NPR recently posted an article about menstrual cups. To be completely honestly I never entertained the idea before, but now I’m intrigued. It sounds like it could be a way to avoid that errant tampon string in just the wrong spot when you’re trotting…Does anyone have any first hand reviews? Can you feel it when you ride? Is there a risk of dislodgement/leaking with sitting trot?
I used and loved a Diva cup for quite a while, but due to some other issues, I had to give it up. I’d really like to get another style, because there’s so many now, but haven’t bitten the bullet.
For me, a menstrual cup plus period panties were light-years ahead of the dry, raw, chafe-fest that came with riding in a tampon and pad.
I had to trim the stem on the Diva cup to be comfortable, but once that was done, I never felt it if it was in properly.
If they’re going to leak, they do it with or without jostling. That just means its in wrong.
Way less gross, wasteful, and stinky than tampons and pads, but there is a learning curve.
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Without getting too deep in TMI territory, hopefully:
Much depends on how it fits your body. Open an incognito page in your browser, google your way to the wonky world of cup blogs, and start reading about the variety of options. Expect to try a couple of models before you find what works best for you.
One of the things to look into is the variety of stem designs. Some of them are way worse than a tampon string during riding, so choose wisely or be willing to cut it off.
Used correctly, they create a seal so leakage is not dependent on movement. That said, a lot of riders have strong pelvic floor muscles, and for a fit rider during a really core-intensive ride (e.g. doing a hard lesson on a big moving dressage horse) leaks can happen even with an otherwise well fitting and properly seated cup. Really soft materials are more prone to leaking from pelvic muscle use, so keep that in mind when choosing options.
Diva Cup is probably the product with the most name recognition and market share in the US, but it’s design is not for everyone. Look at alternatives before you buy one of the well marketed brands.
Make sure your chosen model and technique are giving you reliable protection in lower-stakes settings for a while before you put your breeches and saddle in the line of fire. You don’t always discover it on the first day if something isn’t perfectly reliable.
As a pre-emptive response to the inevitable squeamishness and hygienic objections, bear in mind that these things are popular for a reason among backpackers – women who go without running water for far, far longer than you are away from modern conveniences during a horse show port-a-potty visit or overnight horse camping trip. Once you get the hang of it they’re no less tidy than the alternatives, and with as much forethought as it takes to put a tampon in your pocket on the way to the loo you can handle everything in a sanitary way, even without running water.
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I used the Diva Cup for a long time and loved it. Then I had to replace it due to a yeast infection. The replacement never worked right. It leaked so badly that I went back to tampons. I bought a different brand of cup and didn’t have good luck with it, either. I plan to try one of the new diaphragm style cups next. I’ve always cut tampon strings so they don’t hang down outside my body. I’m prone to yeast infections and BV due to a medication I take and the string hanging just acts like a wick for all that nastiness. 
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Just the title of this thread made me very glad some things have shut down due to old age!!
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:lol::lol::lol: You and me both!
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I have been using the soft cup (the diaphragm like discs) and love them. The cups don’t work for me but I love the discs, its all about finding the right fit which unfortunately can be an expensive trial and error. They CAN leak, but its rare and usually when I’m ultra heavy, haven’t emptied it enough, and did something to break the seal or dislodge it (like a bad sneeze, sex (yes you can have sex with a disc), some kind of awkward stretch, pee, or anything else than might cause the kegel muscle to move too much. But like I said it is rare that it happens just out and about, but the thing is it can be catastrophic when it does lol. I make sure I emptied within atleast a few hours of riding and I still wear a small pad (like a larger panty liner) when riding with the cup but I have never had a leakage issue while riding (knock on wood). But I think it definitely could happen. I mean, I have totally peed myself a bit a few times while riding (30+ problems they never warned you about!) so I’d imagine the cup/discs could leak too. But no, if they are in correctly you can’t feel them. One of the “problems” with it is that I will forget I have my period because I am not wiping blood every time, and I can’t feel it if it in correctly so I will forget about it and keep it in too long. But luckily the carry a much lower risk of TSS than tampons and are meant to be kept in for up to 12 hours anyway. They do make for a less messy and more comfortable ride than tampons, bit i’d still ride with a backup.
Oh and because they require some trial and error and a learning curve…try them out at home. Don’t try them for the first time at a 3 day event with your new white breeches.
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I love my cup, but I never got around to using it while riding (rode about every couple of months and now on the pill) one thing I will say is that a small bottle of sex toy cleaner is super handy to have in the bottom of your bag for emergencies.
I cut it short
Heh… Why would this require an incognito page? It’s just menstruation, not porn. LOL
That said, I haven’t ridden in mine but can’t see why it would be an issue. I have ridden bikes, gone swimming, and gone running, and it’s fine. I did have to trim the little stem off of mine though. I’ve used both the disc type and the regular bell shaped ones, and the discs were great, comfort wise, but I would have leak issues if I sneezed.
The only other thing I’ll say is avoid the femmycycle at all costs. That one nearly sent me to the ER.
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What are the cost of these? The last time I looked it up, the cost was about $40. That seems prohibitive to trying a few brands…unless some are more costly than others.
