Menstrual cups have been getting rather a lot buzz within the final decade, so you would be forgiven for pondering they had been a brand new invention. However as Stuff Mother By no means Advised You host Cristen Conger mentions within the video, the very first one was patented in 1867, and an up to date model truly made it to market in 1937. However they did not actually take off till the flip of the century, "particularly at ladies’s faculties and thru various well being Web pages," because the The New York Occasions put it in 2003.
The gentle cups often are made from latex or silicone and are inserted into the vagina to catch interval stream. They nestle towards the cervix. The cup is left in place for a number of hours, relying on stream, and washed out between makes use of. One cup can final not less than a yr, so it is rather more reasonably priced than shopping for tampons and pads each couple months and would not generate all of the environmental waste that these merchandise do.
Nonetheless, whereas menstrual cup recognition might need unfold past ladies’s faculties, their gross sales are nonetheless a blip in comparison with these of pads and tampons within the U.S. Why is that this, regardless of all the benefits we talked about earlier? Cristen provides 4 causes:
- We’re creatures of behavior. Ladies have a tendency to make use of the identical merchandise they’ve all the time used. Likelihood is when you’re a lady who nonetheless will get her interval you are utilizing the identical manufacturers your mother handed to you while you first received it.
- Vaginaphobia. It’s a must to stand up shut and private along with your vagina to insert that cup accurately. That could be too shut for some.
- The ick issue. There’s all the time the opportunity of the cup getting too full and spilling its contents on you. Not enjoyable.
- The cash issue. Since pharmacies and female hygiene corporations could make much more cash from shoppers shopping for month-to-month provides, they’ve much less incentive to inventory or make menstrual cups.
Need to study extra about menstrual cups? Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin from Stuff Mother By no means Advised You’ve got you coated. You may watch the video above, take heed to their podcast concerning the merchandise or head on over to their website.
