Make Your Cycle Clean-a with LENA

Go ahead and clutch your pearls, kids. We’re about to start talking about vaginas up in here. This is nothing new. I’ve talked about vaginas quite a bit on my blog. In fact, the one post that brings the MOST traffic for me is a blog post highlighting a menstrual cup.

Sexy, right?

Okay, definitely NOT sexy but this is real life, peeps. Scoff if you’d like but the reality is that some of us are women. Most women have menstrual cycles. It ain’t pretty but we didn’t write the rules. We just have to deal with them. Luckily, we have several options on how we can deal with them. One of those options?

The LENA menstrual cup! At the date of this post, I have not yet physically tested the LENA (thanks to a lovely thing called lactational amenorrhea AKA breastfeeding which results in no periods…hayyyy!) but trust that I’ll update this post the second my cycle returns. And truthfully, I’m ready for my cycle to roll up through here again. Tracking my period is my preferred method of birth control and it’s difficult to track a period without uh…a period. So yeah.

But for now…let’s talk about the beauty that is LENA.

And it is beautiful. I don’t have anything negative to say about menstrual cups but I really love how pretty this one is because…it’s pink! Like pink or not, I think it’s cool to have a cup with personality. I always find it best to present a menstrual cup review in a FAQ format, so let’s do that, shall we?

Can you remind me how menstrual cups differ from tampons and pads, please?

Absolutely! Menstrual cups are changing the way women handle their flow during each cycle. LENA creates a suction inside the walls of your vagina and the cup catches your flow. That’s it. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on tampons and pads each year, LENA users purchase ONE cup and know that they get the comfort and convenience of a silicone cup. For many, cups not only hold more flow but they feel better than tampons and pads and oh yeah…their reusability means less clogging of landfills.

Okay, I’m confused. Exactly WHERE does LENA go?

I can show you better than I can tell you…

 (source)

The LENA folx have done a great job at giving a very accurate description as to where the cup sits.

And seriously…this isn’t uncomfortable?

When inserted correctly, you won’t feel your LENA at all. If you do feel it, something is off and your best bet is to either trim your stem or re-insert. I only wore tampons a handful of times (I could always feel them) but I’ll tell you what, menstrual cups are 100x  more comfortable than any tampon or pad that I’ve ever wore. I will never return back to them. Cups fo lyfe! 

So it’s a cup that catches blood. How DOESN’T this get messy?

Okay, look here…don’t get all high and mighty and act as if your form of flow catchin’ is better than another form. FACT: there ain’t nothing nice about any of ’em. Pads, tampons, cups, sponges, you name it…they all have messy roles. Got it? But if you’re asking if your LENA involves you dealing with bloody fingers and hands, think again. It’s really quite simple in that because your cup catches your flow, all you have to do is remove it from your vagina (the blood will be INSIDE the cup…not around it), dump, rinse and re-insert. That’s it, boo!

The only way you’d end up with blood everywhere is if while you’re removing your cup, your toddler slings open the door, knocking you out and well, yeah…I think I’ve drawn that picture enough.

So LENA is reusable? Isn’t that…unsanitary? 

Uh no. It’s not. You sterilize your cup as often as needed (I do mine at the end of every period) and wash it daily. Easy, convenient and safe!

What else can you tell me about LENA?

Well…

• It’s made in California and manufactured in a FDA -registered facility
• It comes in 2 sizes: Lena Small (for regular flows) and Lena Large (for my fellow Shark Week-type sisters)
• You can wear LENA up to 12 hours before needing to dump it. 
• Has a unique bell-shaped design for added comfort 
• It’s affordable! It starts at $25.

I understand why people have their reservations about menstrual cups in general. It’s difficult to re-train your brain to think of something other than tampons and pads. I was extremely nervous, too, and while all cups take some time getting used to it, no hardcore cup user regrets them. I think our biggest regrets would be that we didn’t discover them sooner. 

That said, I am all kinds of excited to get my cycle again. Yeah, I said it. I haven’t had one in almost a year (due to pregnancy, obvs) and I’m ready to test drive LENA.

I can’t believe I just typed that. Okay, I think that about wraps things up here. Please don’t hesitate to shoot me any questions, should you have them. I’ve been an avid cup user for 4 years now and I’d love to get more women on this bandwagon. For more information about LENA visit their site. They pretty much answer every question and have so much useful for nervous first-time cup users. 

Buy LENA here! 

What do you think? Would you try LENA? 

 

 

FTC Disclosure: LENA is a PR sample and I have affiliate links sprinkled throughout this post. None of this will make me rich. Dang.