What menstrual hygiene product are you currently using? Is it sanitary pads or tampons? If you answered the latter and you are now wondering in making a little change in your monthly blood discharge cycle by using a menstrual cup, then you just came at the right place.
Menstrual cups are seen as tampon alternative since they both technically are inserted inside a woman’s vagina to prevent it from leaking out your menstrual flow during your period. However, similar they might be, there are always differences between the two compared things, right? So, discussed below will highlight menstrual cup’s differences from the widely known tampon.
Knowing Menstrual Cups
Menstrual cups are still having its limelight and is currently being recognized little by little across the globe. With this said, menstrual cups are gaining its popularity due to its advantages. To start, menstrual cups are made from a medical grade silicone or latex rubber; it is also a small and flexible cup which shape is usually like a bell.
Now, by knowing what the menstrual cup offers, you will have the opportunity to grasp how is a menstrual cup different from a tampon.
Lower Cost
An average cup costs around 30 dollars, and you can use it for up to 10 years. This means that you can hugely save money when you use a reusable menstrual cup rather than using tampons since you will need to buy a box of tampons every month due to consumption and it being disposable.
Less Odor
Have you noticed that your tampons or sanitary pads smell bad from the blood that it has absorbed? It makes you embarrassed that the menstrual odor is wafting out open in the air, right? This is due to its exposure to the air. Whereas if you use a menstrual cup, you won’t be worrying over this trivial stuff since the cup has formed a seal inside your vagina.
Beneficial For Your Vagina
Due to how tampon absorbs your menstrual flow, it also tends to absorb all your vaginal fluid along with the blood, making it disrupt your vagina’s delicate pH and bacterial balance. On the other hand, menstrual cups only catches and collects blood rather than absorbing it, which means that using a menstrual cup might be more beneficial for your vagina than using tampons.
More Productivity
Tampons are recommended to be changed at least every 4 to 8 hours a day, which means that you need to go in and out of the comfort room for the rest of your day, resulting in the disruption of your work or activities. As for the menstrual cup, you won’t need to frequently visit the comfort room since you can use it up to 12 hours.
Less Landfill Waste
If you are a woman who is pro-eco-friendly products, then you might like menstrual cups more since you will not be disposing of any waste every period cycle that you have. Did you know that thousands of tons of tampons and sanitary pads are being thrown off at the landfill waste? Not to mention that it is made of plastic so it cannot be decomposed.
Much Safer
Since tampons are made out from synthetic fiber and it tends to absorb the blood more which makes it an excellent breeding ground for bacteria to grow, developing TSS or toxic shock syndrome might take place (although rare). There was even a mass infection of this condition during the 90’s that the super-absorbent tampons were wiped out off from the market.
How Tampons Work
Now, it is time to discuss tampons. Tampons come in different absorbencies, like light, regular, and super. However, it is best to use the lightest absorbency that lasts you a few hours. A tampon is made out of synthetic fiber which works as the “cloth” that absorbs your menstrual flow.
In using tampons, there are some that come with applicators and some that do not have, and it can also be same with the menstrual cup as it might be difficult to insert it into your vagina at first. So, tampons are recommended to be changed every 4 to 8 hours since if you leave it for more than 8 hours, you might encourage the growth of the bacteria.
It can be worn overnight, but you need to put it in right before your bedtime and change it as soon as you wake up in the morning.
Takeaway
Now that both the menstrual cup and tampon were discussed, it is now time for you to deliberate which menstrual hygiene product suits you best. It may be true that you have been using the same menstrual product for the past years, since the time that you have your period. However, it is best that you should adapt your vagina to the changes, especially if it would benefit not only your body but to your surroundings as well.
Rohan Biswas is a blogger and professional writer he naturally writes articles on a different niche like the business, digital marketing, SEO, health, travel and Lifestyle Category.
