Episode 3: Benefits of menstrual cups
Welcome to Episode 3 of the Aunt Flo Show with Jackie and Tracy. Here they discuss the many benefits of menstrual cups and why one of them should be in the hands of every single menstruating person in the world. You can give the show a listen here:
Or, you can also find the audio on YouTube:
Show Notes for Episode 3
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Where To Find the Podcast:
You can find the podcast in all the usual places you normally go to for audio content, including iTunes.
Aunt Flo Show, Episode 3 Transcript:
Tracy: Hello everyone. Welcome back to The Aunt Flo Show, Episode 3. This is Tracy.
Jackie: And this is Jackie and welcome back. Thanks for joining us again. So, today, we’re going to talk about what are the benefits of menstrual cups?
So, there are many and we’ll just kind of hit the highlights of that.
Tracy: But before we do that…
Jackie: Ding, ding, ding.
Tracy: Let’s go over to our TMI Moment. So, if you would like your TMI Moment read online, you’re going to go to the website auntfloshow.com.
Jackie: And flo is spelled F-L-O; no “W” on that.
Tracy: Let’s hear your TMI Moment and we will send you a little thank you in the mail. So, like I said, today’s TMI Moment is coming from Hannah. So, her TMI Moment; Helping My Friend Put Hers In For The First Time.
Jackie: Sounds interesting.
Tracy: Jackie, have you ever needed help?
Jackie: I actually have to admit that I did need help one time. I was trying on a new cup and I had to get my friend to help me to help me remove it.
Tracy: That’s a very good friend.
Jackie: So, this actually brings me back a lot to my experience.
Tracy: Wow. Okay. Back to Hannah’s TMI Moment here. “She sat on the toilet while I showed her how to fold it and then she told me just to do it for her. So, I did.” And Hannah (woo hoo) has been using a cup since 1997 and loves it. Thanks Hannah for your TMI Moment.
Jackie, we’re talking about the benefits today.
Jackie: Yes, we are.
Tracy: Okay.
Jackie: And so, for you, what’s your number one benefit that you love cups for?
Tracy: So, I’m a busy mom. So, I actually think that my biggest thing is the convenience factor. Because let me tell you, when I’m packing up their toques and their hats and their gloves and their snacks and their blah, blah, blahs, do you think I could remember for the life of me to pack myself up several million tampons that I might need while I’m out? Nope.
So, that for me is one of the biggest benefits is when I’m out, as long as I’ve got my cup, I’m good. I don’t have to worry about having a million replacements in my purse.
Jackie: Love it. And you also don’t have to go to the store. Because I’m sure everyone’s kind of had the experience of like running out at 10 o’clock at night, trying to find a drugstore that’s open to frantically search for tampons, only to realize they don’t have any and the period has started. You just kind of skip over that whole huge headache.
I’m super frugal. So, kind of for me, I think the number one thing that I love is how much money you can potentially save.
Tracy: Money, money, money.
Jackie: Money, money. And I mean, tampons are just kind of one of those things that it’s like you just got to use and there’s like, sure you can get like the cheap crappy tampons, but I mean, in my experience, they’re pretty crappy and it’s like I don’t like using them.
So, yeah, they’re quite expensive, if you’ve been to the store lately. I mean, in Canada here.
Tracy: Come on, yeah. I’m just thinking. And there’s tax too.
Jackie: Yeah. Well, taxes in some countries. Actually, there’s people working to kind of eliminate that pink tax, which is like taxes charged on like women’s products.
So, yeah, some people have been successful in eliminating that tax on like tampons and menstrual care products, but not in all countries or states.
I think in Canada, an average box of tampons is something like maybe 6 or $7. Do you think that’s pretty accurate where we live?
Tracy: Oh Geez. I haven’t bought any for so long.
Jackie: I know; I haven’t either.
Tracy: I wouldn’t even know what the price is. But I think it’s around 7 or $8. Let’s go with 7 or $8.
Jackie: 7 bucks. Yeah, I check once in a while, just to kind of like see what’s out there and see if they have organic tampons. And I’m always just curious about what I can find at a place like Walmart. So, I do check once in a while and they are around that price.
Tracy: So, $7 a box? And I would feel like you might go through one box a period; right?
Jackie: Yeah. If you have a heavy period; yeah.
Tracy: Yeah. So, 7. And then if the average person is menstruating, let’s say for 40 years and… You do the math on that, Jackie.
Jackie: Oh, no. So, let’s say the average person would have a period say like 13 periods a year. So, that would be how much?
Tracy: So, 13 times 7.
Jackie: 13 times 7. This is a little bit embarrassing right now. We’re just… Anyway, so 7 times 13 that would be 91. Is that correct?
Tracy: Yeah, 91.
Jackie: So, let’s just round it up to 100, because maybe you’d have some pads or whatever too. So, let’s round it up to 100 bucks a year on menstrual care supplies.
And then times 40 years. So, you start menstruating maybe at around 12 and then you finish around, say like 51, 52, something like that. So, a 100 bucks a year times 40 years would be…
Tracy: $4,000.
Jackie: $4,000.
Tracy: Holy.
Jackie: That is a ton of money.
Tracy: Let’s go on a trip to Mexico instead.
