I’ve been using my Diva Cups for YEARS now, and it seems the trend has caught on. My mom worked in a warehouse that packaged Diva Cups and they’d give away the ones that had damaged boxes. I literally had way more cups than I’d ever need. My mom had to try to give them away, but no one really knew/knows how to use em. I’ve thrown some of my older ones out… now I’m running out and regret giving so much away lol.
Tips and Tricks
I’m not gonna lie, the first several times I tried the Diva Cup, it was uncomfortable and confusing. One day, I discovered a wonderful menstrual cup community on LiveJournal, and learned a bunch of tips and tricks!
The one thing that really helped me was to use the cup flipped inside out! It makes the cup shorter and there’s no uncomfortable tapered tip “hanging” out.
I also tried different folds. My favourite fold is the “punch down”. See the other folds in this post via Pistachio Project.
Diva cup sizing
Diva Cups come in 2 sizes, size 1 (smaller), and size 2 (the larger size).
I started out with the size 1, but my periods got super heavy and found it was always leaking.
I upgraded to the size 2 and still find my periods are SUPER heavy, so I’ve accepted that fact, and try to remind myself to wear a backup pad on my heavy days.
Diva cup leaking
I have some theories as to why the cups always leak for ME, personally. I’ve gone to the gyno and had ultrasounds and have been told my uterus is tilted lol. So I think this might put pressure on the cup a certain way that it can’t hold its full capacity and ends up leaking.
I also have very very heavy periods. I had a crazy experience one time when I was away for a weekend and forgot my Diva Cup. I bought some tampons to use. I got the “Super Plus” tampons. Yep – heavier than the “Super”, got the Super PLUS!
Well, I had to change the tampons every hour. It was ridiculous. This is just to give you an idea of how heavy my period really is.
I’ve accepted the fact that my periods are crazy heavy sometimes, and try to wear a backup pad. I also really wanna try out some absorbant period panties so I don’t have to wear the pads!
Diva cup cleaning
I’m very easy going when it comes to cleaning my cup. I simply wash with warm water and soap when I take out the cup in the shower or after waking up in the morning.
For more of a deep cleaning, there is a Divacup Divawash made by the company. I haven’t personally used this, but the reviews are very positive.
Personally, I sometimes soak the cup in hydrogen peroxide overnight. It gets rid of ALL the gunk that on the cup and makes it look brand new. Even the stuff that gets stuck in the airholes is gone! With very little effort on my part.
What about emptying the cup in public places?
I used to worry about this when I first started using cups.
I thought you needed to wash and rinse the cup every single time you empty it. I don’t do that anymore.
If I am in a public washroom, I just take out the cup, empty it, wipe it off with tissue, and put it back in. The way I see it, whatever is there was gonna be there anyways, right?
I do wash it once in the morning and during my showers in the evening. But during the day, I just empty, wipe, and reinsert the cup.
It will be a bit messy on your hands and fingers, just try to wipe off most of it with toilet paper and wash your hands well after. I’m always paranoid someone will see my hands and be disgusted, but this hasn’t happened yet. haha
My favourite thing about the Diva Cup
I travel and go away on weekends quite a bit. I love how compact the Diva cup is, and I don’t have to worry about if I’ve packed “enough” for the trip. All you need is ONE cup!
Overall
I still experience leakage, but I leak no matter what I use. There are no risks to using menstrual cups, unlike using tampons. And I absolutely hate the smell that occurs when using pads, so this is the best choice for me. Menstrual cups are also more environmentally friendly. Like I mentioned, I still have to use a pad as backup. I use maybe 2-4 pads during my entire period (only on my heaviest days), which isn’t as bad as using 2-4 every day for a week!
Like I mentioned, I also want to try some leak-proof panties, made specifically for periods!
I would love to try other cups, which have slightly different designs to see if maybe they suit my anatomy better. But for now, I still have a few new cups in my stash to get through before I try something new!
