Congratulations on making it through the Basics Category of the Sustainable Swap Challenge — we are now diving into Personal Care related swaps over the next 2 months!

And the first swap in the Personal Care category is the menstrual cup. A menstrual cup is a sustainable (and way more affordable) alternative to one-use tampons and pads. ♻

Using a Menstrual Cup:

This is a zero waste swap that might seem a bit intimidating at first — I know it was for me! But after a few cycles, I can promise you it gets easier. ✔️

I was going to write a post about how to use a menstrual cup but I realized there were already quite a few really helpful videos and tutorials out there on how to clean your cup, insert the cup, and remove the cup. There are actually different ways for insertion and removal so you may have to test these different methods out and see what works best for you.

>>> this is a SUPER helpful video on how to use a menstrual cup <<<

>>> and this is a very helpful article on how to use a menstrual cup <<<

Tips for getting started:

It will probably take a little getting used to with the cup and it may take a few tries to insert the cup in a way that is comfortable, so I'd suggest testing it out when you know you will be staying at home for at least a few hours.

You may also want to still use a panty liner or pad as a backup for the first few times. After that, you should be fine. But if you're a bit paranoid like I am you can also use period underwear as a zero waste backup, although I personally have been a little cautious to trying period underwear because I’ve heard that mold can actually grow in them…yuck!

Financial Savings:

The amount of money you'd save varies on your flow but let's say 5 tampons per day for a 5-day period — 300 tampons per year on average. For the type of tampons I used to get, a pack of 36 tampons was around $7. At $.20/tampon I'd be spending $5 per month, $60 per year, and $300 over the course of 5 years. Pretty significant savings, huh!?

Where to get a menstrual cup:

I got my menstrual cup, a Lunette Cup, at a local natural foods store a couple years back, but here are a few other suggestions (asterisk signs indicate a conscious life & style affiliate link)

Lunette ($39.99)

OrganiCup ($28)

Lena Cup* ($29.99) | EcoRoots

Diva Cup* ($39.99) | EarthHero Use code CONSCIOUSLIFE for 10% off

The Hello Cup (starts at $49.99)

*Just giving credit to Elizabeth over at conscious life & style, the sustainable swap challenge is her concept, along with most of the wordage in this blog entry, I’m just adding my two cents and trying to further this challenge. consciouslifeandstyle.com