Alternatives to tampons, the Mooncup

	Alternatives to tampons 1. The Mooncup Excerpt from the manufacturer: "The Mooncup is a bell shaped menstrual cup around two inches long and made from soft silicone rubber. It is worn internally and forms a seal with your vaginal walls allowing your menstrual fluid to pass into the Mooncup without leakage or odour. The Mooncup will hold an ounce of fluid, which is roughly one third of the average total produced each period." Read more about the Mooncup on the website www.mooncup.co.uk The Mooncup is a small cup with a shaft. The shaft is meant to be cut off to each womens individual preferences. It should sit just inside the vaginal opening, but not protrude.
	Advantages over tampons: • Lasts over 10 years. One product instead of thousands that are expensive and bad for our environment. • Doesn't interfere with the vaginas natural state, doesn't dry out the vagina. • Doesn't leave fibres inside the vagina. • Has never been connected to toxic-shock syndrome. • No super-absorbent material, perfumes, bleaches or other harmful ingredients most tampons contain. • It holds much more fluid than a tampon or pad. You need to change less often. • You don't need to carry spare tampons and pads. • It's perfect for sports, swimming and traveling. So far, there are almost no rules for tampon manufacturers in EU and US. They don't even have to list the ingredients on their packaging! All tampons are bleached and some are even perfumed. There are no tampons made by big manufacturers (like O.b, Tampax, Always) that are classified as "environment friendly" in Sweden, the only thing needed for those products to be listed as that is that they don't contain harmful bleaches and dangerous chemicals. If they are bad for the environment, how can they be good for the body? A woman used 10 000-20 000 tampons or pads in her lifetime. They can be harmful to her body and pollutes our environment.
	Pictures (click on the picture for a bigger image) The Mooncup on these pictures has the full shaft and is unused and uncut. The Mooncup. A tampax normal tampon taken out of the applicator. A still wrapped O.b normal tampong. A tampax normal applicator in it's package.
	A Mooncup folded as for insertion. A tampax normal tampon taken out of the applicator. A still wrapped O.b normal tampon.
	A folded Mooncup, a Tampax normal tampon.
	A Mooncup. An Always normal super tampon. The tampon has not been tampered with, it was held under warm water and then put on the table. Observe the fibers sticking out from the tampon, my hands got full of them.
	How is a Mooncup used? You fold the Mooncup, and insert it into the vagina just like a tampon. The Mooncup sits lower in the vagina than a tampon, but doesn't leak and holds much more fluid. When it's time for removal, you pull the tab, get a good grip of the cup and take it out. (Detailed instructions is included with every Mooncup, this is just a quick version.) You wash it with soap and hot water and insert it again. If you're on a public toilet you can bring a small bottle with water and just rinse it quickly, or wipe it with a tissue and clean it better next time. Between periods you boil it or wash it with a disinfectant to make sure it's clean. Remember that tampons aren't sterile, they are just bleeched to look clean and white. If you boil your Mooncup it will be more sterile than a tampon. Read more about the Mooncup on the website www.mooncup.co.uk Back to the main page.