Ladies! Come one, come all, and see my latest purchase...
#237727 - 01/11/06 04:39 PM
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Ravenndark
Reged: 11/28/04
Posts: 531
Loc: the internet
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I'm proud to say I'm now a Diva Cup owner!
For those of you who haven't see a Diva Cup, click here to see what it's about.
Not only is it really cool, I've never felt so in touch with myself! It's economical, reusible, reliable, and very cool to use.
I've never talked about it on here, but I'm part of a group called Eve's Red Apples, started by myself and two friends. We started it to promote awareness and to educated women on menstrual health, and the dangers of the common sanitary products sold on the market today. We're three students with conflicting schedules, so it's hard, but we've started a little website that I've been working on slowly but surely.
(click here to visit it).
Just thought I'd share my new purchase. I'm wearing it right now, and it is so very cool!
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I honestly can't say enough how much I LOVE my Diva Cup!
I've been using it for about 2 years now and, seriously, just ask all the women (and men! lol) in my life - they all know how wonderful it is, haha 
It's clean, easy, and I've saved soooo much money not having to buy pads and tampons! I can put it in in the morning and not have to worry about it all day until I get home from school. Not even to mention the health benefits of not sticking bleached cotton into me!
Phew! Anyway, I like. Can you tell? hehe.
Ravendark - this project you're a part of is FABULOUS! Good for you! After hearing 'rumours' about the dangers of tampons and such I used my university's resources and did a bunch of research - SCARY STUFF. I bought my diva cup online the very next day. I wish you the best of luck with Eve's Red Apples. I just love projects like that 
You're in Canada, right? I don't think we live anywhere near each other (I'm in London) but let me know if I can be of any help over the net! I'm always looking for fledgling feminist projects to help out
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Hehe! Somehow I knew you'd respond to this! I'm in love with my Diva Cup as well, and it's my first time using it. SO easy to use. Have you read Whitewash? It's a scary book for sure! It's all about the industry and what they do to those stupid tampons/pads. I can't believe I used to use those things.
So far we have all the help we need, but I'll totally drop you a line if things get out of hand...which we're hoping is going to happen after we attend a few conventions. It's so hard for us to sit down and work, we just start talking about the industry and our ideas and nothing ever gets done! Well, we ARE three females...
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AWESOME!
#237834 - 01/12/06 04:12 AM
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atomic rose
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 7013
Loc: Maine (IBS-A stable since July '05!)
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Go you! I don't use the Diva Cup, personally, but I'm all about Lunapads. Like my friend Ang put it when she first got hers, "They're like a cloud for my cookie!!" Tee hee. (Plus, of course, they're SO much better for you and the environment than those disposable things.)
And that is just so, so awesome about the group you started. Very cool. I wish such a thing had been around when I was your age... "menstrual health" was just not something that was ever mentioned or discussed in my family - or even in school health classes. Anyway, good luck with it! 
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So cool!
#237850 - 01/12/06 04:59 AM
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Linz
Reged: 09/01/03
Posts: 8242
Loc: England
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I'm not having proper Eve's Red Apples (hehe...so cool too! ) atm due to b/c but when I do I will DEFINITELY get me one of those. I hate tampons....the whole drying thing is soooo painful.  And yes....yuck!
You are a VERY cool woman! Yay feminists. 
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Why thank you! I'm not an extreme feminist (though I do yell at the Boy for doing too many things for me), I am really proud to say that I am one.
My friends and I are very quirky about it as well...I made a pro-homosexuality shirt during the summer (a pair of each male and female symbols were linked together like rings), but my friend Mal has a shirt that reads:
"I love my menstrual blood"
Yes, we're a little out there
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Re: So cool!
#237949 - 01/12/06 09:29 AM
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michele
Reged: 06/02/03
Posts: 6886
Loc: southeastern michigan
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I've wonder about these cups before. I have very light periods and tampons dry me out to much and I hate the wet feeling I get from pads. Can you buy them in stores or just on line?
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Taking it one day at a time.....
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They have a store locator on their website. I got mine at the local HFS. The funny thing is...they are ALWAYS $50 (at least in Canada). It doesn't matter if you buy it online or in any store, it comes to $50.10.
I think they have a policy or something, because my friends and I find it quite funny.
