Where to find soft cups

Ziggy : Unlike the other two discs we tested, the Ziggy is oblong and actually has a correct orientation for insertion. I found that when trying to hook my finger under and remove the Ziggy, I wound up disturbing the contents enough to cause spillage most of the time.

A tester who used both the Ziggy and the Nixit during penetrative intercourse reported that the two discs performed relatively similarly, but she preferred the Nixit as it was easier to remove, and although she could always feel the Ziggy during sex, eventually the Nixit was undetectable.

A good hot wash or boil is totally fine. Before cleaning your cup, you should always read the instruction manual that comes with it. You should follow the rules for your cup, with one exception: Many companies that make menstrual cups also sell special soaps and cleaning wipes along with them, and they might even recommend these things in their manuals.

Any hand soap will work just fine. In general, there are two types of menstrual cup cleaning: the cleaning you do in between insertions during your cycle , and the cleaning you do in between cycles. Depending on what your flow is like, how often that emptying should be will change. But inevitably all menstrual cup users find themselves in some public bathroom stall dumping menstrual blood down the toilet.

In some bathrooms at home or in single-person bathrooms, for example , you can wash the cup off in the sink with mild soap before reinserting, though not every bathroom provides that luxury.

For these scenarios, many people carry baby wipes around with them to wipe out the cup before reinserting it. In between cycles: Many people like to sterilize their cup once their cycle is over, with a bit more of a deep clean than they might perform just between wears. You have lots of ways to do this. Many people boil their cups again, check the info on your cup to see whether it warns against boiling for about three to five minutes.

Others use sterilization tablets like these. Lots of menstrual cup fan sites advise using either hydrogen peroxide or bleach to sterilize the cups, but we would advise against that because both chemicals might eat the silicone that your cup is made of and cause all kinds of problems.

Sealing the cup like that makes it impossible for the moisture on the cup to go anywhere, and the cup can get stinky. If you have no prior experience using one, then folding, inserting, and removing a menstrual cup for the first time—or first several times—can be challenging. Every person I talked to who uses a menstrual cup told me that it definitely involves a learning curve.

There are tons of ways to fold up a menstrual cup. You can see a video of some of them. We found that the punch-down fold and the 7 fold were the easiest to use; they made the cup the smallest yet still gave us a spot to grip that kept the cup from opening up before we let go.

This is the hardest part. You fold the cup and insert it into your vagina. Then you release the cup, and it should pop open inside you. Another good trick to making sure the cup is open and positioned right is to grab the bottom and twist the cup gently.

We recommend squatting over the toilet for this part, especially for the first few times, just in case. Instead, pinch the bottom of the cup, and then slowly remove it.

We do not recommend just pulling on the stem, whatever the design, to get the cup out. When we tested the cups this way, it was a disaster every time. For us, what happened was a lot of blood all over the place. Once the cup is properly positioned, it should feel the same way a tampon does inside you. If you think about it, you can feel it there. Before assuming the sizing is wrong, try removing and inserting the cup a couple of times over a couple of cycles.

If the stem is poking you, trim it. If the cup makes you feel like you need to pee all the time or is causing pain in your urethra, you might need a smaller cup or a softer cup. The cup might be the right size, but it might just be too firm and pushing too hard on your vaginal walls.

Or it might be too big. This takes a bit of learning. Again, you might consider wearing a liner or period panties while wearing a menstrual cup for the first few cycles, as you get the hang of it. In a July The Lancet Public Health analysis, researchers at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and their colleagues found that cups were as likely—or more likely—to prevent menstrual leaks compared with tampons and pads. Menstrual cups are considered a Class II medical device, just as pads and tampons are.

Probably, though you should discuss this matter with a doctor. There are very few studies exploring this topic. But the authors of an ongoing, prospective trial examining, among other things, patient-reported copper IUD expulsions associated with menstrual cup use have recommended that study participants do not continue using menstrual cups with an IUD.

Some of the study authors are employees of companies that are developing oral contraceptives, among other drugs. In theory, you take out the NuvaRing to get your period, so you would just replace the ring with the cup. We heard from at least one person who uses the ring and a cup together and says that it works fine. TL;DR, you can try to wear both at once, but the cup might leak a bit. Yes, with the caveat that you might want to give yourself some practice with the cup first before you do any strenuous biking.

A note about flow: It might seem like you bleed a lot during your period. But the average person who menstruates usually loses 35 to 50 milliliters of menstrual blood during their cycle PDF.

The smaller menstrual cups can usually hold around 25 milliliters of fluid, and the larger ones around 30 milliliters. Those with menorrhagia lose more than 80 milliliters of blood during their periods. But that simply means changing the cup more often, just as you might change a pad or tampon more often with a heavy flow.

Anyway, this is all to say that the answer here is probably yes. But if you have concerns, talk to your OB-GYN about them, and they can give you guidance for your specific body. In fact, some people like cups exactly for this reason. Tampons and pads are very good at absorbing liquids, but not so good at absorbing solids. Because the opening of the cup surrounds the cervix, even if your flow tends to wind up on one side of your vagina, the cup will catch it. Yes, if you can use tampons, you can use a cup.

