Diva Cup… this one’s for all the women

… though men are certainly welcome to read!

Nine months ago, I began looking for an alternative to the usual means of feminine hygiene. I was sick of using tampons, and there is no way in hell a body could ever get me back on pads (reusable or otherwise). I began reading about all the ill effects of tampons on a woman’s body, and I found some very scary and surprising things.

Perhaps the most disturbing of all is the fact that tampons are a detriment to your health, and quite possibly, your life. Companies process tampons with chlorine bleach in order to make them so white. That bleach stays in the tampon after processing, and levels of dioxin build up while the tampon sits in its cute pink packaging. What’s dioxin? Check out this quote from the World Health Organization and click the link for more information: WHO Dioxin Page

“Dioxins are environmental pollutants. They have the dubious distinction of belonging to the “dirty dozen” – a group of dangerous chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants. Dioxins are of concern because of their highly toxic potential. Experiments have shown they affect a number of organs and systems. Once dioxins have entered the body, they endure a long time because of their chemical stability and their ability to be absorbed by fat tissue, where they are then stored in the body. Their half-life in the body is estimated to be seven to eleven years. In the environment, dioxins tend to accumulate in the food chain. The higher in the animal food chain one goes, the higher is the concentration of dioxins.”

Here is a more scientific site on Dioxins. It begins by saying that Dioxin is one of the most toxic chemicals known and that the smallest amounts are harmful and can stay with you for seven years or more. The page also cites the numerous health effects such as cancer.

Besides the overall havoc Dioxin can wreak on your body, imagine now what you are doing to your poor vagina? That tampon full of Dioxins and other foreign fibers sits in there for hours where it is replaced by a fresh one. This goes on for a week every month. Imagine all the foreign chemicals and fibers that have now been absorbed by your body. These chemicals now get stored in the tissues and fats around your vagina, uterus, and cervix. After a while the buildup of Dioxins can cause painful cists, endometriosis, cervical cancer, birth defects (your baby is sitting in a uterus full of chemicals), and infertility. This is a lot more severe than what I had originally thought to be the worst effect of using tampons: the uncomfortable effects of getting dried out and having a minor risk of toxic shock syndrome (of which tens of women DIE every year!) from the highly absorbent rayon fibers in the tampon.

Think also of the environment. Tampons are, after all, a disposable product. After you have finished using the bloody rayon, Dioxin filled waste; you throw it out. Think of all the women using tampons. Can you guess the weight of yearly feminine hygiene waste? It is about 580 million pounds of bloody garbage per YEAR.

Well, during my search for something that would not dry my out, I discovered all of this information. Suddenly, having a dry vag became the least of my worries. So, I found out about reusable pads and sponges and was not very crazy about having to wash out some flannel pads or stick a once live sponge between my thighs. Instead, I began reading up on menstrual cups. They are small, flexible cups made of rubber or medical grade silicon. Basically, you fold a menstrual cup and stick it up there where the cup will catch all of your blood. At the beginning and end of every day, you simply empty the cup in the toilet or shower, rinse it out/wash it/use toilet paper to quick clean it, and shove the cup back in there. At the end of a cycle, it can be boiled or thoroughly scrubbed and put away. A cup will generally last TEN YEARS before it needs to be replaced.

I thought that dealing with all the blood would be really messy and disgusting. It was messy the first few times that I tried to use it, but after a few months I got the hang of it… no more mess. The first two months I used my menstrual cup were a little painful. So, before my third month using the cup, I decided to cut the stem. I no longer feel it up there. Honestly, I sometimes even forget that I am on the rag anymore, because my Diva cup is soooo comfortable. If you make sure that you put the thing in there correctly, it won’t leak either. I am NEVER going back to pads and tampons ever again.

There are many manufacturers of menstrual cups including the Keeper, the Diva cup, and the Lunnette. I personally prefer the ones made of medical grade silicon as they are non-porous, making the risk of little bacterial colonies forming in holes nearly nil. I think they hold up better than the rubber ones personally. For more information on menstrual cups, here is a link to a support page: Menstrual Cups.

Anyway, I really wanted to share all this information with the women of the world. I hope this shortish article can help you make an informed decision about your health, your cycle, and your world.

For more detailed health information and links, visit these pages: 1 2.

I highly recommend reading this article about the feminine hygiene industry and how it has manipulated women for profit for the last eighty years: Pulling the Plug on the Sanitary Protection Agency. The mention of making you ashamed of the lovely blood that comes out every month is really interesting to think about, and at the same time, enraging.