Gross? Not sure. It depends on how you look at it. But nevertheless chances are you are right. I had bought the cup anyway, so I had to try it. It felt like a first day of bikini waxing. A little awkward but then still curious enough to just want to go on. I believe in the menstrual cup, but let’s just say I will need some time to get used to it. So I went back to my tampons for a while. This time round I changed my brand from OB to Cotton.
Believe me I am not the kind that promotes products. Unless it’s so irresistible. I found out that the Cottons tampons are only made from 100% natural cotton. Cottons tampons are also hypo-allergenic and biodegradable. Wish I had discovered this a little earlier. Nevertheless, now I know. So, I had to share the good news with someone. Who best fits than someone who has been forced to stick with you for more than 8 hours a day by a simple pay check? So I pull out a small well packed tampon box to show her. It did not bother me that I had some of my male colleagues in the room too. For God’s sake, these are adults! They know this stuff. I assumed. I have talked about periods so much that it’s very normal in my world. But then it is still unacceptable to talk openly about menstruation or make visible one’s menstruation to the public. As soon as my colleagues saw the packet displayed in my hand, she couldn’t hold it.
“Sshhhh…eish hide it, hide it.” She whistled looking around to confirm that none of male colleagues had seen it.
Really?
Talking about menstruation is deemed as dirty or gross. We have been socialized to pretend it’s not going on or that nobody should know when it’s happening. What the heck! This is why many menstruators are suffering from unsafe products in silence. Why is this topic surrounded by too much secrecy? Recently we had a cry in one of the popular Facebook groups in Kenya on a product that caused rushes on women’s private parts after use. I am a very curious and experimental menstruator.
So I jumped in, to try it.
Oh boy!
I thought I had some bad yeast infection!
What if nobody talked about it?
A woman’s body is beautiful we need to create a culture that makes it safe to talk openly about our bodies, sexuality and more so our menses. I appreciate my cycle so I have chosen to work with it, instead of working against it. I have intentionally learnt a lot about my body over the years. I now recognize when my PMS is way over the roof, when I am ovulating or even when it’s time to flow. With this information I am able to plan my life better.
Did you know you can track when you are most productive within your Menstrual Cycle? Great! Now you know when to pick that tough project next. Take our menstrual Quiz.