Intimina Lily Cup review (It’s better than tampons and pads!)

Okay all men reading this blog: I love you, but I need to warn you that this post is probably not for you. Though it can never hurt for you to learn a bit more about the female body and those terrible few days we go through every month, you might prefer checking out what else I've written about.

You see, today's post is about a healthier, more comfortable alternative to tampons and sanitary pads. Today's post is a Lily cup review, an overview of my experiences using the Intimina Lily Cup menstrual cup.

 

Lily cup review

What is a Lily Cup?

The Lily Cup is a menstrual cup. Menstrual cups – also known as period cups, menstruation cups, or vaginal cups – are soft, reusable cup-shaped containers you can insert to gather menstruation fluid, instead of using a tampon or a sanitary pad.

There isn't just one cup type- there are different menstrual cups for different women (think: size) and different brands. Intimina is one of them and the Lily Cup is their signature menstrual cup.
 

Should I use a menstrual cup?

That's exactly what I asked myself when I got an email from Intimina about a Lily Cup a few months back. The brand wanted me to try out their collapsible cup, the Lily Cup Compact, as they felt it was the ideal solution for women on the go.

This Lily Cup Compact is different from the regular Intimina menstrual cups because they're collapsible and thus easy to stow away and take with you. They also come in a little container. The regular Lily Cup look like this:

 

My personal reasons to try the Lily Cup menstrual cup

Now, whenever I get these kinds of review requests I'm always very careful and turn down probably more than 90% of them because I want to make sure that whenever I agree to test something, it's something I'd be interested in and – most of all – it's something that could be interesting to you (male readers, if you're still with me: kudos but obviously this goes for the ladies).

This time, it was a little bit different, though, because even though I was curious about using the Lily Cup and it did immediately look like something practical for travelers, I was still hesitant to try and review it.

Why?

Well, because I was afraid it would be uncomfortable and had no idea how to insert a menstrual cup. It's not exactly the same as writing a review of a jacket, you know.

So, why did I decide to try the Intimina Lily Cup anyway?

Well, as I don't travel long-term and I take The Pill to regulate my periods, I just always continued taking it if my period happened to coincide with a trip. That worked great, but the downside was that if I needed to do that a couple of times, the next time I'd get my period would be super painful.
 

I also see my period as some kind of reassurance that I'm not pregnant, so I do like to get them every three months or so. Just a detail :-)

And lastly, let's be honest, both tampons and sanitary pads are a bitch. There, I've said it. The former gets all soggy and suck the life the moisture right out of you, the latter can only be worn with sweatpants and make you feel like you're six months old again.
 

Why every woman should try a menstrual cup

Aside from why I personally wanted to try using the Lily Cup, there are many health, environmental and practical reasons to use a menstrual cup.
 

1. Period cups save you money

According to a (well-researched, I must add) article on Huffington Post:

“On average, a woman has her period from three to seven days and the average girl menstruates from age 13 until age 51. That means the average woman endures some 456 total periods over 38 years, or roughly 2,280 days with her period — 6.25 years of her life.”

The article recommends you should change your tampon every 4 to 8 hours (on average of every 6 hours). With an average period lasting five days, that adds up to 20 tampons per cycle x 456 periods = 9,120 tampons.

You know how much your tampons cost. You do the math.

How much is a menstrual cup? It depends on the brand, but you can get a Lily Cup for $29.95 or less and it's supposed to last for years. I've only had mine for a couple of months, but it seems to be pretty sturdy.

Update: updating this article four years later and my Lily Cup is still perfect!
 

2. Period cups are better for your body

While you might guess it from the discomfort they sometimes bring, few people know that using tampons entails several health risks.

First of all, tampons absorb everything. Advertisements for tampon brands often boast about this fact, but they fail to mention that tampons also absorb some good fluids your body needs and leave you as dry as overcooked chicken. And nobody likes overcooked chicken.

Aside from that, many tampons are made from bleached synthetic fibers. Both the fibers and the bleach can cause dryness or irritation and even Toxic Shock Syndrom.

The Intimina cup I tested and now use is made from 100% body-safe medical grade silicone
 

3. Period cups like the Lily Cup are better for the environment

Remember how many tampons (or sanitary pads) an average woman uses in her lifetime? Yeah, those aren't exactly the most environment-friendly things to throw in the bin (or the toilet – you know you do). Even if you use organic tampons, that's still a lot of items you buy and waste.

Menstrual cups like the Lily Cup are reusable. You simply use them, clean them, use them again.
 

4. Period cups need to be changed less frequently

In order to prevent Toxic Shock Syndrom, you need to change your tampons after eight hours at the latest. You can probably go longer with a sanitary pad, but we all know what they look and feel like if you do that.

Menstrual cups can be worn for 12 hours. I'll talk a bit about why I think they can even last longer below, but 10 to 12-hour period protection is guaranteed when you use a Lily Cup. So can you sleep with a menstrual cup? Definitely!

I used to wear sanitary pads during the night when I felt like sleeping in, because of the 8-hour max with tampons. Now, I don't need to worry about that anymore. Sleeping with the Lily Cup is more comfortable too as you don't feel it's there and it stays exactly where it needs to be.
 

