Warning, I am going to talk about periods

Quite a few years ago now, I heard people talking about menstrual cups as an alternative to tampons. The first one I heard about was The Keeper but there were a few others. They were certainly nothing like mainstream in New Zealand, you either had to buy them online, or order them from health stores.

I was interested, but never really investigated too much. I'm quite lazy these days and if I can't buy something from a store within easy walking distance from home or walk (other than, of course, the roadtrips to the Bendon Factory and Minx Store in Otaki) I'm generally not interested unless it's something I really care about.

Just before I left New Zealand though, one more person raved about them to me, and so it was in the forefront of my mind when I found last weekend in Limerick that Boots stock The Mooncup.

I had a couple of questions, and I emailed them through the site and got a reply within about a working day, so next time I was walking past a Boots, I bought one. It was £20, although when you consider they are supposed to last for years, and the price of tampons, they pay for themselves quite quickly.

So the way they work is that it's a reusable cup. To change it (which is about the same frequency as a tampon), you remove it, tip the contents out, wash it and put it back in. Between periods, you should sterilise it.

So far, the things I like about them are:

1. Not supporting tampons. Many places in the world have a Luxury Tax on tampons, which as you can imagine, makes me gnash my teeth with rage. I am not sure about pounds, but I probably spent about $8 NZ a month on tampons. The Mooncup, translated into NZ$ is about $45, I guess.

2. Not having to remember to carry tampons around with me and rummage around in my bag and get one out and try and discreetly put in my pocket to carry to the toilet. While I am not squeamish at all, and certainly am not ashamed of menstruating, I also do not like to have the equivalent of a neon flashing sign above my head yelling out, "HI! I HAVE MY PERIOD RIGHT NOW!"

3. Not having the risk you have with tampons of leaving fibres behind when you remove them (especially towards the end of your period). Also on light days, it's much more comfortable to pull out than a tampon is.

4. Being able to see exactly how much I bleed. For some reason, I get such a kick out of this. Tampons completely mask this, and if you had asked me to pour water to match the amount I normally bleed, I would have absolutely no idea whatsoever.

5. Not flushing tampons down the toilet. Or sigh every time I unwrap an individually wrapped tampon. Blah blah, environment.

So far, the things I don't like, or are still only warming to, are:

1. The public bathroom thing. Haven't experienced this yet, but they say you can just wipe the inside rather than rinsing it with water and it should be ok. Still, a little worried.

2. I freaked out when I opened it and saw how big it was. I could not understand at all how this could possibly be comfortable, but in fact, I cannot feel it. You're supposed to get a B size if you're under 30, but since they're supposed to last so long I didn't think it was sensible to buy a B and then an A in a year and a half.

3. The little bag thing to keep it in has pink draw strings. Because I'm a girl, right?

All in all, I am very happy with this and highly recommend switching.