First off I will introduce myself! I’m Marissa Schillinger and I help women with acne get clear, glowing skin naturally by taking a holistic approach! I struggled with pretty severe cystic acne in my past and am currently in the process of healing my pitted acne scarring. You can find all sorts of acne and health tips & information within my blog!
Now let’s get into this post!!
Typical tampons, pads, and liners have numerous different chemicals that can harm our bodies and lead to hormone imbalance (which can contribute to or worsen acne). This is why they can also be a contributing factor to many different health conditions.
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The good news? There are alternatives, including what I’ll be talking about today, which are menstrual cups and reusable cloth pads!
Benefits:
- They are cost-effective. The up-front investment isn’t bad, and considering the amount of money you will save in the long run, it’s SUCH a great investment.
- They don’t contain NUMEROUS different chemicals that can be harmful to our bodies like mainstream pads, tampons, and liners do.
- You don’t have to worry about running out of pads or tampons and then having to run to the store asap.
- It cuts back on so much waste. Think of how many pads, liners, and/or tampons a woman uses each decade.
- You can wear them for longer periods of time because most of them hold more blood/fluids than disposable ones, PLUS you don’t have to worry about toxic shock syndrome.
One key thing to make sure you do to choose the right menstrual cup:
Determine the height of your cervix; it is important to know if you have a high or low cervix when choosing the right one (during different times during your cycle your cervix height will change a little, so its best to “measure” it during or close to your period (you can find articles on how to do this by searching it up on google). I did not do this because the thought of it freaked me out, and therefore I picked a cup that did not work for me!
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There are so many different brands and shapes/sizes/flexibility, so it’s important to figure out what you think would work best for your body!
My experience with menstrual cups:
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I got the Diva Cup in September of 2017. When I first tried it I couldn’t get it in right, or even all the way for that matter; I read that there is a learning curve, though, so I wasn’t too discouraged. I did start getting discouraged after my next period came and I still wasn’t able to, though. I even made sure I was fully relaxed because if you’re not, you’re not going to be successful. After trying for 3 or 4 of my periods (so over the course of about 3 or 4 months) I finally realized that I just didn’t get the right one, it was a bit too long (not including the stem length; the stem can actually be cut if it’s too long). This is why it’s important to know the height of your cervix!
As for which fold I liked best (you have to fold it in order to get it in), I liked the punch-down fold. The 2 most common foods are the punch-down and the c-fold; you can look up menstrual cup folds so you can see what each looks like!
Below are some of the many different folds.
My personal experience with reusable pads:
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Lunapads is the brand of reusable pads that I use. It’s the only brand I’ve ever tried and they are REALLY good quality and aren’t really bulky at all. I’m VERY happy with them!
When it comes to cleaning them, you want to rinse out any fluids as soon as you’re done using them. Then, you can hand wash or throw in the washer, but throwing them in the washer is what is recommended. Lastly, dry them in the dryer right after washing, as letting them sit while wet for too long can ruin them. This is also why it is said that you must dry them in a dryer, and not leave them to dry out in the air because it would take way too long for them to dry completely.
I personally clean mine by usually rinsing my pad out while I’m in the shower, and then I throw it in the washer with other laundry of mine once I’m done.
I hope this was helpful!! 🙂
