7 Factors in Picking the Right Menstrual Cup

Overnight menstrual protection without leaks

Pads and tam­pons con­sis­tent­ly failed to con­tain my heavy flow, and I used to resign to sleep­ing on a black tow­el every month.

Until I tried men­stru­al cups.

7 Factors in Picking the Right Menstrual Cup 1

Menstrual cups have been an absolute GODSEND for me. They are the PEAK of con­ve­nience for the right users.

But the lack of infor­ma­tion in pick­ing the right men­stru­al cup for you often drove me bonkers.

Two cup sizes are usually marketed:
  1. A small­er one for peo­ple who are under 25 and haven't giv­en birth
  2. A big­ger one for peo­ple over 25 or have giv­en birth.

So to the layper­son, men­stru­al cup fit may sound like it's about hav­ing a tight vs. loose vagi­na. That's not the case, though.

Consider these other, potentially more relevant factors in choosing the right menstrual cup fit.
Table of contents

1. Cervix Width

Cervix shapes vary from per­son to per­son — there's a big range of "nor­mal!" Some are nar­row and pointy, while oth­ers are wider, rounder, more open, etc. And if your cervix is on the big­ger side, you'll want a men­stru­al cup that can seal over it to col­lect blood.

While it's true that your cervix gen­er­al­ly gets wider as you grow old­er or give birth, the cor­re­la­tion is not absolute. I'm over 25, and my cervix is still slen­der and tapered. Think of the stan­dard siz­ing guide­lines as more of a start­ing point.

7 Factors in Picking the Right Menstrual Cup 2
What to look at

What's the men­stru­al cup's diam­e­ter and shape? And how does that com­pare to your cervix's shape and size?

I under­stand: the constantly-​shifting inter­nal anato­my is hard to mea­sure. So if you don't know how your cervix looks or can't reach to feel it, con­sid­er view­ing it with a (clean!) specu­lum, hand mir­ror, and flashlight.

2. Cervix Height/Resting Vagina Length

Oh gosh, I wish my younger self knew about cervix height's effect on men­stru­al cup fit. The gist is that the high­er your cervix is, the more you'd ben­e­fit from a long one.

It's not that you can't use a short men­stru­al cup with a high-​set cervix. It's just that the device may ride up and be hard­er to reach in and remove. The vagi­na is a finite space; things won't get "lost" in it. However, the strug­gle of pulling out an ill-​fitting men­stru­al cup is very real.

7 Factors in Picking the Right Menstrual Cup 3

On the flip side, if you have a low-​set cervix or short vagi­na at rest, a long men­stru­al cup may not entire­ly fit inside. And hav­ing sil­i­cone pok­ing out of you isn't the most com­fort­able or con­ve­nient thing to deal with.

What to look at

When insert­ing your mid­dle or fore­fin­gers, how far can you go in before feel­ing your cervix? If you encounter it before the sec­ond knuck­le, a short­er men­stru­al cup may work bet­ter for you. If you can go past that (or all the way in), a longer one will be far eas­i­er to use!

Consider the cup's total length com­pared to that, if you're going to use the stem for removal. You may choose to trim it for com­fort, though.

3. Menstrual Flow

If you have a heavy flow, a larg­er cup means you'll have to emp­ty it (or worse, deal with leaks) less often. If you have a light flow, a small cup might ful­fill your needs just fine, while being more comfortable.

Ah, yes! Another rea­son I wish I said, "Fuck it" to the men­stru­al cup siz­ing guide­lines before. I had a heavy flow long before I was 25.

7 Factors in Picking the Right Menstrual Cup 4
What to look at

How often do you change your pads or tam­pons? How quick­ly do they fill up?

4. Changes Throughout Your Period

The pre­vi­ous three fac­tors aren't nec­es­sar­i­ly sta­t­ic through­out your peri­od. You may find that your cervix gets high­er or flow gets dra­mat­i­cal­ly lighter, for example.

Some men­stru­al cup users pre­fer to have two sizes that they wear on dif­fer­ent days. The choice is all about you and your body.

