Period Tag!

 

I just watched Bree from Precious Stars Pads do this tag on her youtube channel and I thought the questions were fun so I’ve decided to do it here. I tag anyone who wants to do it!

1. When did you Start? (age)

I was 12 years old. It was 12 days after my 12th birthday.

2. Where did you start it?

I was at home when I noticed the signs that it was starting but I wasn’t sure and the flow started properly the next day when I was at school.

3. how did you feel about it?

I had very mixed emotions! Because my mum didn’t start until she was a bit older I had assumed that I would be older too so it was a wee bit of a surprise. I was happy but I also felt a bit sad/annoyed because it seemed like such a faff.  

4. Who did you tell first?

My mum. It took a couple of hours for me to work up the courage to tell her, but I told her that day.

5. What period products do you use?

This is probably obvious given the contents of my blog, but I use reusable menstrual products. I mainly use a menstrual cup during the day and cloth pads at night. I still do use the occasional tampon when that happens to be more convenient because I think they do have their advantages though I prefer to mostly use reusables.

6. Are your periods regular?

Usually they are, though they have been a bit wonky recently. I think this is due to the stress of sitting my final exams at university which finished this month. I normally have a 26-27 day cycle but have been having shorter cycles in the last couple of months which is a pain!

7. Whats your favourite period product?

My Fleurcup menstrual cup. It’s definitely my ‘goldilocks’ cup!

8. Are your periods heavy?

Yes, especially the first night and second day.

9. How long are they?

Usually five days.

10. Do you get cramps?

Yes, I get really bad period pain. Normally I take mefenamic acid for my cramps which works amazingly well and also reduces the blood loss. I haven’t been able to take it recently because of some other medication so I’m just managing on paracetamol which is not the most fun. I will be glad when I can take mefenamic acid again!

11. Do you get PMS, if so what symptoms?

I usually get tender/swollen breasts for a few days and I get a bit crampy the day or two before my period. I can also get very tired the day before. I don’t usually get emotional but I can be a bit more irritable (not to the extent that anyone else would notice though).

12. Whats the most embarrassing things thats happened to you period wise?

I had very heavy periods when I was at secondary school and in the years before I started using tampons I had two instances of standing up at the end of a class and having blood run down my leg inside my trousers. On both occasions I excused myself and ran off to the toilet quickly to get cleaned up. My school trousers were black so I don’t think this was noticeable to anyone else but I was mortified none the less!

New purchases!

I got a couple of new night pads in the post yesterday. I ordered both of these from Luxury Moon. The first is a beautiful purple and lilac bamboo velour topped Jimmy Riddles nighttime wrap pad with a PUL back. The second is a Wee Notions heavy XL with a blue cotton jersey top and a PUL back. Both of these are lovely pads and hopefully will work well. I will try and get some more posts up soon – I have quite a few pads to photograph and review. This month marks one year since I started using reusable menstrual products!

My Current Stash

Hi everyone,

Just thought I’d do a quick post on my current stash today since I was taking photos for reviews anyway. Next review will be up soon! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy seeing my stash photos. It’s not very big – I have about 16 pads at the moment and I’m expecting a Yurtcraft and an Eco Femme this week.

My longer pads. From left to right: two Angelpadz long/night pads, three Eco Rainbow night/postpartum pads, two Lady Days Cloth Pads 9.5″ light to regular.

My shorter pads. From left to right: Gaia Moon Pads 8″ regular, Gaia Moon Pads 7″ light flow, AngelPadz regular PUL backed, two Angelpadz pantyliners, Butterfly Cloth Pads 8″ light to moderate, Butterfly Cloth Pads 7″ pantyliner, Eco Rainbow mini pad, three Imse Vimse pantyliners.

Upcoming Posts

Hi everyone,

I’m off on holiday for a week but thought I’d give you an idea of what posts to look out for when I get back as I have a bunch of pads waiting to be reviewed! I will be posting reviews on:

• Eco Rainbow night pads
• Angelpadz long/night pads
• Lady Days regular pads
• Butterfly pads
• Mooncup UK menstrual cup

I also plan to do a post about going on holiday with reusable menstrual products as my period is due while I’m away and will also post my cleaning/washing routine since everyone has a slightly different approach. Look out for those over the next couple of weeks!

