Becoming Crunchy

Posts Tagged ‘Aunt Flo’

My Stash

All this week at Becoming Crunchy, I’ve been reviewing Mama Cloth, or cloth menstrual pads, along with reusable tampon-like products – the Diva Cup and Sea Sponge tampons (even wrote a guest post on this topic over at The Cloth Diapering Mama!)

I’m very excited to host a mama cloth giveaway tomorrow as part of the upcoming Earth Day Blog Carnival hosted by Child of the Nature Isle and Monkey Butt Junction, but I wanted to do a little wrap-up of my experiences and reviews before we go ahead with the giveaway.

Did I Make the Right Decision?

I’m gonna answer that one with a big “Heck Yes!!”

I really want to emphasize – I was so not all about mama cloth when I first heard of it; I decided to give it a try because I had read so many great reviews, and because I would prefer my daughter to use natural products over disposables when she gets to that point in her life, but I really didn’t expect to like it.

Now I’m just wishing I had made the decision sooner!

This is just one of those things I know I will never regret doing; there are too many benefits that outweigh the negatives of using disposable pads and tampons.

OK…Then Which One Should I Use?

My personal, number one recommendation? Read the rest of this entry »

Diva Cup

We’re doing a quick switch from mama cloth here over to the Diva Cup – a reusable menstrual cup made from healthcare grade silicone  that is plastic free, BPA free, latex free and sanitary.

It was created by a mother/daughter team, Francine & Carinne Chambers, about 15 years ago. The idea of the menstrual cup has been around for a long time, but this is probably the most popularized and available one in recent history.

I actually had a friend tell me about the Diva Cup…oh around 10 years ago now. I think I barely listened to her – my response was probably along the lines of, “Gross!” (Mary, if you ever by any chance come across this blog, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you!).

Up until very recently, the Diva continued to NOT appeal to me…there was something about it I just couldn’t get into. But I wanted to be fair and give it a try – I’m not the type who likes the idea of a pad alone throughout my period, so I wanted to give some of the ‘tampon-like’ products their due.

The basic premise of the Diva Cup:

You fold it in half, push it up there (it does not go up as far as a tampon would), twist it a bit to create a seal, and it catches your flow. Every so often you pull it out, dump it, and clean it with a gentle soap (I just used my all natural bathroom hand soap, but you can buy a special Diva Wash if you’re interested).

You can find a video on how to do it HERE.

I’m trying to think of why I didn’t like the idea so much and I can come up with 2 things – it looks a bit weird and kind of big to be going up there (it’s certainly wider than a tampon) and then there’s the ick factor – you do get a little more up close and personal with your flow than you normally might with a tampon. Read the rest of this entry »