Welcome to episode 6 of the Aunt Flo Show where Jackie + Tracy discuss everything you need to know about how to remove a menstrual cup like a pro. It can sometimes be difficult, but these tips will help you do it in style! Listen to it here:
Or, you also find episode 6 on YouTube:
Episode 6 Show Notes
Jackie and Tracy give you all the details you need to know about how to remove a menstrual cup including positions to try out, and how to actually get it out of you. Remember, squeeze in at the sides and don’t pull it out by the stem to avoid the serious suction vortex.
Also find out what to do if it’s stuck and why a menstrual cup is never actually “lost.” If you have a high cervix, should you consider using a longer menstrual cup? We’ll answer that important question here.
Also stay tuned for the famous TMI period cup moment.
Links Mentioned
The Aunt Flo Show (submit your TMI moment here)
Email us: [email protected]
Where Can I Find the Aunt Flo Show?
You can find the podcast in all the usual places you normally go to for audio content, including iTunes.
Aunt Flo Show, Episode 6 Transcript
Jackie: Hey, everybody, this is Jackie…
Tracy: And this is Tracy and it’s Episode 6 of …
Jackie: Of the Aunt Flo Show.
Tracy: And we’re going to talk about removal today.
Jackie: But first…
Tracy: Ding, ding, ding, ding…
Jackie: A little TMI Moment brought to you from my friend, The Happy Hiker. So, she told me this story in person a while ago and I always remembered it and thought it was quite funny.
She had just started using a menstrual cup and she was going hiking with her male friend. She was excited about it, she had her period, she put in her cup and was like, “Yes, I don’t have to deal with my period for like (I don’t know) 7 hours, 8 hours; I should be fine on my long day hike.”
She was on top of the mountain and she felt some disaster going on in regards to her cup. She said that she probably didn’t insert it correctly because she didn’t really know what she was doing and she knew it was leaking.
Thankfully, she was wearing black hiking shorts, so it was less bad than it potentially could have been. But the kind of bad news was that she was fully on top of an exposed Mountain with no trees, they were walking along a ridgeline.
So, she just like kicked it into high gear and was like, “No breaks. Let’s just keep hiking” and just got down to the outhouse, which helped her out a lot, relieving her disaster.
But she said it was a little bit horrifying. And the worst part was that she just felt like she couldn’t really talk to her friend about the whole situation because he was a guy. So, thank you Happy Hiker and thanks for letting us share your story about that.
All right, Tracy. So, let’s get into removing a menstrual cup.
Tracy: Okay. So, where do we start? Oh, wash your hands.
Jackie: Oh, that’s right. That’s right. But first of all, kind of the good news is that it is a little bit easier to remove a cup than to insert a cup. So, if you’ve been struggling with inserting one, give a listen to our previous episode, but then also just know that removing it is easier.
Tracy: Perfect.
Jackie: Also, wash your hands. And then what are some common positions that people like to use, Tracy?
Tracy: So, I think well, there are three suggested positions. Number one is sitting on the toilet and spreading your legs open. So, this is a good position to try, especially when you’re in a public restroom or a bathroom like that. You can easily access your vaginal opening and remove the cup then.
Second position to try would be squatting in front of the toilet. So, this can kind of help to shorten the vagina and change that position and angle in which you can access your cup. So, that would be second one.
Jackie: And some people do the squatting one in the shower. I think that’s the kind of position if you want to do it in there.
Tracy: Okay. And then the third option would be to put one leg up on a bathtub ledge just to change the angle a bit. Now, this does change the angle that your vagina would be in. So, just to keep in mind, if you’re lifting your right leg, your vagina is going to be pointed towards your left leg on an angle. So, it might help you that way.
Jackie: So, Tracy, what’s your personal preference? Mine is on the toilet for sure.
Tracy: I also on the toilet. I’m there already. Why would I move?
Jackie: I hear you. It’s pretty easy. All right. So, now that you’ve got your position chosen, kind of the next step is to actually take it out. The best way to do this is to reach your two fingers up into your vagina.
I guess most people would use your pointer finger and your thumb. So, reach up in there to the base of the cup, squeeze in with your two fingers and then that will break the suction seal. So, that will really help you to be able just pull it out easily and not create this like crazy suction vacuum, basically.
If you don’t break the suction seal, it’s very difficult to remove and you can also do things like pull out your IUD; I’ve heard stories of that. And you can also break your menstrual cup; it’s quite easy to rip off. If you’re holding the tail, for example, of the cup and you don’t break the seal and you just pull it out by that, you can actually like rip that off of your menstrual cup and it will probably be ruined.
Tracy: Not to mention blood everywhere.
Jackie: Disaster. Bloody disaster. Yes, that is true. So, yeah, you just pull it out like that and you would take it out and you could empty the contents into the toilet or sink or shower or wherever you are and then just clean your cup and put it back in.
