Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Brunch

Conversion to cups

A millennial uses the menstrual cup for the first time, sharing her updates on Instagram that help her through the process

- By Leesha Agarwal

I’m trying to move to more sustainabl­e practices on a daily basis and even the thought of someone else dealing with my sanitary waste is not great. So, I owed it to myself to at least try menstrual cups. I didn’t do much research and just bought a small size, thankfully a correct guess. But having the right size is crucial. And you need to be okay with inserting something in your body. So, from the ages of 21 to 24, I switched completely to tampons before I used a menstrual cup, which made the transition to the cup much easier for me. It’s tougher to go from pads to cups.

Insta-support

My experience of using the menstrual cup for the first time was a rollercoas­ter, just like our periods are — full of mood swings. Putting the cup in is fairly simple, but removing it was a task. The stem was really small and I couldn’t get hold of it. It was a nightmare trying to figure out how to remove it as there is suction too, which makes it impossible. I spent an hour and a half on the bathroom floor and had a meltdown. The last option was for my sister to help me out and that was not happening!

I was sharing my updates on Instagram and a lot of people were actively engaged. Around 100 women gave me advice and some people went with ‘why I haven’t switched too’. There were even some men who said they wanted their daughter and wife to switch. Women of all ages were supportive through this — they told me my fear that the cup could get lost in my body was unfounded as that there’s only a limit to which it can go inside the body.

They were the ones who told me that I don’t need a longer stem for better hold but need to remove the cup by pinching the

“I’M MOVING TO MORE SUSTAINABL­E PRACTICES AND THE THOUGHT OF SOMEONE DEALING WITH MY SANITARY WASTE IS NOT GREAT”

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