Dutchess Menstrual Cup - Reusable, Soft, Medical-Grade Silicone Period Cups - Easy to Clean Tampon and Pad Alternative, Pink & Purple, Small, Pack of 2

Alright,I've been waiting to buy a menstrual cup for probably half a year, since I wanted to use up my remaining tampons. I, however, didn't realize that I have half a million tampons in storage. Well, 6 months later, here we are! I'm 19 for reference and haven't given birth so I bought the smaller size. I received it in the mail and anxiously waited for my period to arrive. I chose this one simply for price and that the came with a cute little bag. Anyways, so I did a practice run the day before my period normally starts. I know you aren't supposed to do that with tampons because of TSS, so I figured it was okay with this. It was only for an hour anyways. It took me a bit to get it in and positioned right the first time, that's for sure. I couldn't for the life of me get it to open up! It took a lot of reaching for me to realize that it was in fact open and sealed, but still in the shape of a taco... perhaps I just have a narrow hoo-ha.I left it in there for an hour and came back to check. As I suspected it would, the cup had receded inside me and I had a 10 minute panic attack when I couldn't get it out. (Honestly, this is gross, but taking a poop really helped push it down half an inch and I grabbed it with no problem).Phew, glad that was over. Fast forward to the next day when my period came and I got the cup in with no problem (still not convinced it was fully open so I wore a sanitary napkin just in case) and waited for either a leakage, or nothing. The whole day passed and there wasn't even a teeny tiny leak. I was impressed since I ALWAYS leak with a tampon, no matter the size.Again, taking it out proved to be a bit of a challenge size the suction was strong and I had to pull pretty hard. I may or may not have dumped the entire contents into my hand and then preceded to laugh and gag simultaneously, but that's for another day.Now, my period is almost over and I have perfected the art of creating the seal and emptying it out with (minimal) mess. I still refuse to take it out in public since I definitely would like to have a sink next to me to toss it in, and not have to worry about pulling my pants up with bloodied hands.Gross? Probably. But I had a lot of issues with tampons. Mainly, they leaked and it really annoyed me. I also hated grabbing the string when I peed. And I found that when I coughed a lot or sneezed, the tampon would shift downward and sometimes be extremely painful. They also kinda stink. They're expensive. They produce a tonnnnn of waste. And lastly, my male roommates/family do not appreciate trash cans filled with tampons.So there. I finally got a menstrual cup and it's as wonderful as I thought it would be. I honestly can't figure out why everyone doesn't have one. Whatevs.***UPDATE 12/11/15***I've had, what, 9 periods since I bought this? Something like that! Yup, still love it. I've had no notable issues with this and can't ever imagine going back to tampons. My biggest thing about this is that I can leave it in all day.I don't think I have a particularly light flow, I used to fill up a tampon every 4 hours at my heaviest, pre-menstrual cup. I leave this sucker in for 24 hours. Heck, 36 and I haven't had a problem.It's like I don't even have a period anymore! I wear a super thin panty liner and don't worry at all about leaks. No more digging in my butt crack to find a string, no more hohlding the string to the side when I pee, no more clogged toilets or stinky trashcans.I've seen the light, ladies. I can die happy now.***UPDATE 6/30/17***Wow, this got a ton of "helpful" votes. I feel kind of famous now. To the important part.The cup and I? Well cups. We're still besties. The pink one and I just got back from 6 month backpacking trip around the world. We had a blast together. Along the way I met tons of girls who complained about period troubles. I put my hand on their shoulder, looked them right in the eyes and said, "I have the solution you've been looking for."Ok, haha, done being dramatic. Seriously though, traveling was a breeze with these. I hiked, I surfed, I did yoga, no public bathroom for 12 hours? No problem.Final note and my first *complaint*: After, what, 2 full years my menstrual cups are in *almost* perfect condition. They're not pink or purple anymore, they're brown. Guess the blood stains them after awhile. Even though they're perfectly clean, they don't look like it.

