That said, the Super Jennies flexible silicone made it less rigid than a lot of the other cups weve tried, which made getting this cup to open up in place within our test vaginas harder. Menstrual cups work because the vaginal canal stretches around themits that hugging that makes a cup work and keeps it from leaking. Menstrual cups can hold up to an ounce of fluid at a time, which means they can handle far more than even the heaviest-duty tampons. This review covers menstrual cups. Menstrual discs have one key thing in common with menstrual cups: They catch menses. Its the same basic size as the disposables but its a lot less firm. Which means that trying to study TSS in menstrual cup use is incredibly hard because youre trying to study something that could show up only in a tiny sliver of the population. Menstrual cups can be used again and again for years, eliminating that waste and ultimately saving you money. The main downside of the Nixit is that, at $50, its one of the most expensive options out there. But you dont need to buy anything to have period sex. A medical model can do a good job of showing how a cup works, but because its a single set size many cups wont even open up inside a medical model because it cant stretch to accommodate them. (Theres a reason that the menstrual cup reviewers of Put a Cup In It call menstrual discs blood shelves.) Menstrual disc users often recommend that you remove it in the shower, at least the first couple of times, to get the hang of it. Yes. There are wider and narrower, deeper, and shorter cups, but if youre just trying to figure out what works for you, the MeLuna generally falls right down the middle. Die-hard cup lovers appreciate the eco-friendly and wallet-friendly aspects of the cup. Nixit: If you liked the premise of a disc, but found the disposable ones too firm, wed recommend the Nixit. Plus, menstrual cups can hold up to an ounce of fluid at a time, which means they can handle far more than even the heaviest-duty tampons. When you get a pap smear, the speculum they use can come in a few different sizes. Although the large cup is too big for most people, if you know that you bleed a lot and can comfortably fit a larger cup, it might be right for you. (Before you feel any additional and unnecessary period shame, know that in the grand scheme of your personal waste, menstrual products are just a small sliver.) Once youve inserted the cup, you can reposition it by inserting a finger and moving the cup around a bit. Period underwear is more reliableand better lookingthan ever. My first stop was Home Depot, where I bought a variety of silicone tubes. Which means you might not know which cup shape is the best for your particular vagina shape. The silicone is soft and easy to clean, and its a nice middle size in case youre not sure how much space youve got down there. This cup is simple to insert, remove, and clean. Some people I talked to said they came to really appreciate and enjoy this part as a way to better understand their own bodies, but that might not be something youre into. Discs do not sit in the vaginal canal the way cups do. We do not recommend just pulling on the stem, whatever the design, to get the cup out. In the United States, the DivaCup is a best seller. To use a disc, you squeeze the rim so that the disc becomes a long, thin shape (like a tampon), and you insert it up into the vagina and push it all the way back so that the farthest part of the disc finds its way tucked up behind your cervix. Aside from size, there is one other main distinction between different cups: firmness. If the stem is poking you, trim it. I reached out to The Vegan Society, the body that certified OrganiCup as vegan, asking for clarification, whose representative said that some cups might theoretically be made using oils that could have animal byproducts in them. So it might work for you, or it might be too big or small, but because youre starting in the middle you can then work your way in either direction depending on how your MeLuna fits. Tampax: Recently Tampax entered the menstrual cup game with cups for regular and heavy flow. Its not a perfect replacementthe MeLunas defining characteristic is a very prominent rimand its a narrower cup than most others. Lets start with insertion. This test confirmed that cups we had trouble folding in the earlier test (like the FemmyCycle and the Intimina collapsible) were indeed hard to insert and remove in this test. You can see a video of some of them. Removing a disc also differs from removing a cup: Rather than pinching the bottom of the disc and pulling out, you insert a finger into your vaginal canal and hook it under the rim of the disc. About 10% of people who menstruate do have heavy periods, something doctors call menorrhagia. This is the hardest part. So if youve ever pulled out a tampon and found a nice clot sticking to the side of it, a cup might be a better option. But the cup itself is pretty big, and the design makes it a bit harder for first-timers. It comes in two sizes. This is one of the best-known cups and also one of the largest. You can get the Yuuki Soft or the Yuuki Classic. The lip on the two cups is almost identical, but the Moon Cup has a rounder and fuller shape, whereas the MCUK is narrower and more tapered, like the MeLuna. And if you're worried about stains, you have other options. Most people remove their cups by inserting two fingers and gently squeezing the cup, and then sliding it out. Anyway, this is all to say that the answer here is probably yes. If the Lena is unavailable, the Saalt is a competent alternative (and it comes in beautiful packaging). People with low cervixes often have the hardest time finding a menstrual cup that fits, because most cups are too long. Otherwise, we think this cup will likely be