(no subject)

[ex-laecheln.livejournal.com]

so ive used instead for a while... but for the sake of costs i was thinking of buying a menstrual cup of some kind. can someone tell me the difference between the different kinds (cuz ive heard all sorts mentioned here and in other groups) and recommend which one is better, etc? or give me your opinion, at least.

thanks! peace out.

Comments

Correct me if I'm wrong....

[musicmz.livejournal.com]

Moon cup and diva cup are basically the same thing. One is just made in Europe the other made in Canada (respectively). These two are made of silicone. The keeper is made of rubber.

I have a diva cup. I personally liked it better because it's not as blantantly ugly as the keeper (the color is what I disliked most). Plus while I was reading about it, it seemed logical to me that silicone would be slightly more pliable than rubber.

Re: Correct me if I'm wrong....

[kwokj.livejournal.com]

Nah, the keeper is plenty pliable, though I agree about the ugly brown vs. spiffy translucent white. The DivaCup wasn't around (or at least I didn't know about it) when I got mine, which is a shame, since it seems to be cheaper, and Canadian (I'm Canadian).

[kwokj.livejournal.com]

The ones I know of are the Keeper (American made, gum rubber), the DivaCup (Canadian made, medical grade silicone) and the Mooncup (British made, also silicone). They are all virtually the same shape. I've compared my Keeper to my cousin's DivaCup and the DivaCup is slightly deeper and has a shorter less flexible stem (though you can trim the stem on the Keeper). The DivaCup also has some slight ridges on the stem and near the bottom to help you grab it (oh, and volumetric measures on the inside). I forget if there was any difference in flexibility of the cup.

Gum rubber (does anyone know if this is just another name for latex?) can only be washed with soap and soaked for a few hours in mild solutions to disinfect (bleach bad... will eat break down the rubber. mild vinegar solution or a few drops of teatree oil) and cannot be boiled. Personally, I'm comfortable just washing with soap. My Keeper has not taken on any odours.

Silicone can be cleaned in the same way as well as boiled (even stick it in the dishwasher if that doesn't squick your family/housemates :P I think the translucence looks cool and sort of want it for that though it's silly to replace my perfectly good Keeper.

I'd just compare prices. This entry I posted last week has some links http://www.livejournal.com/community/menstrualhut/1289666.html and you'll find plenty more if you google. Last I checked, DivaCup was the cheapest... someone also posted an entry in the last week finding the Keeper on sale, though I think it was still more that the DivaCup... thought for the DivaCup, you may have to pay duty/import tax/whatever on it that won't be part of the billing when you order if you don't find an American distributor. You might also find the Keeper in a store locally. Places that sell eco-friendly stuff and places that sell women's health stuff carry it in my city.

[ourika.livejournal.com]

I noticed that kwokj posted the_keeper community, and I'd recommend checking out their memories. They've had some great discussions with comparisons of the different cups.

My personal preference is for the DivaCup (I had a Keeper, but when I lost it, I bought a DivaCup). However, I've heard several women who preferred Keepers tO DivaCups. In the end, it's probably going to be a personal thing. I like a DivaCup because it's got ribbing at the bottom so it's easier for me to grib when it's slippery. On a keeper list I'm on, though, some women mentioned that the ribs irritated them. I also like the way that the DivaCup "pops" open easier for me than my Keeper did. Some women don't like that "pop" though because it's irritating to them.

I find that the DivaCup seal is harder to break than my Keeper was. Th is means that it's harder for me to get o ut. I like that, though. I like it because I personally had a little harder time making a good seal with my Keeper than I have with my DivaCup. So having a harder time unsealing it is preferable to me.

Only right now I'm a little tender because I was in a hurry and didn't carefully break my seal this morning. I just sorta yanked the sucker out without thinking. :-(

They are all returnable, though. The DivaCup has a one year warranty (as long as you don't trim the stem shorter than 1/4") and the Keeper has a 3 month warranty (I don't know how long you can trim their stem). So whichever one you try, you can at least be secure in the knowledge that if you decide that there's some other aspect you've heard about in the other that you'd prefer, you could return the one you'd bought and b uy the other. You'd ahve to pay for postage, but that's it.