First a couple important things about me: 1) I'm a 33 year old female with no childbirth experience (I mention this because I'm always confused by the description. I'm over 25 so maybe I should buy the bigger size? But I don't have any kids, so maybe the smaller is better for me?), 2) I'm an experienced cup user, and 3) I'm a heavy bleeder.The Red Monkey on my back is a monthly blight to all that I consider good and wonderful in my life. Managing this monkey is a always a trial and requires some creative problem solving and a ridiculous ability to manage my schedule and ensure that I have access to a private lavatory for quick changes as needed, at all times. My cycle tends to last for 5 days with the first 2 days being unbearably heavy, the third day being confused as to whether it would like to stop or not (so my period almost stops, then resumes a few hours later with another heavy flow), day 4 is a medium flow, and day 5 is a light flow until it tapers off into blessed nothingness. Then because of all of the crazy heavy bleeding and my constant tampon usage, I then follow my period up with diluted hydrogen peroxide washes for the entirety of the following week, just to re-balance my overtaxed system.I explained all of the above because tampon usage has become an art-form for me as I try to decrease my risk for TSS (or toxic shock syndrome for those that aren't in the know). For the first 2 days of my cycle, I use Ultra tampons (by Playtex, not Tampax, because they fit me better and have less problems with leakage) that are changed every 3 to 4 hours. I also wear Ultra thin Infinity pads as my backup for the entire length of my cycle. Over night on these days, I'll wear my tampon for 6 hours before changing it when i wake up in the morning, and there will always have been leakage to my Infinity pads. On the next day, I either wear Ultras or alternate with Super Plus tampons that I change every 4 to 6 hours, depending on how heavy my blood flow is. By the last day, I start with Supers, then downgrade to a Regular, and finally a Lite by the end of the day for overnight wear, or I'll stick with a Regular and skip wearing a pad. Suffice to say that my cycle requires a lot of management.Enter the Dutchess cup. My prior experience with menstrual cups include using The Keeper, the Diva Cup, and Instead soft cups when I was in my early 20s. When I was younger, I didn't use Dutchess, but rather those other brands. I loved menstrual cups at first, but then because of my super heavy flow, I stopped using them and went with tampons. I'm a nurse and I wasn't comfortable cleaning my cup in a public stall with toilet paper every few hours. And there was no way I could wash out my cup at a link of sinks without grossing everyone out. So I opted to use the disposable cups. They work well in theory, but I changed them just as frequently and they were prone to leaks, so I didn't feel comfortable using them over my Diva Cup or the Keeper. Reaching the limit with my frustration, I switched over to Tampons and haven't looked back.Now, I'm several years older and about to get a Mirena IUD. While I'm transitioning over to being free of the monkey for the next 5 years, I imagine I'll still be bleeding sporadically, but nowhere near as heavily as I do now. For that reason, I've begun using the keeper again. For my last few regular periods, I've found myself rotating my Dutchess cups every 4 hours on days one and two, with leakage only when I surpass that time interval. But otherwise, going to the bathroom between hasn't been a problem (and no messy gross strings to grab, and no feeling like it's being pushed out by my muscles when I pee or poo, like i experienced with the Diva Cup). Also, no hard rubber nub poking my delicate flesh, like with the Keeper. Instead, just legitimate comfort- you really can't feel it- for hours. Emptying is easy- just bear down, pull the tab a bit, get a grip on the base apex, squeeze and twist to release suction, then gently pull out and empty into the toilet. The hardest part of this whole process is the cleaning. In a private bathroom, I'll rinse in the sink and wash with soap and water. In a multi-stall lavatory, I'll clean with wipes and toilet paper, then wrap in toilet paper and put away in my bag until I have a private moment to clean it. Soap and water to clean is sufficient until my period ends, where i then boil them for a few minutes, dry them on a towel, and put them away until next month.As an added bonus feature, these include little measuring ticks to let you know whether you've got a half ounce or full ounce of blood in the cup. If you look before you pour, you can at least get a rough estimate of how much blood you are losing over the course of your cycle. I use the P Tracker Lite app in the App Market to note the amounts in notes for each day of my cycle. It might be a weird thing to know, but I'm pretty anemic, and my doctors appreciate that little detail when I describe my behaviors and experiences to them. It's a pretty big detail that helps substantiate my claims to help determine treatments.I can't speak of the durability of these as I've only had it for a couple of months, but my Diva Cup got pretty discolored within a few months of usage- but it was also just a transparent white color. This are at least lovely shades of pink and lavender, so hopefully the discoloration will be less obvious. I'll update in a few months to note any breakdown or wear on these. In the meantime, I can say that I'm pretty happy about not having to go through a multitude of tampons anymore. I like that I only have to really worry about my time intervals with regards to when I change these. I've worn mine for up to 12 hours without any issues. I do always use back-up pads on days 1 thru 3, often on 4, and rarely on 5. But I've felt more confident going without pads on days 4 and 5 when wearing my Dutchess Cups, and I haven't had issues with leakage on those days.My recommendation would be to pay attention to your cycle and your anatomy. Size B Dutchess Cups work well for me. I wish they could hold a little more blood, but the size and contour work so well that I really can't complain. If you empty this at the appropriate intervals, you shouldn't have issues with leakage. Insert appropriately (fold-method) and twist for proper placement, then you're good to go. Empty every few hours and wear a backup pad while you're learning how frequently you'll need to empty this. If it's uncomfortable, pull it out fold in half lengthwise, and try again. I pretty much fold in half, and insert this with my middle finger, just about as far as it will go. I then let it pop open, and pinch the bottom twisting it a few times, then poke around with my middle finger to make sure I don't feel any gaps. I then give it a gentle final tug, wipe a few times to clean up any residue (using the Cottennelle flushable wet wipes), then stand up to make sure I can't feel it, then go on my way. I highly recommend giving this a try, even if other cups didn't work for you. Again, I do think that oddly enough, different cups may work better with different anatomies. This worked for me, but I did try out several to get to this happy place. Good luck!!!