Mooncup Monday: Week 3 (using it)
May 15, 2011 by Emily Dodd 
Men, you may wish to stop reading now...
In the penultimate part of Mooncup Monday, our three brave Leith ladies put their Mooncups (a greener, safer and cheaper sanitry product) to the test. Beware, there’s blood, sweat and tears (and a love story that ends in a near surgical removal).
Using my mooncup for the first time from ladies (A, B and C)
MCA
After a tearful and painful insertion it was in and surprisingly comfortable, however it came with another tearful and painful removal where the Mooncup ended up in the toilet! Not convinced yet, may need some more practise!!
Update by text: Safe to say practice definitely helps, no crying today!
MCB
I finally managed to get my Mooncup! Turns out some naughty person must have stolen one out of the box on the shelf... tut tut!
I made the mistake of opening the box at work, only to be greeted by cries of "what on earth is that THING?!" from my colleagues. Luckily I work in a room full of women. I think men would run away. The cup is... large... to say the least. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, maybe something the size of a large tampon, but no. Much bigger. I stared at it for a while, pondering the thing, and must admit I felt slightly nauseous about it - it's very medical looking! But nothing ventured nothing gained.
I immediately texted MCA to find out her views on the subject, and was slightly offput by her less than encouraging stories of trying the Mooncup out. She recommended trying a practice run before I actually used it for real, if you know what I mean... so home I toddled, had a large glass of wine, and did as she advised. And it was fine! No problems! In and out! I think I will cut the stem bit off slightly, but will wait until I use it for real.
Moral of the story? Don't be intimidated, and have a practice go!
MCC
Welcome to a love story that ends in tragedy, Moocup and MCC.
I sterilised it in a mug of boiling water. The instructions said it’s better to try it near the end of your period, I waited. I’d heard about MCA’s tears, any excuse to put it off was welcome.
I watched the video. I tried Fold technique B, it was actually really easy. No tears, no pain nothing. It made a pop noise when it unfolded, that made me laugh. I was Master of the Mooncup.
I realised the wee stem was sticking out quite a bit so I flicked through the instruction book and found you’re meant to trim it down. Disaster. I was feeling so positive and now I was going to have to try and remove it, what if it’s like first time contact lenses, easy to put in, much harder to get out?
I considered trimming it while in… and decided that was dangerous (the book does warn against this but was feeling so good about the easy insertion I was thinking I may just be a Mooncup genius and did not need to follow the rules).
My heart sank at the thought of losing my newfound Mooncup confidence. I decided I had to try. You need to break the seal before you can remove it but surprisingly, it was easy. I trimmed it, and put it back. And there was already a collection, which I found fascinating and not gross.
What had happened, one pop and I was converted? Love at first insertion? I suddenly realised tampons are disgusting. Some toxic bleached piece of rag inside you going manky. Not to mention the probems in the sewage system, landfill and the sea. I am a convert, I love the Mooncup!
The following morning I happily went to remove my mooncup and…. it had disappeared. Seriously, I couldn’t find it. I’d trimmed the stalk down to just one notch and it was out of reach. I started to panic. No one said they could move. Where had it gone? They’re meant to sit low. I broke out in a sweat and thought about phoning NHS 24. I would have to have it surgically removed, please dear God no!
I managed to locate the end but to break the seal you need to reach the top of it, there was no way I could. I remembered, we were built to push our babies and they’re huge. They must be vacuum sealed too. So I pushed and pushed. I managed to get a grip on it, I couldn’t break the seal, I just pulled. And I’ve not used it since. Not sure I ever will. I advise ladies to go easy on stalk trimming.
Mooncup Mitchell, we would like to ask for you help and advise here. Any ideas why this happened?
Read about the Challenge
Week 1: It begins (See how the ladies feel about the Mooncup challenge)
Week 2: Partici-pants equipped (read about their purchasing experience, see photos + how to video)
Finally, next week is our Mooncup round-up (and competition)
Join the Challenge
Thank you all so much for sharing our story of a sustainable sanitary solution. Do let us know what did you think. We’ve had loads of great comments from Mooncup Veterans but what about the newbies? Have you now purchased a Mooncup, how did it go? Will you purchase one? Please add your comments below.
Remember you can also keep up to date with @MoonCupMonday on Twitter.
Mooncup Mitchell
Ask your questions and Mooncup Mitchell our Mooncup expert is available to help. With just one week to go, don’t miss the opportunity.
Until next time, go Mooncup!
UPDATE: Read the week 4 challenge here
Read more from Emily on Sustainable Stories, Twitter or Facebook.
