The menstrual cup (cap) is a compact silicone cup, not much larger than a tampon, made in the form of a cap. It is made from a completely harmless for human health and ecology special medical material - silicone, the very one that for more than one decade has been successfully used for making breast implants. The menstrual cup seems to have been specially created for women with different types of skin allergies, including a fairly common allergy to cotton swabs. After all, silicone, unlike those materials from which the usual means of hygiene are made for us, is absolutely not allergic.
A bit of history
Menstrual bowls were invented and launched in production in Europe in the 30s of last century. At the same time, the first tampons came to the world market. In those rather conservative times, touching women with their intimate parts of the body was considered something very indecent and shameful, and the menstrual cup suggested its introduction into the right place directly by hand, which implied involuntary touch to its sexual organs. Manufacturers of tampons have provided an opportunity to circumvent this delicate problem by inventing special applicators, due to which there was no need to touch intimate organs. In addition, tampons are more profitable for the economy than menstrual cups, since, unlike them, they are disposable, which forces women to buy them from month to month and year after year for most of their life. And the purchase of the menstrual cap can be done only 5-6 times during all the time that a woman is of childbearing age. Thus, the menstrual bowl lost the marketing confrontation in the market with tampons and went to the shadows for many decades.
The revival of this hygiene product began in the 1980s, when the world's struggle for ecology entered into an active phase, and women began to look for an alternative to disposable liners and tampons that pollute the environment.
However, the bowl has received its wide distribution so far only in Western Europe and America, where almost every third woman uses this method of hygiene with monthly. In Russia, however, menstrual caps entered relatively recently, but are gradually beginning to gain popularity among our compatriots.
The principle of the bowl and how to use it
The bowl is inserted into the vagina and held there by the strength of the muscles and the created vacuum. The menstrual cup is completely insensible inside and not visible from the outside. Due to the close contact of the walls of the vagina and the bowl, its contents can not spill. In addition, the bowl ensures complete tightness of the internal environment of the vagina, due to which the possibility of penetration of bacteria inside from the external environment, with its correct application, is reduced to zero.
What are the main advantages of the menstrual bowl before conventional means?
Saving
The service life of the menstrual period is 5-10 years. Primary investment in the bowl is greater than when buying disposable tampons or pads, but in the aggregate, further savings are obvious, because the funds invested in the bowl will pay off in a couple of months.
Environmental causes
As is known, disposable hygiene products cause considerable harm to the environment. Chemical gels and dioxins contained in them fall into the soil and water, thereby causing irreparable harm to the environment. And polyethylene packing of gaskets and tampons does not decompose in the earth for almost 500 years. The menstrual cup can also be used for years, which considerably reduces the amount of garbage ejected.
Compact and portable
During travel and travel it is much more convenient to bring a small cap in a small canvas bag than to carry with it bulky and rather bulky packages with gaskets and tampons.
Comfort and Convenience
Unlike gaskets, which interfere with and restrict movement, the menstrual drop is located directly inside the body, which greatly increases the feeling of freedom of action.
Also there are no unpleasant sensations at extraction of a bowl from a vagina at poor menstruations due to smooth and easily sliding walls of the bowl, unlike tampons which in a dry condition are pulled out at times with the big work and not with the most pleasant sensations.
In addition, when using a tampon, women often face the problem of wetting the "tail" when urinating, this problem is absent from the bowl: it has a short soft silicone tip that can be cut to a size convenient for you, so that it can not be seen .
The menstrual cup contains more blood than a tampon, which allows less time to empty its contents.
It does not interfere with the performance of any physical exercises, and even if you turn upside down, its contents do not pour out.
Yes, there to say, with a cup even possible to engage in full-fledged sex!
The risk of harm to health is minimal.
It is known, though rare, but there are cases of toxic shock when using tampons. When using the menstrual cup, no such connection was found.
In recent years, many women around the world have been subdued by this compact and convenient device, which facilitates intimate hygiene. Unfortunately, in Russia, menstrual cups have not yet received such a wide distribution. But I want to believe that soon any Russian woman will be able to feel all the delights of using this unique tool.