Reasons You Should Switch To The Menstrual Cup

Many other eco sites actually claim that with proper care, one cup could last 10 years.

Besides the green benefit, buying even just one cup (about $30 USD) a year will cost you much less than a box of tampons or pads each month.

Or at least visit only because it's time to update your nail polish collection. Even if you replace your cup annually, that's 11 times fewer a year than if you used disposable products.

Tampons offer just eight hours before TSS becomes a possibility. With menstrual cups, you can go up to 12 hours in between emptyings.

Cups don't contain latex, BPA, dye or other creepy additives. Not to mention, almost all tampons contain bleached rayon—a material that creates the possibly carcinogenic byproduct dioxin. Plus, that is BLEACH you're shoving up there. Menstrual pads aren't any less innocent, only slightly less invasive.

With proper insertion, your menstrual cup should form a suction. Meaning, all liquid should pool directly into it without a hitch. When a tampon shifts or becomes saturated, that's when leaks can happen.

TSS (Toxic Shock Syndrome) is a bacteria-spurred illness that can kill you. If your tampon has even a slightly higher absorbency than your actual flow, you risk shredding. Tiny bits of cotton can cause small cuts in your vaginal walls—a perfect breeding ground for the bacteria causing TSS.

Cotton in tampons can strip your vaginal walls of naturally occurring lining, making your lady bits more susceptible to disease.

Yep, adults can actually contract diaper rash. Pads can create chafing in the absolute last place you'd want it.

No more self-combusting tampons or runaway pads to tote around or accidentally fall out with your wallet! You have your cup and that's all you need.

Cups can handle any stage of your period—unlike tampons, with which you should be careful to match an absorbency to your specific flow that day.

Even if you're having a *super* night, the cup holds more liquid so you won't have to fumble in the dark to change your tampon.

Both the Diva Cup and the Moon Cup come in two sizes—one before childbirth, one after. The one after is slightly larger and accommodates your body's changes.

Tampon strings have the pesky, gross habit of getting soaked in pee or worse—popping out to make appearances at the pool or beach... or bathtub.

Since the cup clears up all mystery about your exact flow volume, you have the chance to learn about your unique cycle. It's your body, after all, shouldn't you know these things?

You can maintain cups in a public restroom, but you probably won't have to because you can keep it in for so long. Just wash your hands and wet a paper towel to bring into the stall with you. Then you can safely empty your cup into the toilet, wipe it out with the towel and pop it back in for another dozen hours.

Does the idea of collecting your flow in a cup gross you out? Then likely collecting it in a cotton vagina plug or slab of adult diaper does, too. In that case, good luck.