Tuesday, November 18, 2008

It's a Keeper!

I love my Keeper! It is a reusable menstrual cup. I've used it for over 15 years now. In all that time, between it and my Glad Rags, I've not had to buy disposable "feminine protection" (needing specifically "protection" is a throwback concept from the days when menstrual blood was deemed as powerful and dangerous ;).

The average woman will dispose of about 12,000 pads and/or tampons over the course of her childbearing years. Disposable menstrual products take up a larger volume in landfill than disposable diapers (which BTW I also cloth diapered both of my children). Also their manufacture uses many trees and releases toxic chemicals into rivers and oceans. Disposable tampons and pads are by far the most common menstrual management items. The majority of women believe they are the only choices available, but there are other alternatives, closely matched in convenience level to disposables, which and are far more healthy for the ladies themselves and Mother Nature as well.

The Keeper, The Keeper Mooncup and The Diva Cup are all reusable menstrual cups with similar designs. They have all the convenience of a tampon without the paper/fiber waste and issues that tampons can have - such as being overly absorbent. In sharp contrast, some may remember the disposable cup called "Instead", which was a horrible product and in no way compares to the other 3 cups I mentioned!

I encourage every woman to look into the alternatives to disposable products for her "lady's time" needs. I also recommend the book Her Blood Is Gold by Lara Owen and The Museum of Menstruation web site.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's always wonderful to read about women (like you) who use environment-friendly reusable menstrual products. You are really doing our environment a BIG FAVOR!

I think you’ll be interested in viewing Keeper.com's wonderful new Comparison Photo Page (See http://www.keeper.com/photographs.html ), which gives a terrific visual representation of the amount of WASTE that is created by ONE WOMAN’S disposable menstrual products in one month, one year, 10 years, and 40 years (the menstruating lifetime of the average woman)!

Please take a look. I think you’ll agree that these photos are real eye-openers. If only more women would realize how much waste they are foisting on the environment when they use disposable tampons and pads.

Thanks much!
Julia Schopick
The Keeper, Inc.
www.Keeper.com