i have seen a few posts lately refer to the "diva cup" or "instead soft cups"....what in the world are they? where do you get them? i dont remember ever seeing them at the store, but seeing as i wasnt looking for them i could have just over looked them. what is the benefit? how do they work and what do they do?
and you really cant feel them?? and you dont have to worry about leaks or them getting stuck?
I've seen them at Walgreens & have thought about buying them to try it out, but they're not really cheap. The benefit in my understanding, is that you can still have sex.
i never heard of it until today and I have a question - how do you get it out? Im super disgusted anythime I have to search for the traditional "string" SO.....how do you get this cup out? I don't think I'm up for going in after it.
Ok This is for Tracy K. They have a string too of sorts. If you google Diva Cup you can find pictures. I personally haven't tried it, but the fact that it is a solid piece of silcone instead of a string that can hide in places, I think I would prefer that. The silicone string (Ok if you look a the pictures it looks more like a stump) will stay in place and it won't be all bloody and gross because the cup will have caught everything above.
I will be getting a cup once I have a job again. Right now I'm using mama cloth. It's a reusable cloth pad. I wash it just like I do my cloth diapers and all is great. I don't keep spending $7-14 each month on pads and tampons. I love it!!! It feels like I'm sitting on a cloud and not all gross like a disposable pad.
I just googled this after reading the post below...what the heck? I never heard of them either. A picture will explain it for you.
More than you'll ever want to know about the Diva Cup:
Instead of absorbing your flow, it catches it and you remove and dump it out, rinse and re-insert. I only have to empty mine twice a day, so it's easy to do at home. If I have to dump it in a public restroom, I just wipe it out with TP and re-insert.
The main benefits for me are that I'm not allergic to it, it saves $$$, and it's environmentally friendly. I do find that my periods don't last as long with it, either. That's a pretty common side effect.
Instead soft cup... it kind of looks like a diaphragm, if you know what that is. Lee P told me about them... you can have sex with them in :)
www.softcup.com ...check their FAQs
They take a little getting used to, but they're a GREAT alternative to tampons... I don't use them all the time, but I do use them :)
You can't have sex with Diva, and the Instead brand, you don't rinse and re-use, you toss the used one and put a new one in. You can keep them in for up to 12 hours!!
The Diva Cup changed the way I feel about my period. Dealing with pads and tampons really grossed me out, and I hated the way they felt. I started using the Diva Cup based on some recommendations here on Mamapedia, and I have never looked back! It is super comfortable - I don't even feel it. You only have to deal with it twice a day (unless you have an extremely heavy flow). It is easy to clean, doesn't have any smell to it, and I am not even afraid to wear white pants during that time of the month. It is totally leak-proof. It does take a little bit to figure out how to put the darn thing in, but once you have that figured out, it is the easiest thing ever. Half the time, I forget I'm even having my period! I love it, and I'm so happy that my daughters will have the Diva Cup available to them so they'll never have to hassle with tampons or pads. Lucky girls!
I *love* Instead!
They really aren't more expensive than using all the other supplies because you can keep them in up to 12 hours since they aren't absorbing anything. Perfect for any flow because, again, it doesn't absorb.
If you have it in correctly, you can't feel it at all and you can def have sex with it in place. I have used them for years and there is no way they can get stuck.
It does take a bit of practice but once you've got the hang of it it's very easy to use.
I also have a Diva cup but I have some anotomical issues that makes it hard for me to use it but I have friends that swear by it. They don't even have to use anything else-like not even a panty liner. don't know if I'd ever be that brave lol!
I always find Instead at Wal-greens, sometimes Target and sometimes CVS. The Diva can be ordered on line or found at natural foods/health stores.
I use an 'instead' cup and love it. Once you get the hang of inserting it, it just catches your flow, and you can rinse or wipe it out and keep going. Occasionally it's a little messy, but so are tampons and pads, and I really like not having to throw stuff out all the time. Also nice not to have that not so fresh 'packed with cotton' feeling.
They can leak if you insert it wrong, or if you wait too long to empty it...basically when you're having a heavy flow day, you need to be cognizant...
The instructions want you to throw them out after a bit, but I tend to keep them longer. If you wash them thoroughly, they last quite a while. Factor that in, and they turn out to be very cheap.
