#divas dish

[divasdishblog]

Hi everyone. I’d really like to talk to you about the Femmycycle. 

I have such conflicting emotions about this strange little snatch pacifier. Part of me wants to hate it because it looks ridiculous and is so much larger than a silicone cup (see “GERBIL-SIZED ASTRONAUT HELMET”). In fact, it actually *hurt* putting it in and taking it out this time - and I’ve been used to menstrual cups for over 2 years now. I mean just LOOK at that C-fold. You can’t even push-down-fold it. Taking it out was a pain in the butt (literally) too. First off it scuttled itself way up in depths of my Mount Doom and the ring got folded up with the cup because it’s so long and flimsy, so I had to dig around for it (which by the way - why does the inside of my vagina remind me of a cat’s tongue? More on that later...). Even kegels didn’t work to push it out like they had in the past with my Diva Cup and Lunette. And then the cup itself was so wide coming out that it gave me vagina stretch pains.  ALL THAt being said... I don’t hate it. I actually kind of like the Femmycycle, and let me tell you why: it really holds its shit. I wore it for 10 hours yesterday and ran a 5K with it in and there was absolutely no leakage. This was also the first day of my period when I am historically the heaviest. And I was amazed - AMAZED - at how clean it was coming out. It’s clear as a fishbowl and has no residue gunk on the bottom or around the sides of the cup - like a rubbery snow-globe full of period blobs. It catches everything and keeps it all in thanks to that inverted spill-proof top. The material is actually pretty thin and flexible around the cup part, but stiffer and thicker at the lip, which makes it harder to C-fold, but gives it a really good seal inside you.

The Femmycycle is also significantly less messy to empty and clean thanks to the ring grip on the bottom. You have to stick your finger in the top to flip the cone outwards and then dump it, but the bowl part is large enough that you don’t actually touch any of the blood when you do this. I really wish I could show you a picture. In fact, I was really tempted to take a picture of it because of how not-gross it looked compared to what a typical silicone menstrual cup looks like after 12 hours in my cooch. Maybe I’ll draw a picture.. one day.. later ... Anyway in summary, I’m not as Maria-von-Trapp about it as this lady on the cover of the box, but I’ve got some genuine respect for this Femmycycle go-go-gadget. 

Particularly if anyone has been having trouble with leakage, I’d recommend you try this bad boy. It’s currently $40.00 on Amazon with Prime shipping.

So my experienced menstrual brethren, what do the rest of y’all think of the Femmycycle? 

[divasdishblog]

OH GLERB GUYS I JUST TRIED THE FEMMYCYCLE AND IT’S VERY LARGE LIKE THINK OF A GERBIL-SIZED ASTRONAUT HELMET IN MY VAGINA RIGHT NOW

[divasdishblog]

hi so I was scrolling through the gender inequality tag and found your post on the HR lady and the tampon incident. I was recently strolling through target and found out that tampax now sells a trial pack of tampons. There are three tampons in the box. Just thought I'd pop by and let ya know :). Also the box costs $1 which is 33 cents a tampon, and they're better quality than the 25 cent bathroom vending machine kind.

(For those who haven’t been following, she’s referring to this incident: http://divasdishblog.tumblr.com/post/115080783384/oh-yeah-so-i-went-to-go-ask-our-head-hr-lady-if )

I appreciate the tip, but the issue is less that tampons are expensive and more that I don’t feel that having emergency feminine hygiene products on hand is something that the female employees should have to pay/provide for ourselves when my company is willing to provide other amenities such as lens wipes, blister bandaids, and hand lotion. I don’t mind paying a premium for my menstrual product needs at home, but I honestly believe that basic menstrual products like tampons and pads should just generally be included as part of free first aid supplies, when said supplies are offered. It’s dumb for our HR lady to ask her new employee, who just bled through her pants her first week on the job, to either (a) play the “guess which of her new female coworkers that she doesn’t really know yet hasn’t started menopause and may still have tampons in her purse” game or (b) go walk 30 minutes to the nearest pharmacy to buy the smallest box they sell because she only needs one. When are we going to start accommodating the 47% of our workforce who are female?

