Cup lovin'

I was reading through some old posts instead of writing a huge paper due tomorrow and not only did it cause me to miss MMC, NYC, and how much fun doing the assignment was, but it caused me to miss the cup, which, as you have see in previous posts, i love dearly. i miss the examination of the blood, the whole process of using it. With the sponge it has become so routine (i have been using it for a year) that the novelty wore off. so maybe tonight i will put the cup in and enjoy its splendor.

VyNL

Breezy

As you know, Cleaning the sponge with tea tree oil is the best way to clean it.... well let me tell ya! After cleaning it, putting it in feel soooo great! i love the way the tea tree oil feels its like cooling and breezy its AMAZING! it makes me feel better :)

VyNL

The writing on the wall

Feeling adventurous?? Share your stories!

Why hello there! Boy it's been a long time since I've been able to post to this blog...I almost forgot what it looks like. Now, that's a horrible thought -and it's exactly what we don't want to happen. A blog's success is measured not just by the consistent dedication of the writers and the quality of work published, but also by the support of followers and their sharing of ideas, interpretations, opinions, comments, disagreements....menstrual adventures! I suppose that means I should also uphold my end of the deal as a writer...so expect some articles soon -maybe even tonight! Enjoy VyNL's recent contributions and in turn, participate with us in our Adventures in the Alternative!

Today, in particular, we are asking each of the students in David Linton's "Social Constructs & Images of Menstruation" Class at Marymount Manhattan College to get on the blog and really read through entries - comment and email us with entries of personal stories or anecdotes you've heard elsewhere about alternative products, conventional products, menstrual woes and successes...bring us images, words, truth -really shock the blog over the weekend!

We invite all readers to share this blog with their friends.
We encourage all readers to comment on all entries.
We hope you will all consider posting entries as well - you can do this by sending us an email:
kouridm@gmail.com or dpogorelec@mmm.edu with an Alias you'd like to use and your entry in the body of the email.
Your fresh insight will help this blog grow - and your networking and sharing will give us new readers and new material!

Keep it flowing!
Thanks!
Schwinn

CLEANING THE SPONGE!!!

So i found out that you actually should not boil your sponges because it lessens your sponges life! The best way to clean it is using Tea Tree oil. The smell is strong but it disinfects the sponge and it takes away the ocean/fish smell.





Here is the new sponge i got, they now make them in teeny, regular and large. i thought "oh the original ones i had must have been normal so i must be a large!" NO WAY!!!! check out this bad boy!!! its a monster!
This is one of the two sponges that come in a pack... this one is uncut:


This one has been cut for comfort and has been used for one cycle. the color changes because the blood stains it but the tea tree oil has disinfected it.


Here are the sponges next to each other.


Also i think i may have mentioned this but here is my glorious luna cup! i have missed it sooo much! now the (un) delightful diva cup can become a lovely addition to my shelves of nic-nacs.



FYI: Diva Cup takes returns on your cup if you are not satisfied!

VyNL

for more info on sponges click the title!

Diva Cup

I bought a diva cup right before my trip to Lebanon because my luna cup could not be found. IT WAS AWFUL! well before that... i found out that my vag problem is not a short canal but i straight one! a "normal" canal dips at the end (inside you) but mine does not so that is why i have problems with the cups... ok so it was soo long it stuck out of me slightly and was not fun. i used it everytime we went to the beach so i could go in the water but i just couldnt deal the whole time and ended up using tampons... which was also miserable. i felt sooo bad about cheating on alt and harming the environment. but in lebanon they do not put anything in the toilet (tp, menstrual products) so it doesnt run off into the ocean... but there is soooo much litter that it doesnt seem to matter. that was sad (litter) and using tampons sucked (but they were chlorine free and organic so i didnt feel really shitty over it).

It would be great to have people send in pictures of products they have seen around the world!

VyNL

Lebanese Products

Well they are the same as in America... but like most foreign countries, they dont use any, or very little, packaging. some even give free gifts. they also have chlorine free and organic versions but i was able to get any pictures.

VyNL

Hopscotch yankin' Leap-Frog's cup tab.

Our friend Leap-Frog told us this really funny story about this guy, Hopscotch, who has this huge crush on her:

Leap-Frog's friend Bead was telling Hopscotch and their other friend Leaf about the diva cup, because, as you already know, we like to tell as many people as we can about these alternative products, after Bead told the two boys about the cup and how awkward it is when you pull it out because it is hard and can easily fall or splatter blood all over. In response to hearing this, Hopscotch told Leaf and Bead that he would pull a cup out of Leap-Frog any day.

and we thought Hopscotch was awkward before saying this...

that's just a little too alternative for me!