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I guess I’ll hop in… I have been trying out different cups and plan to blog about it eventually. However, I recommend the cup to basically every female friend I have.
My first experience using my cup was at an all day horse show… during a particularly heavy point in my cycle. I popped it up there in the morning, emptied it around mid day (with lots of purell and care because port-o-potties), and lasted the entire day in my white breeches with no leaking.
I started with the Lena cup, but it ended up just being a bit uncomfortable to the point where I felt kind of sore by the end of my period. So I went looking for something a bit softer and rounder along the top edge. I ended up with two Saalt cups (the small and the large), and I am tempted to add their new Soft cup to the clan.
I went XC schooling in the rain with mine. I have gone to horse trials in them. I have even fallen off wearing one. With no leaks. There is a learning curve to finding the best one for your body as well as how to get it inserted and opened correctly, but I will never go back to tampons. Now, I use thinx panties as a backup, but it really is overkill for me.
Some Resources:
https://parent.guide/best-menstrual-cup-the-ultimate-guide/ - This is really an ultimate guide and a wonderful resource.
https://www.saaltco.com/ - Saalt Co has a great “learn” tab
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTV4Ua7tls0VVoJhFl8XsOreMtkRKSVxl - ItsJustKelli on facebook gives real life, no bs, in depth reviews of all kinds of reusable period products.
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There are so many on the market today, that it has helped drive prices down. They seem to range between $20 - $40, so it is still quite the investment. But, on average, a woman spends about that much on tampons each year.
if you average, 3 tampons a day, once a month, for 4 days, for 12 months works out to 144 tampons. If you buy a 50 count box of tampons every few months, you spend about $25 a year. This doesn’t county any pads you might use or other products. So it’s a bigger investment up front, but they typically last a very long time with proper care.
I am laughing at your math, but it does give a person an idea of what type of flow is being talked about that this product is working well with. Three tampons a day for four days. How dreamy that sounds.
I think the point that @Ajierene was trying to make was not so much that they are expensive to use (where comparing their cost to how many tampons one uses in a month fits in) but how the cost of them makes it a little steep to try various brands until you find one that works right for your body shape.
It is not like you can buy one and the easily re-sell it when that brand does not work for you.
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I use incognito pages anytime I want to search something I might purchase- it seems to cut down on the 12 trillion ads that you get
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You are a brave soul!!!
Right?!?
I tried Soft Cups, which are the disposable disc style. I thought if I liked them, I’d invest in a Diva Cup (spoiler alert: I didn’t like them that much). While they worked fine most of the time, I had some issues. Leakage was a problem if they weren’t placed perfectly. For whatever reason, sometimes they just wouldn’t fit right… I don’t know if it was slight differences in manufacturing or differences in muscle tension or what. I never had a problem leaking while riding, though. Drifting into TMI territory, they were really messy to remove on heavy days.
I’m one of the lucky ones that got a DivaCup, got the hang of insertion and removal, and never looked back. It’s a DREAM. No more worrying about changing tampons mid-day, while out and about. Put it in when I get up in the morning, take it out before bed (I still prefer pads overnight, personally, but that might change). I FORGET I HAVE MY PERIOD! Super comfortable, only very occasional leaking but never enough to worry about it. I do replace mine about every year, because despite daily washing and trying their boil method, they do discolor and just look yucky after a while. Perhaps the colored ones solve this problem a bit.
I rode with it for years, doing dressage, so lots of sitting trot and just about everything you can think of, no issues for me. I like the suggestion of period underwear as a backup, if you’re worried about it, but it wasn’t something I ever needed.
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Ha, yeah. I mean the math did distract me a bit…how many tampons do I use? Her numbers may be right as I generally have a fairly light period. But yeah, while one would be my cost of tampons for the year, if I have to buy more to find the right “fit”, then I’m spending a few years worth.
The other issue is while my tampon usage is pretty consistent, it’s not always evenly spaced. Last time everything happened in one day. So day 1 was 2 tampons, day 2 was 7, and day 3 I was done (all regular tampons). So…how’s it work on really heavy days like that?
I jumped on the tampon wagon as soon as possible and I don’t think these are bad but the issues with fit and potentially leaking and “learning curve” just really give me pause. Though, I can also see where they would be great in certain situations.
tabula rashah gets it. I use incognito mode for a lot of innocent things where being tracked is disadvantageous. Like buying airline tickets. And when I don’t want to be aggressively served tailored ads based on a topic. IME the ads that turn up when an algorithm decides that the most salient thing to market to is your private bits are not always the sorts of things everyone wants splashed across the top of every web page they visit. Just trying to point a stranger to the info they need without earning them a few weeks of that nonsense.
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Now we’re getting into TMI territory, but the cup is even more of a life changer when the tampon budget would be much higher than that.
You have to empty it more frequently, but you don’t have to carry a bunch of disposable products around with you, which is nice. And for anyone who’s ever had to leave their horse in the cross ties and run to the bathroom between tacking up and riding just to be safe, there’s additional freedom to be had by using a product with much higher capacity.
These products work well for many of us who aren’t living the dream.
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