I got the lily cup one for beginners in January, and since I got it I haven’t used anything else for my periods. I LOVE it, but don’t expect to love it straight away!It’s a journey learning how to use it properly! I watched endless YouTube videos with advice on how to insert and remove and knowing it’s in properly, and how to clean the cup properly etc before trying one. Took me two full periods to confidently be able to use it and know that I’d done it properly and not going to leak. I’d suggest wearing a pad for the first period as a safety blanket in case of a leak while you’re still figuring out how to know when it’s properly inserted. Once you’ve got it though its so worth it! There are loads of videos on YouTube about different types of ‘folds’ to insert a cup, but different folds will work on different type of cups, depending on if it’s a soft or firm cup.Mine is a soft collapsible cup and some ‘folds’ are quite difficult to do as the base is very soft and it doesn’t always pop open by itself when it’s inserted. The only type of fold that works for me is called the punchdown fold (look it up on YouTube!) it makes the top nice and small and easy to insert. Much less daunting too as the cups look really big!Once the cup is mostly inserted, like I said firm cups will tend to pop open by themselves but softer and collapsible cups will need a bit of a wiggle. Grab the base of the cup with your finger and thumb and twist the cup around a bit and gently pull until it pops open, then push up with your finger and thumb around the cup until it’s fully inserted. Nothing should be hanging out of your vagina, but it can sit quite shallow like you don’t need to push it allllll the way up to your cervix like a tampon. And Voila! You won’t be able to feel a THING once it’s fully in, they’re so comfortable and freeing. No more dangly pee soaked string and dragging out dry tampons, yay.When removing, you’ll need to locate the cup which shouldn’t be too high up and start wriggling it to dislodge it and pull it down a bit. Never just grab and pull. Once it’s down far enough to grasp properly, pinch at the base to release the suction and wriggle it out at a slanted angle, pour the blood into the toilet, wash it out and pop back in!TOP TIPS: always put a lining of loo paper in the toilet before dumping the contents of the cup; period blood is quite heavy and will sink to the bottom of the toilet and doesn’t always flush properly. Also, try to avoid emptying your cup in public toilets because it’s not a particularly pleasant experience if you can’t rinse it out in the sink before reinserting. My cup can stay in for to 12 hours before needing emptying, and even then it’s only ever about a third full even on heavy days, so I only have to remove and reinsert it like twice a day, 3x at the very most.
Let's Glow!
Achieve your health goals from period to parenting.