suggest you get at least 2 to 4 cups which will increase the initial cost but it will be cheaper in the long run the buying disposable tampons. Not to mention way more environmentally friendly.
Side note, I love my menstrual cup but about 6 months after getting my cup I got an IUD, and now I rarely have a period so I rarely use my Luna cup.
Have a great Sunday guys, hopefully I will get better at these, cause what I just wrote seems very dry to me sorry.
References:
Chase, D. J., et al. “A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind Study of Vaginal Microflora and Epithelium in Women Using a Tampon with an Apertured Film Cover Compared with Those in Women Using a Commercial Tampon with a Cover of Nonwoven Fleece.” Journal of Clinical Microbiology, vol. 45, no. 4, July 2007, pp. 1219–1224., doi:10.1128/jcm.02156-06.
“Toxic Shock Syndrome.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Dec. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_shock_syndrome.
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