Meluna Menstrual Cup Review

If you have read my previous post on my journey into reusable menstrual products (https://earthfriendlylife.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/my-resuable-menstrual-product-journey/) you will know that several years ago I started with a Mooncup UK which simply did not work for me. In December this year I began researching different menstrual cups and found out about a German brand called Meluna (http://www.meluna.org/epages/63898218.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/63898218/Categories/MeLuna_Menstruationstassen) which offered a wide variety of cups in different sizes, colours, stem options and degrees of firmness. I was sold on the sheer variety available and ordered the starter pack with a small clear cup and a medium purple cup with ring stems. The cups come in a plastic packet with an instruction leaflet and a purple storage bag which is generously sized. I was a bit disappointed to only get one pouch with the two cups but they both fit inside it so it’s no big deal.

The Small

The small cup is incredibly tiny. It is the smallest menstrual cup on the market as far as I’m aware. It has a diameter of 38mm and a length of 45mm (not including the stem). In many ways I think this makes it a good beginners cup as it is not intimidating in size. It was certainly good for me to get me over my Mooncup issues and get me actually inserting and removing a cup successfully. Meluna say the cup has a capacity of 23ml to the rim, but the capacity to the holes is a much smaller 15ml. This is where the cup falls down for me. I have a heavy flow so it is far too small to use for the majority of my period. I like to think of it as my ‘gateway cup’ as getting familiar with using it then allowed me to move on to bigger capacity cups.

The Medium

The medium has a diameter of 41mm and is 48mm long. The capacity to the holes is 20ml and is overall a more practical size.

Stems

I got both of my cups in the ring stem style because I thought this would be very easy to use to get the cups out and it was the style recommended by Meluna for beginners. The rings did make removal easy but they add quite a lot of length on to the cups. I found the stems to be very uncomfortable as they would stick out due to my low cervix. The small cup actually stuck out more than the medium as it is so narrow in diameter that the tip of my cervix could not fit inside the cup to allow it to move further in. In the end I cut the rings off both of my cups to make them more comfortable. This was fine for me as I was able to reach the bottom of the cups very easily and in improving the comfort I was able to use them a bit more to find out whether I actually liked them! If you are thinking about buying a Meluna cup I would recommend that you go for the traditional stem as it would be easier to trim to the length you require without having to cut the whole thing off. However, if you have a very high cervix the ring may be useful for you as it provides a good grip to aid removal.

Rims, Grip Rings and Air Holes

The Meluna cups have a distinct rim but one that is not too pronounced. They only have one rim right at the top as opposed to a higher and lower first and second rims like the Mooncup and Femmecup have. The rim is smooth and not too stiff and does not cause me a problem during insertion or removal. The cups have four grip rings on the base. They are solid lines. They are raised enough to aid removal but not so much that they are uncomfortable during insertion and removal like the ones on the Fleurcup can be. The cups have two air holes near the rim, one on either side of the cup. They are fairly large so they are easy to clean. I think adding two more holes would be useful and sometimes it is difficult to break the seal if you don’t grab the cup where the holes are.

Meluna Material

Meluna make their cups from plastic polymer called thermoplastic elastomer or TPE for short. This is different from most cups which are usually made of medical grade silicone. TPE is used in medical devices and baby bottle nipples so they say that it is completely safe for making menstrual cups out of. I don’t doubt this, but I do notice some differences in characteristics between TPE and silicone cups. The TPE is firmer in a way than my silicone Fleurcup but yet it is less springy so it is harder to get it to pop open inside. The material has a frosted surface which seems to create a lot of friction against itself when folded, making it hard to open. TPE also gets more flexible when warm and less flexible when cold. This is good and bad. It moulds to your shape inside which is nice as you get a sort of ‘custom’ fit around your particular curves, but it gets warm as soon as it’s in, and the increased flexibility makes popping open even harder. You can run it under cold water prior to insertion to help with this. I just found that the cups took so much coaxing to get them to open that I couldn’t really be bothered with the hassle of spending 10 minutes in the bathroom each time the cup needed emptied.