Jackie: That is a ton of money. But of course, menstrual cups aren’t free. So, the average menstrual cup costs around, I would say like, $30 or something like that. And the companies recommend you replace them, say every… like the Diva Cup, for example, says every one to two years. But I guess most people would use them probably for like five years-ish. So, in that span, you’d need like 8 cups. So, 8 cups times 30 bucks is 240.
Tracy: That is a lot of…
Jackie: It is a…
Tracy: A lot less money.
Jackie: 3,700 or something like that.
Tracy: 36.
Jackie: 3,600-ish that you would save by using that.
Tracy: And as definitely a lovely trip to Mexico.
Jackie: That is a trip to Mexico. So, the actual number is not so important, but let’s just say it’s in the thousands of dollars that you would save by potentially switching.
Tracy: Okay, some money. And also too, I mean, I remember when I had babies, I thought seriously about the environment with diaper impact. And I mean, if you think about it, tam pants and tampons too, I think there’s a huge environmental impact when you’re using menstrual cups as well.
Jackie: And I think about like the fact that over half the people, I guess, in the world are women; slightly over half in the latest stats that I’ve read. And let’s say like maybe half of them are menstruating; that’s a ton of people who are using tampons and pads.
And I mean, something like an OB Tampon isn’t actually that bad; it doesn’t have a plastic applicator, for example. It’s mostly made of cotton. But still, there’s like chemicals in there used for bleaching and it’s wrapped a little bit of plastic and the transportation costs, in terms of like gas and energy to get them to the store and on the shelves and the paper cardboard box that they come in.
So, when you think about kind of all those things, to me, it adds up a little bit and kind of becomes this big impact, when actually, there’s a really good alternative in menstrual cups.
So, yes, I just think it’s inspiring to me to think about like what happens when more and more people make the switch and just.
Tracy: Yeah.
Jackie: I mean, imagine if every single menstruating person in the world had a menstrual cup in their hands, even if they didn’t use it. But even if like, say, two-thirds of all menstruating people in the world used the cup, it’s like a huge difference, you know? Yeah. So, spread the word and tell your friends about these products. Okay? Alright. Yeah.
So, the next one we want to talk about is capacity. If you have a heavy period, these are kind of a game changer I think. So, if you listen to the last episode, we talked about the fact that Tracy has a pretty heavy period.
Tracy: That was the only thing we talked about.
Jackie: That was all we talked about.
Tracy: Tracy’s personal details.
Jackie: Yeah, there was a lot of those. If you missed episode two, you can check that out and find out everything you ever wanted to know about Tracy.
So, the average Tampon has a capacity of about 10 millilitres. And then the average menstrual cup is 30 or you can get high capacity cups that even are up to like 40 mils.
Tracy: Game changer.
Jackie: Yeah. So, it’s huge. So, Tracy, just kind of do want to tell us a bit about your experience when you made the switch from tampons to menstrual cup?
Tracy: Yes. Well, I feel like I’ve mentioned this twice now. So, hopefully, this isn’t boring. But that was the whole reason I started was because I had to make it through wedding ceremony and having heavy flow, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it through the wedding ceremony.
So, the capacity of the cop actually really has changed my life. I’m also, professionally, a nurse and I’ve got long, hard work that I’m doing and I don’t often have time to stop and go to the bathroom. And so, even if I’m working on days where I have my period, it’s a game changer for me. Capacity’s huge and my cup has a huge capacity.
Jackie: It sure does. All right. So, I think those are kind of all the benefits that I can think of or kind of the main ones and the main reasons that people would make the switch to a menstrual cup. So, basically…
Tracy: Did you also forget about the fact that it is very cool and trendy?
Jackie: Actually that is quite true. So, if you want to be like in the cool kids club…
Tracy: Cool kids club.
Jackie: Then join us. Join us in the cool kids club using a menstrual cup. And actually, it’s not really a lie. Lots of people are talking about them. I don’t know, maybe it’s just because I have a website about menstrual cups. But yeah, people want to talk about menstrual cups a lot.
Tracy: What’s your website?
Jackie: It is reusablemenstrualcup.com
Tracy: Oh, cup.
Jackie: Cup. One of the menstrual cup companies; they have reusablemenstrualcups.com. So, that is not me. That is not me. I review a cups; all the different cups on reusablemenstrualcup.com.
Tracy: Okay. Well, nice to chat to you today.
Jackie: And yeah, don’t forget to check out our website at auntfloshow.com A-U-N-T-F-L-O-S-H-O-W.com.
Tracy: We want your TMI Moments.
Jackie: Yes, submit them now. Okay. All right. Until next time everyone; take care.
Tracy: Bye.
Where Can I Find the Other Aunt Flo Show Episodes?
If you want to listen to some more of this podcast, check it out here:
#1: An Introduction to Jackie + Tracy
#2: How to Choose a Menstrual Cup
#4: Care + Cleaning of Menstrual Cups
#5: How to Insert a Menstrual Cup
#6: How to Remove a Menstrual Cup
#7: Interview with Amanda Wilson, Founder of the Voxapod
#8: Jackie and Kathleen Talk Early Days of Using Menstrual Cups
#10: Interview with Meagan from GladRags, Developer of the XO Flo Menstrual Cup
Have your Say about Episode 3
What are your thoughts about the benefits of menstrual cups that we discussed in #3? Do you care most about the environment, your health, or saving a bit of money? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.
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