I used to struggle through my light but long periods using a combination of pads and tampons. I couldn’t use either all the time; tampons would dry me out (light flow) and then I’d get thrush, and pads gave me a rash. Even trying to juggle between the two as carefully as possible I’d often end up with thrush AND a rash by the time my period was finished.

In addition, plastic-and-paper pads are uncomfortable, sweaty, give you unexpected waxing experiences, and they smell and are nasty to dispose of, and I don’t like swimming with tampons in as they always seem to “wick” water (and whatever is in the water – eeeew!) up inside.

I wish I’d known about reusable products years ago. I only found out about them a few years ago from a positive thread on another forum I frequent.

Menstrual cups are great – they don’t dry you out, they have a bigger capacity than a tampon, they save you a bundle and you never “run out”. They don’t “wick” during swimming. I use Lunapanties as a backup (they’re very comfy and well-made), but I have never leaked during the daytime, just occasionally had a little gunk not quite cleaned away from around the outside during the emptying process. (Something I’m getting better at with practice.) In public bathrooms I just go for the “disabled” stall so a basin is at hand – easy! But in fact you don’t have to empty it every time you go to the bathroom anyway, unlike a tampon – again, there’s no “wicking”. btw, all my friends with heavy flow who’ve made the switch have said a cup is way superior in capacity to a tampon. There are forums for cup users where you can get advice about different makes, different fold techniques, trouble-shooting etc. I found these a great help when getting started – I found I needed to fold my cup inside-out to make it comfortable, a tip I got from a forum.

I’ve found the cup isn’t so good for me at night – on me it tends to ride up (the cup should sit low on the pelvic floor, not high like a tampon) and then it can leak. It’s not a capacity problem, but one of positioning – must be something about my shape. So I use cloth pads at night. Sooooo much more comfy than disposables, more effective, and no, they’re not hard to wash. I don’t find them any more gross to deal with than a disposable pad. I just fling it over to the basin while I’m on the toilet, give it a quick cold rinse while I’m washing my hands, and then chuck it in the wash. How hard is that?

My older DD now uses a cup and says she loves it, and my younger DD uses cloth pads. She got interested in them because of all the cute colours and desgns you can get, and once she’d tried them said she’d never go back to paper-and-plastic again as cloth is so much more comfortable.

The environmental and cost benefits are a great, especially with three women in the house, but we actually made the switch for reasons of health, comfort, effectiveness and convenience. (Yes, we find reusables more convenient!)

btw Diva Cup and Lunapads aren’t the only option. Lunapads is a great company but if their products don’t fit so well on you or whatever, there are lots of different brands and styles of menstrual cups and cloth pads you can try. Personally I love the Diva Cup and Lunapanties, but my fave pad is a hemp trifold all-in-one pad from Obsidian Star. For more info about different styles, this site is good: http://www.clothpads.org/

I think they are worth trying, if they don’t work for you, fine.

The reason I stuck with it is because I enjoy being able to insert it before I start (no nasty surprises), can leave it in longer than a tampon and don’t need to worry about having tampons on hand.

I was leery at first, but this series of comments has convinced me to try luna pads. I’m tired of the irritation I get by the end of my cycle due to the plastic/paper liners I still use.

The other bonus that has come from me making the switch has been the smell, or rather, the lack thereof. By the end of a week of using pads and tampons my netherbits had quite a distinct “pong” about them. But the bathroom bin was downright NASTY. Even with the “scented antibacterial bin liner” in it, I only had to walk past the bathroom and I could smell it. Talk about rating a 12 out of 10 on the EWWWW factor scale. But now thanks to my DC, there’s no “stinky bin” at all and my netherbits smell like me and not “manky tampon”.