[divasdishblog]

My friend is a big fan of Disney, so when I asked her if she’d had a chance to try out her new Diva Cup, she looked me straight in the eyes and sang:

 “Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I’ve triiiied...”

[divasdishblog]

I'm on my period now and use pads, today a lump has appeared on my inner thigh by my knickers here the wings would be. Is this a result of the bleech. It's red, sore and hurts to move or put water on. Also can I use menstral cups at school where they have stools and when I'm doing marshalart

Ok let’s tackle these one at a time: 

1.) Lump on your inner thigh - I am not about to diagnose this via a tumblr message, but it sounds like it COULD just be an ingrown hair. I get these all the time. They aren’t (as far as I’m aware) caused by chemicals in your menstrual products, but rather by bacteria and sweat getting into your pores and hair follicles and inflaming the area. They pop up in your bikini line, are uncomfortable and cause soreness and turn a purplish red color, and can grown to about the size of a pea. They’ll usually go away if you exfoliate the area and avoid any irritation (this might mean going commando), but they can also turn hard and cist-like and may have to be removed surgically if they persist. That all being said, let me reiterate: I would really rather not diagnose this for you and leave that to a doctor. I am 100% not medically trained and there’s always the potential it could be serious, so if it persists and you are worried about it - go to a doctor. Please.

2.) Can you use menstrual cups at school where they have .. stools? - Yes you can definitely use them at school. Not sure what you meant about the stools, but you can sit on a stool while wearing a menstrual cup as far as I am aware. Or did you mean stools as in the doctor-word for poop? What exactly is your concern here?

3.) Wearing a menstrual cup while doing “marshalart” - I am going to go ahead and make the assumption that you meant “martial arts” and not some form of military finger painting, but either way yeah, you can wear a menstrual cup.

[divasdishblog]

I'm curious: have any of y'all never used a tampon and only a menstrual cup? Most Sisters of the Cup I've met are converts, but I'd love to know if any of you Pure-of-Vaginas out there have only used menstrual cups since day 1.

[divasdishblog]

Do you have to wear cups with a pad just incase?

No, you shouldn’t have to. If you are wearing the correct size menstrual cup and you have inserted it correctly, it should not leak. I’ve personally never needed the pad in addition to the cup and I would really only recommend using both in the following situations:

1) You just started using a menstrual cup and you aren’t confident you’ve put it in correctly and therefore want to protect against any unintended leaks.

2) You have a very heavy flow at night and may overflow your cup. In the day time you can avoid overflowing your cup by emptying it more often (you can technically leave the cup in for up to 12 hours if you have a lighter flow).

3) You’re in a situation where you may not be able to empty your cup as frequently as you need to (ie road trip, broadway musical, nature hike, etc) and are afraid of it overflowing before you can empty it.

Pads actually aren’t that great for your body to wear all the time. They are generally very thick and less breathable than cotton/thinner material underwear. Not to mention less comfortable. The cup on its own should be sufficient.

[divasdishblog]

Some of you may recall I gave my baby sister a Moon Cup for her birthday a few weeks ago. I gave it to her in private to make it as un-awkward for her as I could and explained about the basics: why it's the best, how you use it, how you clean it, what the suggested insertion techniques are, etc. She looked expectedly horrified the whole time I lectured and so I expected her to be weird about it for a few weeks, put it in a drawer and forget about it until she packed for college, and then maybe try it out and struggle through getting it in, or maybe just never use it ever. It was the thought that counted. 

But lo, literally 10 minutes after I gave her the menstrual cup I run into her on the stairs and she just says "it's inside me". I was shocked and impressed for several reasons, but mainly because that has got to be like the fastest first-time insertion I have ever heard of. It took me like a good 20 minutes of fooling around with my Diva Cup to get it in the first time. 

Give my sister some props, yo. She's a natural.