Diva and cloth
Well, I’ve just given up trying to practice my cello tonight, as it was sounding like some strange dying animal, and have decided to talk about something I am quite excited about.
Now, guys, don’t switch off - you probably have a wife/girlfriend/housemate/workmate etc. whom you could send this to if they don’t know already… but I’m about to discuss periods.
Now, as women, the one ‘essential’ we can’t do without is some way to comfortably, cleanly and conveniently deal with our periods. But the amount of money most women spend on menstrual products, not to mention the waste, is quite ridiculous.
This was a topic I first gave thought to a few years ago, when I bought my first washable cloth pad. It was great - but bulky - so I only used it at night, and relied on disposables during the day. After a while, it was something I just ‘forgot’ about, as you do, until recently when I happened on Crunchy Chicken’s blog and read about DivaCups.
I was amazed! Why had I never heard of such things before?? Why were these products not known and used far and wide? For those of you who are ignorant, like I was, a DivaCup is a menstrul cup - a hygienic, reusable silicone or rubber contraption that we can use instead of a tampon.
Here’s a photo of mine when I got it recently:
And just to give it a sense of scale - here it is in my hand. Now, I have kinda big hands for a girl, but you get the idea 
Also, I ordered a couple of small re-usable cloth pads, which are small enough to wear comfortably during the day - and they are really, really comfortable! No more plastic!!
So. I am yet to try out the DivaCup, but I am determined that the money I spent on it is going to be worthwhile (not that it’s expensive - about 30 bucks from memory?). But in the long run, this one little purchase is going to save a lot of money and a lot of landfill. If you’re interested, check them out at Lunapads.com. It took about a week and a half for my order to get to Oz.
I’d urge all women to seriously consider moving to some form of re-usable menstrual product like these - and help make a difference in this one way that only a woman can!
June 17 2008 12:02 am | personal care
June 17th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Hey you don;t know me but I had to share. I’ve been using my diva a few days and just did a blog search on it to see what other people had to say about it.
I bought it because I am going camping next month and I didn’t realize I was going to start that week. I didn’t want to mess with tampons and swimming, etc, I was desperate. So I buy the cup and couple of days ago force myself to try it this cycle.
I now really like it .
Advice - put it in sitting down. you fold it up, insert it halfway and let it open, turn it a few times to make sure a suction has been created. Push it in back towards your tailbone, not up like you would a tampon. It sort of made no sense to me because there is only one place for it to go, but I’ve done it both ways and you cannot feel it when it is in correctly.
I’ve had to wear a liner because I am still new to it and spotted just a little here and there, nothing big. I love not having to worry about it all day. It was weird to me at first something silicone and sort of big, but I’m over it now.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I love my cloth pads! I’d never go back to plastic. Horrid stuff, cloth is so much more comfortable.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:21 pm