Ok fellas those of you who frequent this blog may opt to bow out of this post, it might get a little dicey for you.

Today I want to talk about something that even I’m a little squeamish about discussing in a public forum, but for the good of the environment I’m going to suck it up. Are you ready? Periods. Yep I said today I want to talk about periods, a woman’s best friend.

Each month for a number of years like so many other women I pretty much without thought toiled with single use pads or tampons, thinking this was really the only option available to me to deal with the monthly scourge. I never liked the set up, being someone who likes to avoid chemicals and excessive packaging, regularly using a large wad of chemically dowsed cotton, wrapped in multiple layers of packaging was not my favorite. When I started to hear rumblings of this thing that could eradicate all that and save me money I was pretty interested, so I went and bought a Moon Cup.

This simple little thing made of medical grade silicone that could be reused for years and only costs $20 bucks seemed way to good to be true, but how could I not try it? I was pleasantly surprised how easy the process was, and how much cleaner (on more levels than one) when compared to conventional tampons and pads. Not to mention the avoidance of a number of side effects listed on the side of the box that are often over looked. This little tiny cup feels like a godsend and I think everyone should start using one immediately.

How it works: The small cup is inserted into the vagina and collects all of the ejected menses “stuff”. Once full the cup is removed, tipped out, cleaned and reinserted until it is full again. The process repeats until the period is over.  Yes ladies and gentlemen (if there are any still here) it’s that easy. Though that may be an over simplification, since getting the little cup up there for the first time can be a little awkward. The instructions on the package help and it does get so much easier. I promise.

The first time around can be a little weird. I swear I could feel it, and I was terrified of everything just tipping out everywhere. Rest assured, that never happened.

To add to the awkwardness cleaning out the cup means you actually see what your body is emitting on a regular basis. Maybe that’s not as freaky as I think it is, but for me it was totally weird. After a few months though the weirdness subsided and I learned how to gauge when the cup needed to be cleaned. Some time it’s only once a day, others it’s like 4, which totally depends on the day, and probably the person. I was also super nervous about needing to clean it out in public bathrooms, but it holds so much that I don’t need to worry about it for a fairly large stretch of time, and if it’s an emergency a bit of toilet paper will do. While I haven’t used it for camping yet I stumbled across this article from REI, which makes me think that this is totally doable.

So now I’m going to get on my soap box here and tell you why you should try a menstrual cup.

1. Money – At $20 bucks it pays for itself within a few months, but lasts way longer than that.
2. Saves the environment – Aside from the vastly reduced packaging in your life by skipping tampons and pads using a menstrual cup reduces pollution that created in manufacturing and distributing large quantities of them as well.
3. Health – There are no added scents or chemicals being inserted into your body, nuff said.
4. Cleanliness – yes the idea of having to clean out your menstrual cup may seem off putting, but when you really think about it having a garbage can full of cotton pads of the stuff is way more gross.
5. Ease of Use – Carrying around the cup in its fabric case is just as easy as carrying around a tampon, but way less obvious, plus you never have to worry about it getting crushed or wet when your water bottle leaks. You can always be prepared and never have to think about it again.

And because I love a good rap video.

Phew, ok I’ll down off the box now. I love this thing, but I am super interested in your opinions. Have you used it? Did you try it? Would you try it? Anything else?