Considering the Diva

I am considering the Diva cup as my first cup. I have an extreme heavy couple of first days and I work 12 hours shifts which means public restroom. I do not have a whole lot of time to run to the bathroom during my shift so how difficult will this be as a beginner? A little bit nervous about all this. I have a tampon user for so long and I had no idea there was reusable cups until I stumbled on them on Amazon and I have to say I wanted one IMMEDIATELY.

The Diva holds a pretty good amount of liquid, more than any tampon, so you most likely won't be going to the bathroom to take care of period business nearly as often. There is a safe way to try it though, so you can get plenty of practice in, without having to worry about first time use being in public...

When you first get your Diva, you can just only wear it after you get home from work, and to bed. Then use a tampon at work. Just until you are 100% confident with inserting and removing your cup, and totally comfortable with it. And naturally, you can ask us here in the forum for plenty of tips on how to make public bathroom emptying faster and easier For starters, you can keep bottled water in your purse for rinsing in the stall. But if you're not a purse-carrying kinda gal, you can also just wet one of those thick, hand-drying paper towels before you go in the stall, so you can wipe the cup clean after emptying it (regular toilet paper tends to shred too much).

When you're starting out at home, you can also wear a cloth or regular pany liner for backup until you get confident.

Then of course, once you have plenty of confidence, and you've gottan good at putting the cup in and taking it out, you can start wearing your cup to work, using the above public restroom tips .

If you have any other questions, go ahead and ask. Hope that helps to "seal the deal"

M

Thank you so much for your help. I am so glad that I found this forum and I truly believe the cup is the way to go. I just wish I had known about it sooner.

So do I, but I'm also glad I found them when I was 27, and not 57, I suppose

My mum discovered cups just too late. But she's so convinced that she wants to start a business selling them in NZ, since they can be hard to find here.

That sounds like a great idea! Are there any seller restrictions in NZ? Hopefully not...

Here in the USA, you can only sell cups that are FDA approved (Keeper/Keeper Moon Cup, DivaCup, Lunette, Instead). However, we can *purchase* any of the other cups we like, as long as its for personal use, and not for selling. I hear Ladycup will soon be going for USA approval though.

I'm not aware of any...we're only talking/investigating for the moment.

Is there much of a difference between the Diva cup and the Moon cup? I am ordering my cup today, but I am torn between these two.

They're quite different (as much as cups can vary, which really isn't much).

http://menstrualcups.friendhood.net/moderator-s-photo-library-f52/divacup-comparison-photos-t231.htm

Diva Small 43x57 "hoop skirt"
Diva Large 46x57 "hoop skirt"

Keeper & Moon Cup Small 41x54 narrow bodied Latex/silicon
Keeper & Moon Cup Large 44x54 narrow bodied

UK Mooncup Small 43x50 narrow bodied
Large 46x50 narrow bodied

I should really add a collumn about restricted availability to my chart. Is there an actual list anywhere?

ankhst-- I'm not sure, the only list I made was the stiffness chart. But I think Purple Obsidian might have a few other points that she compares on. Thank you for posting the photo link, I slept in really late so I coulcnd' get in here early enough

OP-- I'll second there is a difference between Moon Cup (both Keeper and UK), and Divacup. Diva is longer (in the body, not the stem), the second rim is more sublte, and both Diva and Mooncup UK have grips rings, whereas the USA's silicone Keeper Moon Cup does not-- its quite smooth all over.

I also think there is a slight difference in texture from Diva, Diva seems slightly more squishy around the rime, but of course not overly so.

I have decided on the Diva Cup. YAY, I can't wait until it gets here. I guess I need to get out more if ordering a cup is the highlight of my day.

Lol, hey, something new and different is always a little exciting.

And of course you can hang out here until the cup arrives, and then let us know how things are going, or if you need help on any learning curve matters