But you might want to opt for a smaller, softer cup. Almost all the cups we tested worked pretty well. We could eliminate a couple, but the majority of them did exactly what they should do: fold up, hold fluid, and clean easily. Lunette : The Lunette cup is a great cup. If the Lena is unavailable, the Saalt is a competent alternative and it comes in beautiful packaging.

Intimina Lily Cup : This cup has a particularly interesting design. But the cup itself is pretty big, and the design makes it a bit harder for first-timers.

The cup itself is asymmetrical, which means getting insertion just right takes a bit more practice, but it has a no-spill lip that did help cut down on messes in our tests. Yuuki : Yuuki cups are one of the other ones that come with firmness options. You can get the Yuuki Soft or the Yuuki Classic. The Yuuki Classic is on the firmer end of the cups we tested although not as firm as the MeLuna Sport so if you feel you need a wider and firmer cup, the Yuuki is a good choice for you.

Intimina Lily Cup Compact : This cup seems like a really cool idea, as it collapses into a compact little disk. But in our tests, that feature introduced some flaws. Because the body of the cup has to be able to fold down, we had an especially hard time folding the cup to insert it. Intimina Lily Cup One : Much like the Compact, the Lily Cup One collapses down into a flat disc, that can be stored in the little plastic case that comes with it.

The design also features a lot more nooks and crannies, especially at the bottom of the cup, which make cleaning harder. The lip on the two cups is almost identical, but the Moon Cup has a rounder and fuller shape, whereas the MCUK is narrower and more tapered, like the MeLuna. Overall, the MCUK is more soft and pliable than the MeLuna, which we liked for its firmness sweet spot: soft enough to be comfortable and to pop open once inside, but firm enough to prevent leaking.

If you need a softer cup, the MCUK may be a good option. You can actually figure out a specific size of the MeLuna by using its size calculator , but the size closest to the Moon Cup is the large MeLuna, which is 51 millimeters long the Moon Cup is 50 millimeters long.

Keeper : The Keeper is the same shape as the Moon Cup but just a little firmer. SckoonCup : This model has one of the most pronounced bell shapes of all the cups we tested, with significant flaring at the base. When I inserted the cup into the fake vaginas, I immediately saw that most of the pressure from the cup would be concentrated on that flared ring, which might be uncomfortable for some folks.

The thick ring makes the cup really easy to open up, though. Blossom Cup : This cup performed well on all our tests. It was easy to insert and remove, and cleaning was no problem. Although the large cup is too big for most people, if you know that you bleed a lot and can comfortably fit a larger cup, it might be right for you.

FunCup : This cup looks and feels great. Unfortunately, this is a case of form over function. Without a stem, this model was difficult to remove cleanly.

The cup is asymmetrical and angled too, so depending on how you insert it you might wind up with the lower bit tipped the wrong way, which could cause leakage. Otherwise, we think this cup will likely be uncomfortable for most people. Flex Cup : Formerly known as the Keela cup , the Flex Cup features an innovative design that aims to make removal easier.

Instead of having to reach up into your vaginal canal, pinch a cup, and pull it down and out of your body, this cup has a built-in pull tab that does some of the work for you. The stem of the Flex Cup runs up through the middle of the cup and attaches to the rim.

To remove the cup, you pull the loop on the stem down, which pulls the rim of the cup and helps both break the seal the cup has formed and pull the cup toward your vaginal opening. Once the cup is low enough, you can grab it with your fingers, pinch, and remove it the way you would a normal cup. This is a great idea.

I had a hard time getting the amount of tension right: Pull too hard, and you risk yanking the whole cup out by the bottom, flinging blood around. Pull too gently, and nothing happens. I also experienced leaking through the hole where the stem pull tab threads through the bottom of the cup. A much smaller drawback is that the cup is black. Floweret Valve Menstrual Cup formerly known as the Tulip Cup Stem Cup : This cup attempts to solve one of the problems people often have with cups—emptying them without creating a mess especially while away from home.

The idea is an interesting one: Tulip has built a little valve into the stem of this cup so that you can reach up, pinch the stem, and let the cup empty itself into the toilet.

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Read on to see if a menstrual cup like the DivaCup is right for you. COVID may temporarily affect your period, and researchers aren't exactly sure why. The most common symptoms seem to be light periods or longer…. A period menstruation is normal vaginal bleeding that is a natural part of a woman's healthy monthly cycle. This article details the process. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Medically reviewed by Deborah Weatherspoon, Ph. How to use a menstrual cup.

What are the advantages of using menstrual cups? What are the disadvantages of using menstrual cups? How much does it cost? Graduate student Ansley Hayes has a DivaCup at home and uses it in addition to Softdisc, pads, and tampons.

She says the DivaCup can sometimes put too much pressure on her cervix, however, if it happens to be sitting lower in her body. Menstrual discs are much more flexible than menstrual cups, and they sit differently inside the body, which is why many women find them more comfortable. Menstrual discs are also more comfortable for couples having period sex. Sekhon tells us that, for period sex, choosing something without a stem that sticks down, like a Softdisc, is your best bet.

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