A Sustainable Period
Buying a monthly box of tampons is never a fun purchase. Despite the woman in the Tampax commercials dancing or kicking a soccer ball, no tampon or pad is a pleasure to wear once and ultimately throw away. I never liked tampons. When I started having to buy them myself in college, I was shocked by how expensive any sort of sustainable tampon was. I figured there had to be a better way.
A Never-Ending Cycle
It is estimated that in a woman’s lifetime, she will use between 5,000-15,000 pads and/or tampons. Multiply that by the millions of people who menstruate in America and you get billions of used period products filling the landfills and oceans. Many women are ditching disposable period products and searching for more sustainable options.
Period absorbent underwear, mensural cups, reusable pads, and mensural disks are winning women over around the world. Some of these options may be a bigger purchase upfront, but they could save you hundreds of dollars in the long run.
My Journey
Single-use products have never been my thing. I hate using a bag once, just to throw it away and have it end up crowding a landfill one day. When I was in college, I took a deep dive into the zero-waste world. Using reusable grocery bags, buying in bulk, and switching to reusable coffee cups was easy. I was still using tampons, but with my Costco box of Kotex running out, I knew I had to find a solution.
I watched video after video on Youtube of influencers trying out menstrual cups. I liked this option because they cost around $30-$50 and can last up to 10 years. I discovered that there were a lot of mixed reviews. The positive reviews all seemed to have one thing in common, they did their research before purchasing the product.
Vaginas come in all different shapes and sizes. Some are shorter, while others are longer. Some women have given birth, while others are virgins. There is a menstrual cup for essentially anyone. I first tried the Diva Cup, since it is one of the more popular brands. It was a bit of a learning curve at first, but I started to get the hang of how to put it in and suction it.
I kept running into one problem. Literally running into it! When I would run at the gym, I could feel the cup slipping a little lower than it should and it would rub uncomfortably. I did some research and I discovered this cup may be too long for me and I should try a shorter one.
I went to my local Food Co-Op and found the Lunette cup. This cup fits perfectly and I still use it to this day.
Why I Love Menstrual Cups
I wasn’t sure if I would like using a menstrual cup or just tolerate it to save a buck. It surprised me to discover there are a lot of benefits to using a menstrual cup. No more awkward trips to the bathroom trying to hide a tampon, it only needs to be changed every 12 hours and I never have an ‘oh no, do I have tampons’ moment when my period starts.
I encourage others to give a sustainable period option a chance. Not all will be winners. I tried reusable pads and they were a little too bulky for me. Even just a small change such as switching to period underwear at night will help end the waste problem our world is experiencing. Go green next period!