I hope you are all experiencing new and exciting things concerning your menstruation!!!
Please send us any fun or exciting or adventurous stories you have! we love them!!

VyNL

HELP US OUT!

So basically there hasnt been any new info on our periods or our period product use! soooo if anyone has any feedback or stories they would like to share with us or have us post on the blog we would absolutely love that and you can pick a name for yourself that will allow you to be anonymous!

VyNL

awful...

So this was a very tramatic cycle! after the natural history museum accident, everything was fine, for a day! i guess the sponge just ran its course but i really thought that it would hold out through this cycle. the same thing that happened at the museum happened in my bathroom! the sponge just leaked out everywhere! i ended up just throwing it away and used the cup for the last three days. I guess i had a heavier than usual flow because i stopped using the nuvaring bc. uuuuugggghhhhh! misery! i felt really sick and gross and the smell of blood was haunting me for the rest of the time i was on my period! uuuuggghhh! 

VyNL

Knit

anyone wanna knit me a uterus? 

VyNL

p.s.

i think its funny how the sponge provides so much more entertainment than a pad or tampon

The Museum of Natural Blood Gushing EVERYWHERE!!!!

Today i went to the museum of natural history (my favorite museum ever!) and the very first thing i did was search for the bathroom. i had to pee sooo badly! after peeing i kept hearing squishing noises coming from my sponge. i thought "wtf! did it absorb my pee?" i had no way of washing it cause there was a long line and i wouldnt be able to wash it out and then go right back into the stall. so i thought it would be a really good idea to squeeze it out and then put it back in.. kind of like the how you can pour out the cup... but no. that doesnt work with the sponge. so i pull it out and it was sooo full!!!! i didnt even know i could bleed that much! it was leaking out EVERYWHERE!!!! it got on the toilet seat, all over my hands (dripping down my hand!!!), ridiculous! so i wrapped it up in toilet paper and it leaked through that so i kept wrapping it and it kept leaking through!! it was such a mess! and there was a whole line of women waiting for the bathroom. (thankfully there were two other stalls) it was like a movie! it was insanity!  this sponge is at it's last cycle. its sad but it just isnt doing it anymore. what a wreck! its funny to think about it now but at the time i'm sure my face was bright red!

VyNL

Sneeze, Squish, Splat!!!

AGAIN!!! haha. 

yes my love for the sponge provides entertainment to me only... cause thankfully i'm the only one who can hear it! i love alternative products soo much because they are crazy comfortable but... i always forget i have my period! which is great but sucky cause then its 2:30 am and i havent washed the sponge in many many hours! which lovingly causes sneeze squish splat. 

my cousin (whom i love dearly but is very very wasp-y and close minded) got her period the day before her week long Virgin Islands vacation. i suggested that she get a menstrual cup then she could go in the water and got get her vag bit by a shark. i (knowing this was going to be the likely response) got the usually reaction of "that is wrong!!! DEVIL! DEVIL!!!!" and then got an earful the whole ride from connecticut to nyc about it. 

WOW!!!!! i dont understand why people are so closed minded about alter products! it's like people are addicted to the eco-killing, body harming products that are sold in bulk. well i say "that is wrong!!! DEVIL!! DEVIL!!!!" to those.  (i have an angry, squinty eyed look right now) 

oh the passion! 

schwinn mentioned that its funny how we get out periods on days that we had menstruation class. (t/th)  

and that's all folks!

VyNL

Tampon Tattoos

What do you think of these tattoos? 

I think the first two are cool but the third one is really grungy! I dont know if it's a "Punk" statement like "i smoke and have bloody tampons! take a look!" the first two are pretty and there are wings and stars! haha. they just fly right outta ya! 

VyNL

My mom

I forgot to post about this when it happened...

over break i showed my mom my menstrual cup and she laughed saying that she would need one of those red (i guess party/beer) cups for her period! 

VyNL

In the toilet...