Overall Opinion

Overall, I do not particularly like the Meluna cups and I don’t use mine at all now that I have my Fleurcup. I appreciate that fact that the small cup led to me being able to use a better sized cup and it was nice to have that tiny cup to work up from. However, the difficulties I have with getting the cup to open make it a no-go for me. I would still recommend that you have a look at the website if you are thinking of buying a cup as they may just have the perfect one for you, considering they make four sizes, three levels of firmness, four stem styles and countless different colours!

Fluffy Mail! Butteryfly Cloth Pads

More fluffy mail today! I couldn’t wait to share yesterday’s even though I knew I had another order arriving today!

This time I ordered from another UK seller on Etsy who’s shop name is Butteryfly Cloth Pads (http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Butterflyclothpads). She sells hand made cloth pads in a nice variety of prints. I think my purchase was the first sale from her shop! I ordered one pantyliner and one light to moderate flow pad in her beautiful ‘Owl Party’ print. The pantyliner is 6 inches long and 2 inches wide when snapped, and the pad is 8 inches long and 2 inches wide. They are cotton topped, have a cotton and terry towelling inner core and a fleece back. They are gorgeous little pads and look very well made. The stitching is neat and they feel very sturdy. Again a more detailed review will follow once I’ve had the chance to try these pads out but for now I thought I’d share my first impressions along with some pictures. Enjoy!

The light-moderate pad:

The pantyliner:

The seller very kindly included a couple of wing extenders and a cute little cloth butterfly for free:

Look out for my review in the next couple of weeks!

Fleurcup Review

The Fleurcup is a menstrual cup from France. It is made of medical grade silicone and is available in a variety of colours (the selection on their website varies). They are pretty good value for money, and they often have sales where you can buy two cups for around 20 euros. I bought mine in one of their sales so I got a small and a large pink cup for 19.99 euros. The dimensions of the cups are listed on their website here http://www.fleurcup.com/en/fleurcup/questionsanswers. The small cup has a capacity of about 20ml and the large about 30ml so they are both good capacity cups for their size. I bought the Fleurcup because of a number of recommendations and positive reviews I saw on the menstrual cups livejournal forum.

I mainly use the small cup as it is the one that fits me best. I have a low cervix and this cup is the perfect length for me. It is a lovely smooth cup with a ‘peach skin’ type texture which makes insertion and removal easy. The silicone it is made of is not too soft but it’s not too firm either. I find that it pops open quite easily but is not so firm that it’s hard to hold in its fold for insertion. It does not have a distinct rim, rather the cup body flares out to create the rim. It is less pronounced that say the Mooncup UK, but it is still functional for creating a seal etc. The capacity of this cup is good. I have a heavy flow and I can use it for about 3 hours on my heaviest day before emptying and then about 4-5 hours the next day. After the first couple of days I can leave it the full 12 hours before emptying.

The cups have an unusual design for their grips. The grips are made up of broken lines and are very pronounced. This means that the cup is very easy to remove even when slippery, but they can make insertion a little bit sore as they go in. For the ease of removal that the grips provide I am happy to tolerate the small amount of irritation on insertion. The cups come with a rectangular stem with grip rings all the way along. I had to trim my stems off completely but the stems are very sturdy and would be great for helping to remove the cup if you need them. The stem trims off well since it is solid, and it is possible to file down the part that you cut with an emery board to make the cut surface smooth. I have heard of people filing the grip rings down or off completely to get a smooth bottomed cup. I would consider doing this if I didn’t need them to help me with removal.

The Fleur has four air holes which are situated very high on the cup to allow for maximum capacity. They slant horizontally and are a decent size which means that cleaning them requires minimal effort. I only ever have to run them under the tap for them to clear which isn’t always the case with cups that have smaller holes.

