Cup Comparison Photos

I have a few more cups since the last time I did a cup photo shoot…   So it was time to do another!

Small sizes

Large Sizes

I tried to use all clear cups where I had a clear or coloured version of the cup.  You can see my Yuuki and MCUK have yellowed with age, even though they were only worn for 1 period then washed well with soap and added to my collection…

Vcup – Review

I was sent a Vcup to review 🙂

It wasn’t addressed properly, so there was a little hiccup in receiving it, but it arrived the other day and I had a chance to try it out.  Sadly my period ended the day before it arrived, so I haven’t yet had a chance to test it with my period, but I’ve tried it and here are my thoughts….

The box was a little squished in transit, but that’s to be expected sometimes.  On the box it listed contents, which I was surprised about – I didn’t realise the cup came with extras!  So I was excited to see what was inside.  The box lists no sizes, so I presume the cup is 1 size only, which seems to be a small.  The box does however have boxes to tick for white, pink or green – and one side of the box shows a pale green cup – so it obviously comes in those colours.  I got clear.

Inside the box, there is a tube (they call it a “pen”) of hand sanitiser, a little packet of soap sheets, 4 little “coin tissues”, the cup, a pouch and instructions.

I already took the instruction booklet out and forgot to put it back when photographing it… I think it was lying on the top.

The booklet talks about the cup and the benefits of a cup over tampons and pads, gives the measurements of the cup and shows how to do 3 folds (“c”, “punchdown” and “triangle”)  It also gives some helpful tips on insertion and removal.  All in English and quite well written.

 

The hand sanitiser is quite cool actually.  It’s a bit like a thick marker in size, and has a spray top so you can spray some onto your hands.  It has a reasonably pleasant smell, dries fast and is not sticky or anything.  I personally don’t feel the need for such products, but I think this is a convenient way to do it (rather than the tubes of sticky-feeling hand sanitiser you get)

The soap strips are another interesting idea.  I’ve seen this sort of soap before, designed for keeping in your handbag. I notice that they are keeping with the green and white theme for everything!

The directions say (paraphrasing) to wet your cup and hands then  wash the cup with the soap to get a rich lather.  Rinse the cup and store the rest of the soap sheets in a dry place.  Basically these soap sheets are paper with a thin layer of soap.  They don’t seem to be very soapy, but if you want to wash your cup with a bit of soap while out and about, then this could be a convenient way to do it.

I will say though that I tried one sheet (just rubbing it between my hands), and while the dry soap has a slight pleasant floral smell (frangipanni?), on my hands it left a weird lingering vomit smell I notice from some public restroom soap… I don’t know if you are familiar with what I mean?… The hand sanitiser does counteract that thankfully – I wouldn’t be able to use the soap personally…. but I think (from a bit of googling) that some people seem more affected by the vomit-soap phenomenon than others, so maybe I’m just sensitive to it (I am one of those people who is VERY intolerant to both the sound and smell of vomiting!)… anyhoo….. moving on 😛

 

The “coin tissues” are cool – they are those incredibly tightly packed washcloths!  The instructions in the booklet say to put 3 drops of water onto the coin – I needed a bit more than that… But they unfold out to a 23cm/9inch cloth.  A bit like a “chux” cloth – open weave.  Presumably designed to be disposable (I imagine they are not flushable), they seem sturdy enough you could reuse it a few times (though you wouldn’t be able to make it go back into the coin shape)

Now the cup….  it’s quite long, I’d say it’s a medium squishyness silicone – about the same as the Diva I have.  It has a band of frosted silicone around the centre, with clear silicone elsewhere. The centre of the frosted section has a slight line through it, a bit like a seam – though I think this is intended to give extra grip.  The clear section at the bottom of the cup likewise has a line through it, but more pronounced. The ball stem has a grip line around it, to help grip there.  There are 2 tiny airholes just under the ridge.  The ridge is very low profile (not very raised).

I didn’t think to wash the cup before taking photos, so there are a few dust particles from storage/manufacture on it which you can see in the photos.

Here’s a length comparison with some of the other small cups

.

Using the Cup

I haven’t tested it with my period yet (will update this post when I have), but I’ve tested the cup and I was quite pleased with it.

Now, as I always say, my first preference is for a tab stem, so I don’t tend to like any other stems as much as I do the tab stem.  I didn’t find this one too slippery though, the grip line running through the centre of the ball helps give it a bit more grip I think.  I do find a ball stem less easy to use/grip than a tab or tube stem, but since the cup is so long, I don’t need to use the stem to be able to pull the cup down to grab the body of the cup – as I do with other cups…. and if it had any other kind of stem, that would be too annoying and you’d have to cut it off.

It (like the LunaCup) are longer than I would ideally like in a cup – the ball stem was only just inside my vagina – which does make it easier to remove I suppose.

When I reviewed the LunaCup, I did find the stem slightly irritating, because the cup was so long, but I didn’t find that with this cup  – Maybe I need to try them both more to see how I go with them over several days.

Insertion and removal was easy.  I had no problem getting the cup to open up (though it is equivalent of a small size, and I normally wear the large sizes).  I could not feel the cup while inside me.

—- Edited to add —

I’ve now had a chance to try this cup when I had my period.  I wore it for about 6 hours, the first 4-5 hours I had no leakage, but I had some slight leakage after that, the cup only got to about 1/4 full, so I’m not sure why it started leaking.

Mostly the cup was comfortable and I couldn’t feel it, but there was a few times when I was sitting on the couch, and I leaned forward to get a drink from the table, I could feel the stem poking into me a bit.

---

See my detailed review & comparisons with other cups here.

Dutchess Cup

http://www.dutchesscup.com

Country of origin: USA (made in China)
Composition: Medical Grade Silicone
Sizes: “B” (small), “A” (large)
Dimensions: Size B = 42mm diameter, 50mm long without stem,  60mm long with stem.  10mm stem.  Size A = 47mm diameter, 55 mm long without stem,  65mm long with stem.  10mm stem.
Capacity: Size B = 20ml.  A = 25ml
Stem: Short thin
Measuring Lines: Yes,  7.5 ml and 15 ml
Cost (RRP): USD $29.99 for 2 [Currency Converter]
Been around since: 2014
Unique Design?: No (There are other cups with similar designs available)
Other Details: Cups have 4 air holes.  First sold as a set of 2 cups, one pink, one purple. Other colours are now available.   The cups shown on the box and promotional image don’t seem to have the lines around the top like the cups shown in one of the customer review photos does (below).  The cups the review shows, appear to be the same style of cup as being sold as Aneer, Femmas, Cup’ax and Blossom.

.

(Closeup of the product image – showing no lines)

(Image from Amazon Review)

Image from a listing by a silicone company in China (http://zdkjsy.en.alibaba.com) shows what appears to be the Dutchess boxes in their listing for wholesale menstrual cups

(I’ve pasted in the Smart cup and Dutchess Cup boxes to the image, to show they appear to be the same boxes).

http://zdkjsy.en.alibaba.com/product/60301714381-801922064/hot_sell_on_amazon_menstrual_cup_blue_yellow_red_green.html

I thought the Dutchess cup said on  its website that it was made in the US, but when I went to check the website to see, I got this notification.  After a few months I tried the site again and it now loads a new website with the domain https://pelvichealthshop.com

Save