So today was a very interesting day. I was stressing out over something i shouldnt have been stressing out about yet and while i was on the phone with schwinn one of the balls from my nose ring fell off and it pretty much pushed me over the edge. i couldnt understand why i was so irritated by everything and why i was so furiously searching the 4th floor of Nuge for the last earring ball i had. after rushing off to class and going to the bathroom i found out i had gotten my period and was getting cramps and irritated. it was weird that i was so irritated because i dont usually get more irritated when i am getting my period. so i was very unprepared and didnt have any sort of product so i had to sit uncomfortably with a wad of toilet paper through a 3 hour class. 

sadly i broke down and bought one of those 25 cent tampons in the girls restrooms at school. let me tell ya that is the smallest tampon ever!!! i am used to having the cup or sponge in me and before that the hugest tampons money could buy. so i told schwinn and she referenced it to a penis... as she does so many things! (hahah just kidding)... and my demonstration of how a tampon the size of my pinkie was insecurely resting in my jumbo silver dollar sized vag made a really cute boy laugh (as well as schwinn and i)... pretty much made day! 

but that had nothing to do with the toilet!

 the first time schwinn used the cup it fell in the toilet. that provided a really great laugh.. until now. 

as i was pulling out the cup... oh about 20 mins ago... it flung out of my fingers and went splat all over the place. not only did it cover the toilet bowl with blood but also my backside and legs! gross! but i was cracking up! it was so ridiculous! 

and on top of that... i have this weird eco-friendly low flush toilet... this does not work in a situation where there is bloody water and toilet paper in the toilet. i have already flushed 3 times but the water is still this lovely shade of red (as are the few pieces of toilet paper that have not gone down). Thank goodness i live alone so i am not subjecting anyone else to the silly blunders of this alternative menstrual user!

WOW! what a day. probably my most flustered menstrual day in a very long time!

VyNL

Moroccan Menstruality

I spent the majority of January traveling throughout Morocco and came to realize over time that I would return not only with nothing to declare at customs, but -more importantly and much to my dismay-also nothing of interest to post relative to the topic of alternative menstrual products. It comes as no surprise to me that they are not available off the shelves of pharmacies, super-marches, souks or hanouts.

The language barrier separated me from conversing with most women as well…so I learned nothing about the “secret women’s business” of Al Maghrib. I held out with the alternate prospect that I would be somewhere between Marrakech and Chefchaouen on my period, with or without my menstrual cup, and worst of all -in front of a Turkish toilet contemplating my next move on limited toilet paper and without a power flush or nearby sink. In fact, I had hoped for days that this might happen so that I could report to everyone something delightful or awful. The closest I came to experiencing Morocco with a menstrual cup was a funny conversation during which the suggestion of "alternative" uses for the alternative cup arose:

"When you come back from Morocco, make sure to bring hashish back with you!!"
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"Put it in your period cup. Then if a dog smells your crotch, you can just wave it off like it's normal."

I did try to share this moment with a male Moroccan friend and was sensitive enough to note that if I grossed him out, he could stop me. Really, I don’t think he understood a word I said. I talk fast…and in English…and some Spanish. My French and Moroccan Arabic were limited to few words.

Needless to say, the cup remained empty of anything and everything. While I took a risk of being without it by forgetting it at my home base (Fes) while traveling to other cities, I never did get my period...until the day before I left.

Interestingly enough, my friend who I was visiting, had planned to take me to a hammam (a bath house/spa of sorts that is reputed for sloughing layers of dead skin, warming souls, leaving everyone squeaky clean and providing an overall relaxing experience while shedding body image shame and embarrassment away with that dead skin). She too had just started to bleed and was using a tampon. While discussing social norms/taboos of Morocco, she suggested: "it might not be kosher to go to a hammam while on one's period.” Determined not to miss the experience, I assured her that she with her string tucked, I with my undetectable cup, and we with underwear on (it's only acceptable to be topless) would be fine - and sure enough, we were.


Although we survived the hammam, I managed to experience worse luck in my travels. With a load of baggage to deal with, I spent little time in the bathrooms while waiting hours for my flight –this after spending all night on the train. I managed to check and empty the cup before take-off, however, I spent a total of 12 hours in flight with a few hours here and there for a layover. Somewhere over the Atlantic, I recalled that I was not only bleeding and filling the cup, but also that I hadn’t been to a bathroom in long enough. Perhaps I am becoming accustomed to “free-bleeding” (no shame here)…for sure enough, I had the feeling in the seat of my pants that something wasn’t quite right. I discreetly glanced at the seat and saw a token rose petal and did all that I really could do at the moment: cover it with the blanket and go to the rest room.

