Sustainable Menstrual Care
My name is Erica, and I started using reusable menstrual care products when I was a freshman in college. I wanted to try it out because I had basically gotten my bathroom routine plastic free, with few exceptions. As I started trying to teach myself how to use a menstrual cup, I had a hard time learning but had no one I could ask questions. It was a difficult time for me to be the older sister because there was no one I knew who could give me advice and encourage me about why this was a worthwhile switch. Now, I am hoping that this collection of resources, testimonials and product recommendations can be a guide for you so that you don’t find yourself in the same situation I did three years ago. Making the switch from disposable to reusable products has been a life changing modification that I want to encourage women everywhere to consider. I know that this is not for everyone, but my hope is that this site will help you to make an informed decision about what is best for your body and budget. And if you decide to take the steps to try it out, I hope that this site is a good resource to answer all of the questions nobody could for me.
Sustainable menstrual care empowers women
My Story
In the spring of 2019, I read the book Plastic Ocean by Captain Charles Moore. Here is a link to purchase a copy of your own! I was shocked at the amount of plastic that infiltrated our lives and that we use it for such a fractional portion of its life expectancy. I began to clean up my routine at home and switched to a lot of reusable products. I got all of the trendy sustainability things: bamboo flatware, silicone snack bags, a safety razor, and switched to bar soap and shampoo. These were all pretty easy to do, and in fact I still use them all. So, when I say trendy, what I really meant was the things that were not difficult to learn. But one thing I couldn’t really wrap my mind around was using reusable menstrual care. It seemed unhygienic, awkward, and even a little bit scary.
As I was researching the products, I couldn’t seem to take my mind off them. Everyone who wrote about them had nothing but good things to say. They felt better, could be active, and were not worried about bleeding through like they had been on disposable products. There had to be something really good about making the switch. Clearly all of these women couldn’t be wrong.
When I used my menstrual cup for the first time, it was an adjustment, and it took me three cycles to be able to wear it for a complete cycle. I will not lie; there is a learning curve and for me it was a steep one. No one in my family could help me because my mom and younger sister both said the same thing I had-it looks scary. But with a little determination and research, I found a lot of resources about ways to care for my menstrual cup and myself, the best methods to use, and general advice and answers to the questions I could not find help for at home.
Now, I have not used a tampon or pad in over two years, and I too can be one of the women who can testify to the benefits of reusable menstrual care. My cycles went from 4 or 5 days to 3 days. My flow is lighter and I get less cramping and abdominal pain. I feel cleaner and am more confident wearing light colors because it is so much harder to bleed through a menstrual cup than a tampon. I can wear it overnight, and I can wear it all day. They are safe for 12 hours of continuous wear which means I only have to change twice a day. It is easy to travel with because I don’t have to take up space packing multiple products when all I need is space for one. And my very favorite part is the money I have saved. Over the course of their menstrual cycles, women spend thousands of dollars on menstrual care and now, I will never have to become a part of that statistic. Reusable products are a good thing. They are good investments and make life easier for women.
