Monday 6 October 2008

Goodbye to The Little Blue-Tailed Mouse!!

You know I like to bring you all the stylish green things out there but I recently I have been raving to my girlfriends about this and now it's time Greenies to talk to YOU about THE MOONCUP!!!

For 30 odd years I have grudgingly been spending God-knows-how-much-money on those awful cotton wool tampon things that are full of bleach and pesticides. I had tried the organic cotton ones - which were useless - I never knew I had an alternative. After all tampons are small and convenient, you can swim and wear white trousers during your period without risk of embarrassment blah blah blah...!!!

I was on the tube about 6 months ago and saw an advert for the Mooncup and to be honest I thought it to be too good to be true. A reusable menstrual cup made from soft silicone rubber. It is worn internally but collects menstrual fluid rather than absorbing like a tampon does. And best of all, unlike tampons the Mooncup is not a disposable product, so you don't throw anything in the bin (or clog up the toilet...and you know who you are). You only need to buy one. Ever.

'How green can you get?' thinks Eco Warrioress.

These handy little cups were invented in the 1920's about the same time as the tampon, but at that time ladies didn't touch themselves 'down there' so the tampon which came with an applicator - much more ladylike - became a money making venture because we ladies are guaranteed to come back for more. Month after month. Pretty smart, guys!


The female jour
no who wrote about The Mooncup in the Sunday Times article this week couldn't get along with it but I say she didn't try hard enough. I have become much more trusting of my little cup as the months have gone by. I come over all Uber Green every month knowing I'm not wrapping up in toilet paper and throwing away one more nasty thing for the landfill.

Not for the squeamish you do have to use your fingers and to all the chaps still reading, you may want to stop if you don't do girlie period talk... but...the Mooncup, for me, is a panacea!! No more super absorbent cotton nonsense stuffing up your vadge with the potential of giving you toxic shock syndrome but a hygienic, reusable, washable little cup that comes in it's own dinky little organic cotton bag.

You take it out of the cotton bag before you use it, silly!!!


You have a little spoke to help pull it in and out an I have to confess to dropping it in the loo once after one too many glasses of wine - eeewww!! I washed it thoroughly before putting it back in, honest Matron, but I've really got the hang of it now. No annoying little blue string and that 'full' feeling when you are nowhere near a toilet and it really is time to change the tampon but you don't have one knocking about in the bottom of yer handbag all covered in eyeshadow and chewing gum so you have to go begging amongst any females in the vicinity. Still embarrassing how ever old you are... oh I hope the guys have clicked on a link on the left about solar panels or something!! There can be the dreaded 'leakage' but it was ever thus with the tampon so you just judge for yourself and use a panty liner on those 'heavy days'.
They cost twenty quid so mine paid for itself in about four months. Love it
!!

I'm setting a challenge to all the menstruating ladies out there and the three guys still reading - please tell your wives, sisters and girlfriends - to give The Mooncup a go and write to me about how you get on. I will blog about your experiences here!! We could start a revolution, not to mention potentially bring the multi-million dollar tampon business to a it's knees!!

Oh, Eco Warrioress would love that!!



Next time I promise to tell you about some Gorgeous Green things... Honest.
Like this Eco Wallpaper I found at 100% Design. GORGE!!

2 comments:

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Alexandra - just stumbled over your site for the first time this evening. I love your writing. I'm currently planning content for my blog and would love to run a feature on you some time. Oh and I could never manage the mooncup, never being a tampon girl, but I'm delighted to say I switched to washable pads about 8 months ago and have never looked back :-D

Joost Hoogstrate said...

Hi Alexandra, thanks for reposting that wonderful write-up by Michael Moore. What he says sure makes sense. Much of the global warming problems we face today were triggered by the invention of the internal combustion engine and its ubiquitous use in millions of cars worldwide. There is no point in manufacturing more of them when we already know what they are capable of.

Thanks for the thought provoking post!
Joost Hoogstrate