If the word "menstruation" makes you cringe, please take this opportunity to navigate away from this blog entry.  You're not going to like what comes next.

But if you're a woman between the ages of twelve and fifty, you most likely deal monthly with She of 1,000 Euphemisms, or, bluntly, the human reproductive cycle.  Menses.  Your period.

And if you're one of these women raised in North America, you are probably familiar with the range of "feminine hygiene" products available in drugstores and supermarkets.  Most of you probably consider yourselves either tampon or pad girls, and purchase boxes of your preferred method monthly or bi-monthly, maybe raising an eyebrow over warnings of Toxic Shock Syndrome or articles about the bleaches and chemicals used in the cotton in these disposables, maybe worrying momentarily about all the waste created by going through a dozen boxes of these products every month, but generally resigned to one of these approaches.  After all, what other options are there?

Well, there's the menstrual cup, for one.  Please take a moment to view the image above.  This magical little cup is a reusable, environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and relatively worry-free alternative to tampons.  Yes, you stick that thing inside of you.  Yes, you reuse it.  No, it's not gross, or at least not any grosser than shoving a piece of cotton up there and letting it rot, or reusing your underwear after washing them, for that matter. 

Here's the rundown.  You wash it and replace it twice a day in the shower or in the bathroom while you get ready for bed.  The rest of the time, you don't need to worry about leakage, or make any mad dashes to the bathroom with your purse.  When the cup is properly placed, you can't even feel it.  Many women have experienced a significant reduction in cramps after switching to cups from tampons, and since cups simply collect falling fluid rather than absorbing it, you can leave it in for 12 hours at a time without worrying about Toxic Shock Syndrome. 

I've personally used a cup for five years, and I remember when I first started I was actually angry that I had used tampons since I was fourteen.  For me, there was no comparison.  I used to dread those few days a month during which I felt like I was keeping a dirty little secret, always sneaking off to the bathroom with an unmarked package and silently praying for divine leak protection in formal wear.  After a few cycles using a cup, my attitude toward my period changed completely.  I often said I forgot I even had a period because the maintenance was so carefree compared to life pre-cup.

As if the sheer convenience weren't enough, cups are also environmentally and economically sound.  The same cup will last you ten years if you take care of it properly, saving whole dump trucks full of waste generated by disposable tampons and pads.  Plus, a cup will run you about thirty bucks.  If you buy even one four-dollar box of tampons per month, a cup will more than pay for itself in less than a year. 

It's truly the wave of the future.  So, are you ready to go with the flow?

In the United States and Canada, the two most readily available brands of menstrual cups are The Keeper and The Diva Cup.

The Keeper is the original American manufacturer of the modern menstrual cup.  The Keeper is a brown, latex rubber model which comes in two sizes:  Size B for women who have never given birth vaginally, and Size A for women who have.  (The inside of your vagina changes considerably not only after childbirth, but also as you grow older.  Many women in their late twenties or thirties require the larger sized cup, even if they've never given birth).  As the first modern mainstream provider of menstrual cups, and being the only modern brand that offers a product in natural latex instead of silicone, Keepers have acquired a somewhat crunchier, more holistic image than many of their competitors, including the Diva Cup.

The Diva Cup, which is also available in two sizes and is made of a soft, clear, medical-grade silicone.  Diva Cup is a Canadian company, and Divas have traditionally been marketed less to the "organic, granola, one-with-your-body" and more to the "practical, in-control, on-the-go" side of the modern girl demographic than the Keeper.  The fact that it's made of silicone is especially exciting to those who are interested in cups but are allergic to latex.  (Keeper has since released its own silicone cup, The Moon Cup, but reports of shady branding practices have led many cup enthusiasts [they do exist] to call for a boycott of this product.  For more information about the Moon Cup US boycott, click this link.)

Both of these brands are available at Whole Foods and Cambridge Naturals, but there are a dozen other international brands out there, all of which are designed slightly differently and may "fit" different people better.  If you want to know all your options, check out this comprehensive comparison.  (Note, not all of these international brands hold US FDA approval, so this is something to consider if FDA approval is a concern for you.)

If you're interested in the history of the menstrual cup, check out this page on the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health website.

And for the YouTube-attention-spanned (down here, guys!  down here!), here's a video sponsored by Diva Cup that gives a pretty snappy rundown.