Period Protection

[rachygal25]

This may seem an odd question, but what did people use for period protection year ago? Like in the victorian era and further back? Because we don't really learn about those sorts of things at school!

[Marijn]

What is a mooncup? Is it something from the olden days, or does it still exist?

[ethandron]

it's a relatively new invention. made of food-grade silicon i believe, it's like a little egg cup which you insert and it catches any discharge. it does need to be emptied, so i too am curious as to how it would work in a public loo - you wouldn't want to be rinsing it in a handbasin, and i guess it would be quite a messy job all round.
my 29 year old niece who lives a very green lifestyle, uses washable towels. they're the same shape and size as disposable ones, but made of toweling and some other material, but as far as i know, they don't have a waterproof membrane, so it's back to the leakage problem i would have thought.

[Lakitu]

I use a mooncup and don't find it messy at all.

You can leave your mooncup in for up to 8 hours, if you are emptying in a public toilet then you can wipe it with toilet roll before re-inserting.

[Marijn]

That sounds interesting. Why haven't I heard of one before? Where did you hear about it? Is it something you get from the doctor's or do you just buy them in the chemist?

[MiniN]

this thread has me enthralled. its amazing learning how women have had to cope through the ages.

it really annoys me though that we don't get pads and tampons free on the NHS and the government has a bloody cheek classing them as luxury items. men are *uckers (rhymes with duckers), coz you know no woman would class it as a luxury.