Messy, leaky, icky - a menstrual cup is not for everyone. Or so I thought. After I wrote on Storytellhers about Dame (a sleek reusable, non-plastic applicator and organic tampon brand), a friend who read it announced to me she hadn’t used tampons “in, like, 12 years”. Was I totally behind the curve?
Lunette is a modern brand championing what the hippies among us have known for decades: the greenest choice we can make every month is to slip in a reusable cup. Lunette’s founder is Heli Kurjanen, a woman who raves about period positivity and slams period shame. Over the last decade and a half, she's seen her small start-up in Finland disrupting the menstruation market around the world.
I was sent a Lunette cup and cleanser, and a silky blue pouch to keep it in. The cup comes in a range of bright hues and is made of squishy silicone. It can be kept in for up to 12 hours (you empty it out 2-4 times per day depending on your flow) and you can reuse it for several years. Think: no last-minute peeling off to the shops for pads or tampons, and no endless packaging and plastic in the bin. Unlike tampons, the cup collects the fluid rather than absorbing it, so things stay naturally lubricated inside - not to mention no dioxin, no bleach and no fibres left behind.
They say it takes 10,000 hours to truly master something and - given that I started using the Lunette cup 3 months ago - I’m at least off the starting grid. Admittedly, it wasn’t easy in the early days. You fold it into a c shape, push it inside yourself and, with a bit of manoeuvring, the ridges around the cup should suction on to the vaginal walls. There have been occasions when I didn’t position it right and found myself giving birth to my Lunette - not cool when you’re walking into a meeting - but now my technique’s improved and it stays where it should. I totally forget it’s there.
Other than the fact they both start with “c”, it’s not easy to link a cup to Christmas. But if you’re already considering some New Year’s resolutions, consider ditching the monthly period paraphernalia and giving the eco-friendly Lunette a go in 2020.