Guest Post, Health, Mooncup, Waste Leith, Mooncup, sanitry, sustainability, woman 
Reader Comments (12)
There are other brands of cup that come with different kinds of stalks that don't need to be trimmed - some with a flexible ring that can be grasped easily.
i hadn't been able to afford one until now, but frankly i think they should be provided to all women free of charge, although i've only used it for one day. there's obviously no way it can leak under normal circumstances, the pop of the vacuum breaking shows that there has been a proper seal made.
things i think are awesome:
no more putting in a new tampon when my vagina is slightly too dry from the last one.
you can take it out and clean it whenever you want, making bedtime a little more manageable (you don't have to remove the last tampon before time to make it through the night)
no more of those 'damn i'm really sleepy but i need to go to the shop to buy tampons before i can go to sleep'
no more budgetting for tampons every month, or trying to find tampons in countries where they are not the norm.
no chance of the sneaky leaks that come down the side of tampons.
no more wrapping my tampons in toilet roll and throwing them in the eventually manky bin (couldn't justify throwing all that stuff down the toilet)
in short, i adore it and i won't be going back to the primitive world of tampons and towels.
[Editors note - others parts of this comment were removed, due to the graphic nature of the advice...]
As a fellow newbie, I was so relieved to hear your experience was much the same as mine! I couldn't find mine and (after lots of crying and panicking) went to the doctors to remove it! It was traumatic, but I'm willing to try again...I think.
And pushing down using your pelvic floor muscles with your legs placed wide (oh the glamour!) helps find the end if it does move a bit further up than you might expect. To break the seal you don't need to reach right up to the top of the cup, just to the base area. The important thing is not to get stressed as this will make your muscles tenser and will not help. Keep relaxed, and definitely no surgical removals will be required! There's some really good information on mooncup.co.uk under 'Removal advice' in the FAQ section so have a read at that for lots of tips. Keep practicing ladies, though MCC, I think you might have to invest in another Mooncup - but this time keep the scissors well away for a while!
And Maria, if you follow the instructions you get when you buy a Mooncup and put it in correctly, it will not leak when cycling, swimming or sleeping. As for your other question, I think you probably already know the answer to that one...
MM
Thanks, glad it's not just me. I found out someone at work also trimmed her Mooncup too short and had the same problem. She gave it away (that's right, someone else is now using it!).
I think there should be a warning in the instructions to say go easy on the trim.
It says to measure it and that if you 'don't trim it, it can get quite sore' and that 'some woman trim it right off' but nothing about mooncup migration. I measured it while in and thought I was being generous by leaving one notch, had no idea it could move and disappear. Really impressed that you're up for trying it again despite your experience. Maybe I will too (:
I had no idea either! They should really warn in the instructions that the damn thing can wander off and get lost! Anyway, Mooncup were really nice and refunded me, so now I've bought a different brand of cup to see if it works better. It's called the Lunette Selene and it's much prettier and light blue! It also has a stem that doesn't need to be trimmed so it'll be easier to get out if for any reason it decides to migrate skywards!
I had trouble with it at first, too, but I'd be damned if that prevented me from getting to the point that I'd read others got to, blissful Mooncuppy happiness. I do look forward to my periods waaay more than I used to. I feel cleaner - I actually feel clean throughout my period, which I never used to. I used to feel disgusting down there for up to a week after removing the last tampon, it mucked about with my levels of lady-secretion, and I didn't want to have s*x for that whole time while my downstairs recovered. So it was a downer on that side of things. Mooncup makes everything down there sooo much happier. I even posted a link to Mooncup on my facebook, even though I really don't want to upset my delicate-sensitivity friends... I feel that strongly about it.
Also, if you are lucky and have a low flow like me, you can get away with leaving it in for a longer time. I sort myself out in the shower each morning of my period, and literally forget about it the rest of the time... No bothering with it in public toilets etc.
I WANT A BLUE MOONCUP
Lunette Selene sounds way nicer than Mooncup. Haven't sent off for my replacement yet, the lovely Mooncup people have agreed to refund me too so now I'm going blue. The feedback was passed on to the Mooncup people so they may even change the instructions.
Go blue moon (:
MCC
This is my first month using it and I have not had any issues with it at all. I read every square inch of advice I could find on the web and had zero problems with insertion and only minor issues the first few times with removal. (I was just too tense) I did not trim the stem yet because I wanted to wait until I knew for sure I could get it out without it. If I do trim, i'm doing it very very little at a time. The idea of using a tampon again makes me cringe.
I think the best advice anyone can give about using the Mooncup is to just relax. If you tense up, you'll never get it out! Also, being comfortable with your body helps a lot.
I only wish the British version wasnt so hippy and airy fairy "Mooncup" the American version is called a "Diva Cup" for me its more proactive,I think its a contributary reason why women dont know about this product which has been around for a long long time.