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okay, i am officially inspired! i've been hearing about these for a while, but i might have to finally try one for myself. $50 seems like a lot, and i think i remember seeing a cup somewhere for less, but tampons sure add up.
do you guys who use the diva cup have any reservations at all? is there anything about it you don't love?
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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Isabel, I've heard of a similar product called "The Keeper". While it's definitely way safer than using bleached pads and tampons, I think I'd get grossed out pulling it out of me and changing it.
Tell me it's not as bad as it sounds.
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Well you don't change it, you wash it out. Honestly, I don't find it gross at all. If you don't wish to, you don't touch any blood at all. Personally, I don't care about that kind of thing...I've never been easily grossed out by my own body (until IBS of course  )
It's not gross at all, and it's really quite easy once you get the hang of it. In fact, I've been wearing this thing for twelve hours and if I took it out now, I bet it'd only be half filled. That's the equivalent of what...six tampons? Expenssssssssssssssive!
The Keeper is the exact same as the Diva Cup, except the Keeper is made of tree rubber, but it contains laytex, which I'm possibly allergic to.
Either way, it's a great investment, consider it!
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i thought i read somewhere that, unlike tampons, you do feel it when it's in - is that true? cause maybe my favorite thing about tampons is how they just seem to disappear.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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I've never felt it, but then again, I always seemed to feel tampons. They made me feel 'full' and just generally icky.
I'd say the only issue is getting the hang of it at first, like any new product.
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awesome. since i don't have any problems with latex, i think i'll go for the keeper since it's $15 less, but i'm excited about this new chapter in my menstrual life.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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Go for it girl! To be honest, I've never felt better (alright, minus the severe jet lag feeling I have from a cold). I don't know if the Keeper comes in two sizes, like the Diva Cup, but I'm sure the principals go along the same lines. The pull tab looks a LOT longer though. I'm thinking of trimming mine, as my cup has been rising because I've inserted it too far (not an issue, just a tad harder to pull out). I'm too impatient to wait for gravity to bring it back down 
Good luck with your new best fried!
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Yay Jaime! hehe
(Michele, you should try it too!)
I love mine, no reservations. The only thing I would say though is that if your periods are really heavy it might not be the best choice because you'd have to change it quite often. (But I mean, really heavy.) Happily mine are usually quite light so I can usually go around 12 hours before changing it, which means I only have to change it twice a day.
The Kepper's just the same thing I think, though I think they recommend that you trim the stem to fit your own body since it's a bit longer than on the Diva Cup (though many women trim the Diva Cup too).
I actually find it really CLEAN. You don't have to deal with any gunky pads or tampons, just blood which you pour out completely and then rinse out the cup.
And nope, I don't feel it at all. I actually find it much MORE comfortable than tampons. You don't get that 'full' feeling, like Ravendark said. You also don't have to worry about getting 'dried out' by tampons (ugh, which used to happen to me often near the end of my period) AND you don't have to worry about toxic shock. Mine's more than paid for itself in what I've saved on pads and tampons.
OK those are the practical benefits. On a more 'philosophical' level, I really feel so much more in touch with my body and my cycle and all that. I had really no idea the amount of blood that I bled each month or even what it was really like before I started using the cup. It also just feels so much 'better' for my body and I don't feel 'gross' around my period...
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Question
#238094 - 01/12/06 05:36 PM
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rn21666
Reged: 09/01/05
Posts: 255
Loc: Maryland
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Ok~ I think I am coming to get the idea of the diva cup. My question is how to you rinse it if you are in public? Like a shopping trip that last all day or if you are a full time student? I can't imagine you take it out, go out of the stall rinse and then head back in. Sorry if I sound werid I am just very curious.
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but think I might get icked out by having to clean out the cup. I would have no problem dumping and stuffing it back in,LOL but just thinking I'd be grossed out by blood that's thick,esp. because I clot.
But I'm a bra burning feminist, look out men!
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Keep on keepin' on...
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Because I'm thining it's a little hard when you're a teacher!LOL
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Keep on keepin' on...
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I really value the environment, but don't think I could do this. I'll have to do some extra recycling or something.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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Heck I don't even use tampons cause I hate shoving those nasty things up me. I tried a million times to get used to them and I just couldn't. I felt them every time. I must have tried a million brands. You'd think after pushing out two 8lbs babies that I'd be uhhhh kinda "bigger" up there but still never helped. I'll stick to my "diapers" that I wear during that time of the month thank you!
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~~~Lisa~~~
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Re: Me too!
