My Story With Menstrual Cups (no filters)

Who Am I?

My name is Mandana, I was born in France but have been living abroad since year 2000, I currently live in between Bali, Mauritius and Europe. I wanted to share with you my experience with menstrual cups and how this website came to life in 2010.

Tampons and pads always were repulsive to me, it was a true god sent when I discovered menstrual cups in 2009. I’ve never looked back since and decided to create this website to shout loud from rooftops about how life changing cups are. What better ways for that than internet? It always was my field of work and I was happy to use my skills for this good cause. I Hope you’ll enjoy it and find it inspirational enough to make the switch yourself.

How did it all start?

When I first started using menstrual cups in 2009, I must admit, I was a bit challenged. I couldn’t understand out how that thing could hold up there like that by itself, how come I couldn’t feel it since it was bigger than a tampon, why it didn’t leak, etc…No longer than a few days later I was convinced.

Showing a friend how to fold a menstrual cup

What did I do?

I was so enthusiastic, I gave the sale speech to all my closest girlfriends encouraging them to get one to try it out! A few months later this website was online trying to answer all the questions I was getting left and right about this “new kind of tampon” that was so hard to find.

My struggles with tampons

I’ve always hated pads, I found them unhygienic, uncomfortable, highly unsexy, and the amount of waste they produce is just something I started feeling more and more conscious about. As for tampons, it was the only other alternative I could think of at the time. I couldn’t handle the ones without applicator because they were hurting at insertion, so to increase my guilt, I only used the ones with plastic applicators…It felt totally not hygienic but I was stuck in front of the lack of alternatives.

Ad by Intimina / Sold on our shop

The Pain

Instinctively it felt wrong putting a bleached cotton thing inside of my body. I often could feel it, it caused me irritations and pain specially at the removal leaving me sore for a few days. it hurt even more when the tampon wasn’t saturated, which happens quite often if you change it every 4h as you should. Beginning and end of period can be quite light for some women. It’s been proven that tampons actually causes micro lacerations to the vagina wall leaving you prone to infections.

All those reasons made me keen to try anything else that wasn’t going to hurt me.

Throwing Away? There is No away!

It’s just else where. Plus all the wrapping and plastic left behind. It just seemed crazy to me throwing away an applicator I was going to use for 3 seconds to put another product that I was going to keep 4h. If you are at someone’s place, it’s always embarrassing leaving your soiled tampon behind hoping that someone will change the bin in the next couple of days. But what can you do? Sticking it in your handbag is not really an appealing option.

The problem remains the same at home, tampons don’t look or smell any better in your bin! That’s where the temptation of flushing it down the toilet becomes irresistible…No need to say that is causing lots of plumbing problems on top of polluting the water ways. These so called public “Hygienic bins” (when there is one available) where you have to take toilet paper to open the lid maculated with blood is never very inviting either. I’ve always wondered: what do they really do with the waste anyway? My point? Instead of looking for the right way to dispose of that waste, why don’t we stop creating it in the first place if there is another way.

Photo I took in Kuala Lumpur Airport's toilet

The smell

I think all tampons users out there can relate to what I’m saying here. Tampons or pads, the problem remains the same. If you keep something absorbing blood for hours that is in contact with the air (yes even with a tampon) there is an oxidation that can not be stopped. That’s why your tampon has a dark color and a funky smell after use. Who can honestly say that they didn’t sometimes wonder if anyone else could smell it?

When a tampon or pad, no matter the size, has reached its maximal potential of absorption, well then they don’t absorb anymore and you will leak…I wasn’t surprised to read later on about the TSS (Toxic Shock Syndrome), the rayon fibers, the dioxin contained in tampons…I knew there’s gotta be a better and healthier way to handle our menstrual flow!

How I discovered menstrual cups

In 2009, I was living in Australia at the time, I walked into a little herbal store and saw this little thing looking like a funnel, it was written “menstrual” something so I assumed it was for periods, but didn’t have a clue how it worked. I was traveling a lot specially at the time and finding tampons in India, for example, was quite a challenge so I liked the idea of this little device that could fit in my handbag ready to save me anytime wherever I was. I thought about it for a bit, did a bit of online research and made up my mind. I knew it couldn’t possibly be worse than tampons so it was worth a shot.

illustration by @doodleorama on Instagram

My first time with a cup

My first cup was a Divacup. Even after reading the whole user guide, I struggled to insert it, I even thought I’ll never make it. I couldn’t keep it folded and insert it at the same time, I wondered if it was placed correctly etc…3 days later I got the hang of it and never looked back since. Try to remember your first time with a tampon, probably wasn’t easy, now there is a revolutionary product. You may feel clumsy the first few days but it won’t last. I am positive you will be as thrilled as I was and as the other millions of cup users out there!

Menstrualcup.co

My mission

It didn’t take me long to talk about it in my inner circle of friends and whoever wanted to hear about it. I got a bit surprised by the common “yak” reaction. What’s with the disgusted faces? It was mostly the idea of re-using that was the main issue. Once I explained more in details with pro and cons, attitude changed toward a curiosity to try it. The feedback was very rewarding, no one went back to tampons or pads, they all said they felt cleaner and that it made their periods a lot easier.

What can you do?

The goal of this website is not only to help you choose the right cup but also to encourage the word of mouth. This is why I have created an affiliation program. It is the best way to get women to try it and spread the word to their friends. And just because you are a man it doesn’t mean you can’t advertise it to your girlfriends.

Become an affiliate and make 10% commission

Once you are an affiliate you can simply post your affiliate link promoting our online shop thru Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, email, Blog articles, website etc.

Your 10% commission will be credited on your paypal account every 1st of the month with whatever sales has been made thru your link during the previous month. You can see the details of your sales in your affiliate area.

JOIN THE AFFILIATE PROGRAM NOW