7 Benefits of Using Menstrual Cups
Guest Post by Rainie Ye
What do all girls hate in common? … Periods! They are messy, restricting and simply put, not fun friends to hang out with.
Like most girls, I started with the most traditional option – Pads. I’ve experienced and witnessed many embarrassing accidents related to leaky Pads back in school. We described the experience of Pads as “sitting in your own blood”. Pretty graphic, I know.
Moving on to Tampons was great, but still not a perfect fix. It is not recommended to wear Tampons overnight, as you still need to change them every 4 hours or so.
Besides, we have to complain about just how expensive they are. Someone has calculated the cost, and a yearly dose of tampons would cost you approximately $1,773.33 - that’s more than a new iPhone every year! Natural and Organic Tampons may cost you even more.
With this crazy quarantine and layoff time, we have to save money wherever we can. Let me introduce to you the low-cost, lock-down period solution – Menstrual Cups.
It’s exactly as it sounds – a Cup that collects the menstrual blood inside a woman's vaginal canal. It is usually made of medical-grade silicone, BPA & Latex Free, and has too many benefits to ignore. Due to the Coronavirus, many lockdown orders are still in place and two advantages of Peachlife Menstrual Cups are certainly following: it is a cheaper Feminine Hygiene option and they help avoiding those extra store runs.
Here’s how they look (to be used without the googly eyes of course😉):
Let's look deeper into the 7 Benefits Menstrual Cups can offer!
1. Cheapest Period Solution
In all honesty, Menstrual Cups are the lifesaver for every woman’s purse. They are designed for long term usage that lasts up to 10 years! Usually, $20 worth of Tampons only lasts for two months, if that, and you need an average of 11,000 Tampons in a lifetime. Why would you waste that much money when one $20 Menstrual Cup does a better job? Save money and get the reusable, flexible, longer-lasting menstrual friend: the Peachcup Menstrual Cup. Covid-19 brought a drastic change into most of our lives, which makes a rather inexpensive Menstrual Hygiene item that much more important.
2. Hygiene and Safety
Many of us know that tampons have lots of chemicals in them. Do you know just how many unhealthy things are in there? It’s a scary truth: many period products refuse to provide full disclosures as to what they are made of. In 2018, a product testing conducted by the NGO Women’s Voices for the Earth found that all four brands of Tampons tested contained carbon disulfide, which is a known reproductive toxin. Some brands also had toluene, xylene, and even a cancer-causing agent, methylene chloride. None of them were listed on the product descriptions! These findings are extremely disturbing as women have to use them every month throughout their reproductive years. Tampons and Pads are often treated with bleach as well, to give them their well known white color. What could be the long-term health consequences?
In contrast Menstrual Cups, made of medical-grade silicone, do not contain such toxins. Cups can also help in reducing the likelihood of the potentially life-threatening toxic shock syndrome that is associated with Tampons.
3. Fewer Toilet Visits and Undisturbed Sleep
Every couple of hours, you have to change the cotton, one-time-use Pads or disposable Tampons to prevent accidents or bacterial build-ups – how annoying! But you can use a Menstrual Cup for up to 12 hours before emptying. A Period Cup can hold about 3 times as much liquid as Pads or Tampons. No need to go to the toilet all the time or worry about staining the bedsheets anymore!
4. Exercising, Swimming – No Problem!
What’s more, we are told swimming and exercising are simply incompatible with menstruation; but that’s far from the truth. Menstrual Cups are waterproof and safeguard against leakages through the vacuum (suction) formed, no matter what you do. They won’t slip out when you are moving and accommodate to all kinds of activities. Your sweat and body heat can also cause a Pad to go yucky and smelly. Cups can give you the confidence to do whatever you like and wear any pants you want without embarrassing accidents! Yoga, sprinting, swimming, weight-lifting, travel including airplane flights, all-day office... no problem!
5. No More “Fishy” Smell
If you have used a Pad before, you would know this one. Even changing the Pad every few hours doesn’t get rid of the smell. This is because when the menstrual fluid exits your body and is exposed to air, it begins to decompose; a nicer word for “rot”. While changing your Pads frequently helps, it’s difficult to keep up with the rate of decomposition, as the odor can appear in just one hour outside the body. With a Menstrual Cup, you don’t have the same problem, as the period blood only meets the open air when you take it out.
6. Save The Environment
Each year, 400 million pounds of Pads, Tampons, and other period-related wastes end up in landfills. They are not only expensive for you, but also for our planet. Switching to a reusable Menstrual Cup means that you are doing our environment a massive favor. Simply wash and reuse the same Cup again for the next 10 years! You will never run out of feminine care products and our struggling planet won’t run of land space. They make for a more economical approach.
7. Easy to Use and Take Around
Last but not least, Peachcups are super easy to use. You can easily fold it to insert and use the ring stem to hook your finger and carefully remove it. You can also bring the Cup in its cotton bag with you in your handbag, as it is very light and has a convenient size. It saves you from buying a new pack of Pads every time the period comes unexpectedly. No more emergency pharmacy or store visits and asking strangers for Tampons!
Now, the only way to know it for yourself is to give it a try. Peachlife offers a free replacement, should your first choice not be your perfect fit. Their Cups come in various sizes and firmness variations, so there is an option for everyone. Shop online at Peachlife for a lower-priced but long-lasting Menstrual Solution.