One negative thing I would like to mention about the Fleurcup is their packaging. The cups came in individual zip-lock type plastic bags with a small sheet of paper saying which size it was and with a couple of lines of instructions. The full instructions can be downloaded from their website. As a way of reducing packaging costs and wastes, I think this is fair enough but I felt that they could have made a little bit more effort. Perhaps wrapping them in tissue paper or something would have been nicer than the little plastic bags. The other thing to note is that you do not get a storage pouch with these cups as standard, but you can buy your cup with a bag at extra cost. I didn’t think it was worth the extra so I didn’t bother as I had bags from other cups that I could store them in.

Overall, I would highly recommend the Fleurcup. It is a good first cup to try as it doesn’t have an intimidating rim, is a smooth texture, and pops open easily without being too stiff. It was the first cup that I used successfully and I find it very comfortable. I would suggest checking out their website and considering buying directly from the company as they often have sales on. I know that they have just recently been stocked by Luxury Moon and Feminine Wear will soon have them on a trial basis, which is handy as it can take a bit of time for your order to reach the UK. I would love to know what anyone else who has tried the Fleurcup thinks about it!

AngelPadz Pantyliners

AngelPadz liners in Karavan Kashmir (top) and Candy Flowers.

These gorgeous panyliners are made by a work-at-home mum in the UK. She sells mostly flannel topped pads and liners and offers an amazing range of pretty and fun prints. I ordered these from Luxury Moon as I fell in love with the Karavan Kashmir print which is exclusive to them. These liners are 8 inches long and 2.25 inches wide and cost me £3.75 each. They have metal snaps and don’t have a waterproof layer. They are made from a layer of printed cotton flannel on the top, layers of cotton/bamboo flannel inside and a layer of plain unbleached cotton flannel on the bottom. These liners are absolutely lovely. They are absorbent enough for menstrual cup back-up or spotting and are very breathable since they don’t have a waterproof layer. I probably wouldn’t use them as back-up on my heaviest days because of this, but I like them for any other time during my period or for every day wear. The flannel bottom also stops them from moving around in your underwear. I like the fact that these are quite narrow when snapped closed as I am quite petite and find that wider liners can bunch up a bit.

AngelPadz state that they can be washed up to 60 degrees centigrade. Mine may have shrunk slightly when I washed them the first time, but this is normal for flannel and the shrinkage wasn’t too great. Like all flannel (at least for me), these have got very slight stains on them but they seemed to stain less than the ImseVimse liners and the stains are less noticeable due to the patterned flannel. Most flannel also seems to lose its softness a bit after washing and these are no exception, but I find that giving them a bit of a ‘wiggle’ in your hands helps to soften them back up once they have dried. I line dry, so I’m not sure if using a tumble drier might help prevent this.

I would recommend checking out the AngelPadz website or Luxury Moon if you are looking for cloth pads in the UK. They offer a range of absorbencies in a variety of prints and colours at very reasonable prices. I have a couple of night pads from them which I will review once I’ve had the chance to try them out properly.

ImseVimse Pantyliners

The first cloth pads I tried were these ImseVimse pantyliners. They come in a pack of three that cost me about £9.50 from femininewear.co.uk. They are organic cotton flannel top and bottom with a PUL layer inside. I think there are three layers of flannel before the PUL. The pantyliners measure 7.5 inches by 2.75-3 inches and have two snaps so the width can be varied. ImseVimse also make day and night pads and a flexible pocket pad system.

I found these to be very good value for money. They are comfy and fit well with the option of fastening them narrower or wider depending on the size of your underwear. The flannel is lovely and soft and I found these liners to be very absorbent – I wore one with my menstrual cup to a yoga class and it held up perfectly well when I had a bit of a leak coming out of an inverted pose. I love the fact that these liners have a flannel back as well as a PUL layer as it means that you have the peace of mind that they are waterproof but they also don’t move around in your underwear. I would highly recommend these to anyone who is just starting with cloth pads or to someone who is looking to add pantyliners to their stash as they are comfortable, effective and inexpensive. The only downsides that I can think of to the ImseVimse pads of all sizes are that they don’t come in any other colours and that I have found the flannel to be prone to staining. However, I’m sure that with a bit of determination and some proper stain remover I could get rid of the stains but I can’t say that slight staining bothers me too much! I will definitely buy more of these liners in the future.

Have any of you tried ImseVimse? What did you think?