My Divas

Here's what I thought of the DivaCup:

Pros:

Don't have to buy tampons or pads. Better for the environment and your pocketbook. There's just a one-time cost and it has gone down in recent years (I got mine for about $20--a few years ago it was closer to $35-40). It's supposed to last for 10 years or more.

You get to be well-acquainted with your body and your cycle. Most of us aren't really familiar with our menstrual flow; we don't necessarily need to be, I suppose. Although if you had a medical condition or were curious, the DivaCup is a great way to get familiar with it.

No more tampons and pads floating around your purse. Just your DivaCup. That's it. No more running out at the office, in the middle of the night, etc. Another little bonus: if you can tell you are about to start, you can insert it fairly early. You don't have to wait until you are flowing to insert it (like with a tampon).

Virtually no risk of toxic shock. Which means you can wear it all day on the last few days of your period when your flow isn't as heavy or all night and not worry about it.

Lots of other things. All the things you can do with a tampon (swim, exercise, etc.), you can do with this. Haven't had a chance to experience foreign travel or camping with it, but I've heard it works out pretty well.

Cons:

Messy. Your fingers are going to get messy. Most of us wash our hands after using the restroom anyway, but in this case, you're probably going to want to wash your hands before, too. Which means...

Dealing with this in public restrooms sucks. You just touched the door handle and now you are going to touch yourself? Mmmm, yuck. And since you are not in the comfort of your own home and most restroom stalls don't have a sink in which to rinse out the cup, you kind of have to dump it and wipe it as much as possible with toilet paper and then reinsert it. Doing this once or twice is not really a big deal, but an all day shopping trip or something during the first few days of your period might be really un-fun.

Personally...I seem to have a heavier flow than most DivaCup users...I'm emptying and rinsing more frequently than many people (according to internet forums) seem to need to in the first few days. I also need to use liners almost always--I didn't usually need to when I was using tampons, and I could go a bit longer between tampon changes.

It definitely takes a little time to figure out how exactly to insert and remove the DivaCup. There are lots of little tips online that may help (how to fold it, how to pinch it while removing, etc.).

I'll probably keep using it. I'm used to it now and it's pretty convenient. Plus, the frugal environmentalist in me likes it a lot. :)

Hope that helps, gals!