My First Experience with Re-Usable Menstrual Products (RUMPs) Part One

Recently, I came across a previously unheard of concept; re-usable menstrual products, or also known as RUMPs. Until then, I had only ever known about disposable menstrual products; pads and tampons. It was whilst tracking my period on strawberrypal.com that I noticed an advertisment featuring the 'Mooncup - a great alternative to tampons.'

Being the curious creature that I am, this intrigued me; 'what other means of dealing with one's flow could there posibly be?' my naive mind asked.

Upon researching further, I discovered this fabulous video debating the pros and cons of both menstrual cups and tampons:

It, and the moon cup websitetold me all that I needed to know:
 - Menstrual cups can be used for up to 12 hours at a time.
 - One menstrual cup can be used for up to 10 years, saving the earth from millions of disposables each year.
 - Menstrual cups have not been linked to any cases of Toxic Shock Syndrome.

As hooked on the idea as I was, I knew that it would be a challenge convincing my Mum of this relatively unknown form of sanitary product (Being only 15 years old, I wasn't able to buy one online myself, nor do they sell them in stores where I live).

Boy did it take some convincing! Luckily I had done my research; she was full of questions.'Won't it hurt? It looks huge.' 'Is it safe?' 'Does the plastic leach?' 'Is it hard to use?' and of course; 'How do you know you'll use it?'

Whilst I had many of these answers already, others would have to come from experience.

Other than the moon cup, there are plenty of other brands that make menstrual cups. Some of the more popular ones are:
 - Lunette Cup
 - Ruby Cup
 - Diva Cup
 - Lily Cup
 - MeLuna Cup
and the list goes on and on.

Most brands have at least two different sized cups, and almost all of them (excluding the Keeper - Latex and the MeLuna cups - TPE) are made of 100% medical grade silicone, meaning they are completely safe for internal use.

In th end I decided on the Ruby Cup size Medium because I had seen some great reviews on the company, but mostly because they have a policy in which for every cup purchase, one will be donated to a girl in Africa who cannot access sufficient sanitary products.

My cup couldn't have arrived at a better time. As I was on the second day of my period, I was so excited to try it out. In the package (a pink biodegradable bag) came my cup in the colour purple, a cotton pouch to store my cup, a booklet on how to care for and use my cup as well as a pink steriliser which I also purchased.

See part two for my daily account of my first time using my Ruby Cup.


Bella
xxx

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