uncomfortable for most people. This is totally normal, so dont assume that the disc is leaking if you see menstrual fluid in the toilet. Unfortunately, in our tests it didnt work quite as easily as advertised. In earlier guides we didnt test these or other disposable menstrual discs, including the Flex disc, because they eliminate the main advantage of the menstrual cup, which is that its reusable. SckoonCup: This model has one of the most pronounced bell shapes of all the cups we tested, with significant flaring at the base. Most tampons are the same, but some stand out. And you can tell that its designed by people who think about aesthetics, because the silicone is soft to the touch and the design is lovely. The Shorty is shorter than most tampons, so if youve ever had trouble inserting tampons and felt like they were too long or large, this could work for you. A handful of companies advertise $3.99 or even $1 menstrual cups, but these are sometimes not made of medical-grade silicone, and in most cases its unclear what specifically theyre made out of. They were also easy to clean. Most cups come with relatively long stems that many people will trim down. You shouldnt leave any cup in for more than eight hours. When we tested the cups this way, it was a disaster every time. We found that the punch-down fold and the 7 fold were the easiest to use; they made the cup the smallest yet still gave us a spot to grip that kept the cup from opening up before we let go. Once the cup is properly positioned, it should feel the same way a tampon does inside you. al., FLOW: Multicentre randomized controlled trial comparing tampons with menstrual cups, Canadian Family Physician, Barbara B. So I then turned to the wild world of DIY masturbators, and let me tell you, there are a lot of YouTube videos about this (generally SFW). Like tampons, menstrual cups should be easy to insert and remove and reliably keep the blood in instead of all over your clothing. al., A confirmed case of toxic shock syndrome associated with the use of a menstrual cup, Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases & Medical Microbiology, July/August 2015, Nina Rastogi, Greening the Crimson Tide, Slate, March 16, 2010, Elizabeth Nyothach, et. In the end, we put all our cups and reusable discs to the same set of tests, and then separated our picks into vague vagina shapes. From company to company, these sizes are called different things, but in general the larger one is for people whove given birth and the smaller version is for people who havent. But the Cora, introduced in 2019, has a few subtle design features that we havent seen on other cups, and make it a great choice for first-time cup users. If you need a softer cup, the MCUK may be a good option. Ziggy: Unlike the other two discs we tested, the Ziggy is oblong and actually has a correct orientation for insertion. Its hard to isolate the variables herea cup might be the right size but sitting awkwardly because its not in deep enough or its at a weird angle. This is also the cup with the least resistant silicone that we tested, so if you have a strong vaginal canal, youll crush this cup before it can open up. I also experienced leaking through the hole where the stem pull tab threads through the bottom of the cup. Lots of cups are good, and it will probably take you one or two tries to find your so-called Goldilocks cup. With all that in mind, here are the cups that stood out to us. Even the small Super Jennie, which we also tested, holds more fluid than most large cups. In our tests however, we found that the shape of the stem didnt really change how easy or hard it was to remove the cups. We independently review everything we recommend. How to know if a cup fits (and how it should feel). But in our tests, that feature introduced some flaws. The idea is an interesting one: Tulip has built a little valve into the stem of this cup so that you can reach up, pinch the stem, and let the cup empty itself into the toilet. The Lena cup is a bit wider and a lot smoother than many of the cups available. Later, well try to guide you through figuring this out as best we can, but ultimately cup fitting is often a matter of trial and error before you find what menstrual cup bloggers call the Goldilocks cup. And we know this isnt trivial, because most cups range from $20 to $40 and arent returnable. Instead, cup manufacturers have to file a form that basically says, This cup works and performs just like other cups that are already for sale. As long as a cup doesnt have any big design changes, and manufacturers can reasonably argue that theres nothing about this new cup that would pose a threat not already posed by the ones already available, they can get FDA approval. If you are a person who gets a period, you can probably use a menstrual cup. It was easy to insert and remove, and cleaning was no problem. But menstrual cups are also whats known as 510(k) exempt, which means they dont have to do this to be sold or to be considered safe. If youre just starting out using a menstrual cup, youre not sure what you like or even how large or small your vaginal canal is, we recommend the Cora cup. Finding a cup that fits, and feels, just right for you may require some trial and error (you should not be able to feel a cup inside you very much, and it definitely should not hurt). If you have a heavy flow and youve found that even the wide, bell-shaped cups youve tried are still too narrow for you, this might be worth a last-ditch effort. (A quick note: In this guide we use the term blood colloquially to refer to the stuff that the cup is catching. What that means is that you can change just one variable at a time when youre trying to figure out what works best for you, instead of starting all over again with a new cup if this one isnt perfect.