So it goes - these pink underwear will never be so light pink again. Black pants are lucky to be black. There was nothing I could do but cover my thumb and index finger in blood that had never quite experienced Madrid nor Morocco, blood that had lined and filled and shed and tried to escape only to fill again. I prayed I wouldn’t drop it in the toilet and double checked with minor apprehension that the toilet was not an auto-flusher. (With my cup-dropping mishaps, I am slightly afraid that one day the toilet will take it…though I highly doubt this.) I used more toilet paper than I had in all of my North African journey and stuffed it in and around that little spot of the crotch of underwear where it is lined with an opening (go check – there is an extra sewn layer open at one end on many pairs of bikini bottoms – at least ones from GAP). I sighed – 5, 6 more hours? It seemed like forever.

What would you have done? I’m interested. If it had been VyNL or another of my close friends sitting next to me, I certainly would have attempted to casually let them know only to double over in laughter and repeated attempts at producing the story with a straight face. I contemplated letting a flight attendant know so that at landing, the stain could be tended to, but Iberia features employees who speak mostly Spanish. I’m not saying they couldn’t navigate English, but my pride forces me to use my language skills-and a Spanish menstrual vocabulary isn’t one of my skills. “Yo deje sangre en la silla” (I left blood on the seat)…”es de mi chocha”…(it’s from my crotch)…“Puedes limpia la?” (Can you clean it?)…that would go over nicely, muy suave. My new friend and reason for not being able to get out of my section without waking her up was from Colombia and also spoke mostly Spanish.

I never did tell the flight attendants. I returned to my seat, emptied and stuffed and put my faux leather coat over the seat. I sat in varied positions so as not to continuously smear any remaining damp blood into my coat or the seat. At one point I had to laugh because Erica (from Colombia) asked me to hold her white coat while she got up. As I went to get something out of my own bag while she was in the bathroom, I nearly sat on her white coat. I could only imagine what I would say if I managed to deposit a red letter on her sleeve. Souvenir? Fortunately, it never happened. When we landed, I covered the seat with the blanket from the airline once again –much like everyone else covers their seats. I shared this story with my boyfriend who claims he had a friend who was a flight attendant. He was certain that in the time between me landing and the flight taking off once again, the attendants will have gone through each seat, cleaning out garbage, collecting blankets and pillows and spot-treating such stains they find. And the stain will come out. I’d like to get my hands on stain remover that works so well on my blood. Hey, then I’d have pink underwear again.

-Schwinn-

sponge-haps

so i had my first mishap with the sponge tonight! 

i went out with some friends and wasnt able to rinse the sponge anywhere (it would have been a good idea to use the cup) and as i was leaving the restaurant i sneezed and i heard a squish/splat type sound... it was the sponge being squeezed causing the blood to squeeze out! aaahhhH!!!! it was crazy! it was my first bad experience and it was so inconvenient! i'm glad it wasnt a lot of blood but still it wasnt the best time for it to happen. 

i learned a lesson and it was really uncomfortable... at the time... but now its funny. the sound is what kills me. 

VyNL

also... if anyone has any funny stories they would like to share please post!! thx

Oh BFF

so i told my best friend about alternative products and she said gross. haha! like almost everyone i have told about them. she thought that the cup was literally sticking a cup in your vag. i showed her my cup and she thought that i had pulled it out just to show her but i'm using the sponge so that wasnt the case. it was really funny! i also showed her the sponge (the second one, they come in packs of two) and told her that it smells like the ocean... another gross! hahah! 

also another thing i forgot to mention about the sponge is that sometimes it causes queefing! whoa! 

VyNL

also i found my Vinnie tampon case which is ironic cause i dont use tampons anymore... 

Looong Time

Hey all! 

i know it's been a really long time! i have been out of town and Schwinn has been really busy!

i am on my period right now and felt like i should let you know about my product use. 

i used the cup yesterday and i didnt have any problems with the tab which was great! but since i really like the sponge i am using that today. 

i was explaining how menstruation works to my sister, who is 21 and should know, and she was extremely grossed out by it saying she thought she was going to vomit and pass out! hahaha! it was ridiculous! but this morning i was washing out my cup and she wasnt grossed out at all. i would have thought the opposite cause there i was washing out a bloody cup that i had just pulled out of my vagina! but she just asked what that was when i was drying it and i told her it was the cup. she said "oh" and that was that. 

i also really wanted to ask my gyno about his opinions on alt mens products but after telling him about my "vagina eating monster" i chose not to. he pretty much thinks i'm a freak. 

oh well!

i hope everyone had a great holiday and a happy new year!!

VyNL