How to use a Lily cup: my experience

Of course, you can have as many pros as you want, if something isn't comfortable, you won't use it. So I want to let you get to know what my experience using a Lily menstrual cup has been like so far.

As said, I tested the Lily Cup Compact which is the first collapsible menstrual cup and comes with a flat little box so you can easily carry it around in your bag for when the moment comes.

It also comes with a manual describing how to insert a Lily Cup, how to remove the soft cup again and how to clean it.

The Lily Cup also comes in more than 1 size and you should choose depending on your pelvic floor strength. There's Size A for women who haven't given birth yet, or who've given birth by Caesarean and then there's Size B for women who've given birth the natural way. Some women also have a higher cervix than others, so you should consider this too when choosing the right size.
 

Inserting the Lily Cup Menstrual Cup

This was actually really easy from the first time using it. I used the Half V-fold technique explained in the Intimina Lily Cup instructions video below; the Lily Cup was easy to insert and fitted perfectly from the first try.

If you can't watch the video right now, here are some Lily Cup instructions from the Intimina website:

 

Removing the Lily menstrual cup

This was harder than I'd suspected. The ribbed sides and the secure hold rim work really well, which means the Lily Cup Compact stays in place throughout the day, whatever you do, but also means it's a little bit hard to remove.

The regular version doesn't have ribs (and isn't a collapsible cup), but I didn't try that one so I'm not sure if it's easier to remove.

It took me several minutes to remove the cup the first time – pretty stressful! – but then I got the hang of it the more I used it. It's still not as easy as pulling out a tampon, but it's also not as painful (no dryness!).

The trick is not to be afraid of spilling and make sure the upper edge of the cup collapses to the inside so that it isn't sucked stuck to your inside anymore.

I'm explaining this in a very visual matter, but hey, we all know how our bodies work, right?
 

Wearing the cup and keeping it clean

So, I'd never expected I'd write this in this review, but the Lily Cup Compact won me over almost instantly. I've been wearing the cup during all my periods since I first got it and I never feel it's there. I've worn it for walking, doing pilates (hellooooo, downward-facing dog!) and even for doing cardio without any issues.

Also: no leakage! You know when you wear your tampon just a bit too long and it gets all soggy and… Yeah, none of that here. Everything goes straight into the cup where it stays until you clean it out. The no spill rim helps with this.

About that: if you have a rather light period like me, you can easily wear your menstruation cup for an entire day. If you look at the Lily Cup Compact, you could say it has three “levels” and I never filled it more than half.

I think that if you have a light period, you can even keep it in for longer than 12 hours. Obviously, the amount of time you keep the cup in completely depends on whether you have a light or heavy flow.
 

The Lily Cup Compact menstrual cup: in a nutshell

Pros of the Lily Cup:

• Healthier than tampons
• Longer protection than tampons
• No chemicals – made from medical grade silicone
• More comfortable than tampons or sanitary pads
• Less waste so better for the environment
• Less expensive
• Doesn't take up that much space in your bag
• No leakage
• Suitable for doing sports
• Easy to insert
• Wear it without noticing it's there

Cons of the Lily Cup:

• Removal of the Lily Cup needs practice and can be a bit hard
• You need a sink to clean the Lily Cup. That's not a problem if you're at home or in a hotel room, but I wouldn't want to take my cup out to the sink in a public bathroom to then go in the booth again to insert it. Ain't nobody gotta see that sh*t :D

Given this list, I think it's clear what I'll answer from now on if you ask me: “Tampon or menstrual cup?”. Menstrual cup all the way!
 

Where can you buy menstrual cups?

Depending on the brand you decide to go for, you can buy menstrual cups directly from the brands' website or on Amazon.

Go to Amazon to buy your own compact Lily cup or to read more Intimina Lily cup reviews.
 

Diva cup vs Intimina Lily Cup

You'll see that aside from Intimina, there's another brand that's known for its menstrual cups: Diva Cup. If we do a little “Diva Cup vs Lily Cup Compact”, who wins the battle?

It's hard to say having only tried out the Lily Cup so far, but from Intimina reviews, it seems that even the smallest size of Diva Cup is larger, both in width than in length, than that of the Lily Cup Compact which could be an issue if you're, well, smaller. I don't know if I'd be comfortable wearing a bigger cup than the one I have now.

On the other hand, if you're a bit “spacier” down there, the Diva Cup might be better for you.

I've also read that the material the Diva Cup is made of is a bit harder and thus less easy to fold than that of the Lily Cup. This firmness also means it could be a bit less comfortable to wear if you're rather sensitive.

On top of that, it seems that you have to replace the Diva Cup every year, which isn't the case for the Lily Cup.

I've only tried the Intimina Compact Lily Cup so I can't say if it's the best menstrual cup out there, but I'm definitely pleased with it and am using it every time I get my period now. I hope this Intimina Lily Cup review has helped you decide to try a menstrual cup as well. If you do, leave a reply to let me know how it goes!
 

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Intimina provided me with a Lily Cup Compact to try out for this Intimina review. I never guarantee positive reviews and only write my own opinions on here.