Tracy: But hold the show up here.
Jackie: Okay, yes.
Tracy: So, when you removing makeup, please remove it slowly.
Jackie: Oh, yes.
Tracy: I have, in a rush, removed it too quickly and yeah, it does. It does spill. So, I think my cup’s usually pretty full when I’m removing it. So, remove it slowly, and like Jackie was saying, from the very base of the cup; not the tail, because if you are using the tail, then once you’ve got it out, it’s a flop right over.
Jackie: And we have a little TMI Moment from the Lady in Red Tights. I think she was in Episode 1 or 2 and she was at the shopping mall and pulled out her cup too fast and ended up getting blood all over her white leggings and her mom had to come rescue her at the mall. So, it was a bit of a disaster. So, Tracy has some wise words for you here.
Tracy: So, slowly; slow and steady.
Jackie: That’s correct. So, Tracy, that’s kind of the like how to remove your cup in the ideal world. But sometimes, you can run into some difficulties. For example, especially in the morning time, the cup can travel up your vagina while you sleep; it’s pretty normal. And then you get up and go to the bathroom, you try to take your cup out and it’s nowhere to be found. That’s not so uncommon.
So, if that happens, you can give it an hour, go eat some breakfast, relax a little bit and come back and try again later. But what are some other tips you can do, Tracey, if you find that it’s stuck in there and it’s difficult to get out?
Tracy: Also, just to review, it actually isn’t nowhere to be found because your vagina does end; there is no open tunnel that just leads into the rest of your body.
So, be relaxed and calm because it isn’t lost. It’s just probably high into your vagina. And it will, like Jackie said, come down.
So, if you’ve tried relaxing and a couple of different positions and you still can’t find it, you can try the squatting position. Bearing down is a good way. So, it’s kind of the same thing you would do to have a bowel movement or if you’ve had a baby, to push a baby out. If you just kind of push pressure down into your pelvic floor, then you can push your cup down lower.
Of course, if you have strong muscles, you don’t want to be doing that too aggressively. You just want to gently bear down and this will help to lower your cup.
Jackie: And then the other tip you can try is to reach up. And if you can’t reach the base, which is actually where you should be squeezing into pull the cup out, you can pull down gently on the tail of the cup…
Tracy: Just to like lower it down a little bit.
Jackie: Just until you can reach the base. So, that’s kind of the goal. You wouldn’t pull it out entirely with the tail, but you just want to reach the base through that. And you can do that in combination with bearing down. And that will usually get most people some really good results with that.
So, next, let’s talk about a little bit of a special circumstance, Tracey, if you have a very high cervix.
Tracy: So, people with high cervixes; their cervix is deep within their vagina. And so, when you do put the cup in it, it does go quite up high into your vagina. So, definitely bearing down will help you here.
Also, too, there are longer cups that you can purchase that you’ll be able to use better because they will be longer and easier to get.
Jackie: Yeah. So, the average menstrual cup, like the Diva Cup, for example, is 70 millimetres long. And then you can get some low cervix cups that come at around like 50 millimetres or so or 55. And then there’s some longer cups that would be something like 75 or 80 millimetres.
So, if you have a very high cervix, then you’d certainly want to consider one of those cups that are more than 70 millimetres long.
Tracy: Yeah.
Jackie: Okay. And one other final comment, when you’re choosing a cup. If you’re worried about removal, there are different types of stems on cups. You can get things just like a smooth stem, one with like little balls or ridges, there’s even some that have like a ring on the end.
The ones with the ring and the little balls are easier to remove than the ones that just have like kind of just flat or smooth stem. So, yeah, keep that in mind when you’re buying your cup.
Tracy: I had definitely challenge removing one of the cups that I used first. It had a smoother stand with two tiny little ridges, but it was not enough. And the cup that I actually use now has a tail that has balls on it that decrease in size and so I find that actually really easy to use. And it’s flexible too and so the stem doesn’t bother me.
Jackie: All right. So, I think that’s about it for now. So, if you want to get some more information about removal, you can head over to a reusablemenstrualcup.com and a search for “Removal” or “Removing a menstrual cup” and you should see the article with all the tips and tricks.
Tracy: And if you would like to share your TMI Moment or if you have a comment or question about the podcast or this episode or any of the episodes, then you can go over to the website; auntfloshow.com
Jackie: A-U-N-T-F-L-O-S-H-O-W.com. And don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes or Stitcher or wherever you listen to us and we’d really appreciate it.
All right. Until next time.
Tracy: See you later.
Jackie: Bye, everybody. Take care.
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
#3: Benefits of Menstrual Cups
#4: Care + Cleaning of Menstrual Cups
#5: How to Insert 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 How to Remove a Menstrual Cup
Do you have any tips or tricks for removing a period cup? Leave a comment below and let us know. We’d love to hear from you.
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