15 mistakes you make with tampons, pads and the menstrual cup

Every month your period comes down and you have the routine of going to buy pads and/or tampons, changing your cup from time to time, taking even more care of your personal hygiene…

Luckily, nowadays, to deal with those days of menstruation, we have very different and varied products (with or without wings, thin or thick, larger or smaller cups, more or less absorbent tampons, with or without an applicator…) that adapt to each type of woman. However, we often make mistakes that we don’t realize (or have never been informed about) that can compromise our vaginal health.

For this reason, in this article we have compiled 15 common mistakes among women when dealing with menstruation and using intimate hygiene products.

Mistakes you make when using compresses

1. Avoid colored and perfumed ones, since you can irritate the flora of the vagina. Help yourself with compresses with wings to avoid staining clothes.
2. To avoid infections, it is recommended to change the pad at least three times. If these are the last days of your period, use compresses with less absorption but do not leave them on all day.
3. If it is summer this number increases because you sweat more.
4. Not always the fattest compress is the most appropriate. You must choose a pad thickness and absorption that is perfect for your menstrual flow.

Mistakes you make when using tampons

1. The most common mistake is to leave it on for more than 7 hours, even to sleep. It can favor the appearance of Toxic Shock Syndrome and generate infections.
2. Choosing the right size of the tampon is another quite common mistake. Not by making it more absorbent will you end your period sooner.
3. The use of the tampon is done during the rule, not before or after to prevent.
4. Often (if not almost always) we forget to check the good condition of the buffers, especially the rope. Always remember to check that it is not frayed or half broken.
5. Keeping a tampon after having bathed means that it is wet and can favor the appearance of infections.
6. Not washing your hands before putting it on is a common mistake. You should wash them before (to prevent bacteria from your hands from passing into your vagina) and after (we assume you have this part clear ;-)).
7. Girls who use tampons do so continuously during the day or even at night. Mistake! It is recommended to rest from tampons and combine with a compress, at least once a day.

Mistakes you make when using the menstrual cup

1. Putting the menstrual cup wrong is a most common mistake when you start using it. Keep the recommendations in mind, sit down to get to know your body and, above all, relax and be patient, you will end up getting the hang of it.
2. Not calculating well in which bathroom to take it off. To be honest, the cup is not a tampon that you can remove, throw away and put another one in, it needs a cleaning process that, in a public bathroom, can get a bit complicated. For this, it does not hurt that you plan well when you are going to have to empty it and in which bathroom you can do it without feeling uncomfortable.
3. Not getting the right size for your menstrual flow.
4. Wanting to hold on and leave it longer than you should. The cup ends up filling up and overflowing the contents causing you to stain your underwear.