#238124 - 01/12/06 07:11 PM
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jaime g
Reged: 07/27/05
Posts: 961
Loc: new york city
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i don't know how you do it. every so often i thank god for flushable tampons with flushable wrappers. it's, like, the best thing ever.
possibly to be replaced as i might be trying this cup thing.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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Instead cups are disposable and more widely available. I used them years ago and then stopped because I couldn't find them at my local drugstore anymore. Yay for the internet! I was concerned about my Hawaii trip, because my periods tend to get light and linger, so I didn't want the whole "dry tampon" feeling. I could leave an Instead cup in for a full 12 hours, dump the contents, wrap it up, and throw it away. Okay, it's bad for the environment, but I literally was only changing it twice a day. It was great!
Back when I was younger and my cycles were heavier, I couldn't go that long, but my heavy day used to be really heavy (a super tampon would last three hours), and Instead lasted longer than any other product.
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Christine
Those who can do; those who want it done better teach.
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Not weird at all. Generally you can keep the cup in for a very long time (8-12ish hours depending on how heavy you are) and thus I almost never have to change it in public. The idea is that you put it in in the morning and take it out when you get home from work/school. I usually only ever need to empty it twice a day - when I get up and sometime in the evening before going to bed, so I'm at home. I find it incredibly convenient because I don't even have to worry about changing pads etc. at school.
However, if you get stuck, you can just clean the cup off with a piece of damp toilet paper of paper towel, like if you get stuck in a public washroom and don't want to walk out with it, and then just clean it a little better next time you take it out. It's really not that big a deal at all - and (to me) much easier than having to take a bunch of pads and tampons with me to school!
And again, I know it seems like it might be a little gross or messy, but I really do feel that it's LESS messy than pads and tampons.
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I've been fairly pleased with it, especially because of how long you can wear it, and you really don't feel it very much at all. The only time I was ever concerned was when I got an infection in my cervix. The dr found the infection about 2 weeks after I'd had a UTI that coincided with my period. I think the bacteria must have just tranferred somehow, which I imagine could have happened just as easily with a tampon. I find them very easy to use, though you do have to be comfortable doing a little bit of digging, as there is no string. The other upside is that you can be intimate while wearing them, which I'm sure is nice for some people who aren't single!
Actually, REALLY funny story. In my first NYC apartment I had a big bathtub that I didn't usually keep clean enough to take an actual bath. Well one day I got all fired up, scrubbed the thing down, and decided I was finally going to take a nice hot bath. I ran the water and poured in all my bath salts, only to find out that when I switched the drain on, nothing happened. I refused to let my bath go to waste, and I stuck an Instead cup over the drain. the ring fit over the mouth of the drain perfectly and the cup part of it bowed into the drain. Not a drop of water went down the pipe! How's THAT for leak protection?!
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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LOL! Wow...
#238173 - 01/13/06 04:51 AM
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atomic rose
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 7013
Loc: Maine (IBS-A stable since July '05!)
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If *that* isn't a testimonial for the leak-proof-ness of an Instead cup, I don't know what is! And good quick thinking on your part!
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haha, I wasn't a girl scout for 12 years for nothing!
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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tampons.....eeewwww.... 
No thanks!
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lunapads
#238469 - 01/14/06 10:14 AM
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jen1013
Reged: 05/06/05
Posts: 1322
Loc: the wabe
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Casey, I'm not sure if you use them yourself from what you said, but do women really carry this stuff around?? I can't imagine anything grosser than having to carry around used sanitary pads, no matter how cute of a carrying case you have. Plus, don't they smell??
I do like the concept (and the idea of never having to darken the "feminine hygiene" section ever again!!) -- but I have horrible periods and I go through tampons like crazy. (Cardboard applicators only, no plastic.) If I'm not allowed to wear tampons for whatever reason I go through pads even faster because I feel so gross wearing them, so I can just see myself leaving work each day of my period with a plastic grocery sack full of used sanitary pads.
I wish I hadn't read this thread, now I am all paranoid about evil chemicals in tampons and pads.
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jen
"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC
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LOL leak protection indeed!
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Keep on keepin' on...
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tampons, which has no applicator to toss, so I feel a little better about the enviro..so that's not too bad. iguess I could try a cup then...but not sure if I'd be OK with blood all over the place, as i'm super clumsy,....
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Keep on keepin' on...
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