5. Pelvic Floor Strength

Menstrual cups vary in not just shape and size, but also firm­ness. Stiffer ones form a tighter seal. I've seen advice that the soft­er ones are bet­ter for those who haven't giv­en birth, and vice versa.

On the con­trary, I've done vagi­nal weightlift­ing but found that firm men­stru­al cup rings work bet­ter for me. It's like I can eas­i­ly break the seal of a soft­er one when clench­ing or bear­ing down.

Fun Factory Fun Cups Explore Kit menstrual cups folded down

Fold a men­stru­al cup before insert­ing it. It will spring open and form a seal.

Further reading

6. Is Your Vagina Easily Irritated?

I men­tioned before that some users might find a small­er or squishi­er men­stru­al cup more com­fort­able — it places less pres­sure on the wearer's walls and blad­der. If a small cup still col­lects blood well enough and works for you, have at it.

7. Impulsive Period Sex

I know: hav­ing sex in a tent while wear­ing a men­stru­al cup is odd­ly spe­cif­ic. My boyfriend and I were horny and tried it — and we both enjoyed the experience.

I was wear­ing a short, round­ed one with a min­i­mal retrieval stem (more like a nub) at the time. It's a pain in the ass for me to take out, and it's not the best for day wear… but it left my boyfriend's cock plen­ty of room to thrust!

The tiny stem was pushed a bit to the side, not pok­ing him at all. My cervix and A‑spot still felt plen­ty of sen­sa­tion to reach orgasm via deep pen­e­tra­tion.


Summary of How to Choose a Menstrual Cup

I know that's a lot of infor­ma­tion. Let's dis­till it, so you don't get overwhelmed.

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Clear Jimmyjane Intimate Care men­stru­al cups and Fun Factory Fun Cups side-​by-​side for shape comparison
Shape and sizing tips
  • Get a cup that fits your cervix width and rest­ing vagi­nal length.
  • An immense flow means a big­ger cup is more convenient.
  • Soft men­stru­al cups are more com­fort­able, but firm ones main­tain the seal better.
  • Don't be afraid to use dif­fer­ent sizes on dif­fer­ent days.
Yes, intercourse and cervical orgasms are still possible while wearing a menstrual cup.
  • I wouldn't rec­om­mend the Instead Softcup for that, despite their marketing.
  • Get one that takes up less space in the vagi­nal canal.
  • I know nobody asked, but it's good to know.
Overall, say "Fuck it" to absolute rules about menstrual cup fit. Listen to your body.

A Starting Point: Menstrual Cup Sampler Kits

Jimmyjane Intimate Care menstrual cups size comparison
Kits you may see in sex shops include:

And of course, you can find the ubiq­ui­tous Diva Cup in drug­stores and some health food stores.

There's a boun­ti­ful vari­ety out there, so this list isn't at all com­pre­hen­sive; shop around to see what works for you!

Here's a quick summary of the menstrual cup measurements
CapacityDiameterLengthFirmness
Fun Factory Fun Cup Size B30 mL
🤩
1.7"2.29"Firm but flexible rim with thin cup
Fun Factory Fun Cup Size A20 mL1.56"2.1"Firm but flexible rim. Cup isn't as bendy as with Size B.
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The Fun Factory Fun Cup Explore Kit comes with a use­ful user guide to men­stru­al cups!

What Do I Think Is the Best Menstrual Cup?

Of the four cups above, Fun Factory's Fun Cup Size B was the best fit for me.

Holding the Fun Factory Fun Cups in my hand
Here's why I love the large Fun Cups so much:
  • Collects sub­stan­tial­ly more blood than the others
  • The cup's tapered shape doesn't ride up as easily.
  • I rarely actu­al­ly use the retrieval stems anyway.
  • Firm rim main­tains the seal
  • The thin cup is oth­er­wise super comfy

My pref­er­ences don't mean that the Fun Factory Fun Cups will be the best men­stru­al cup fit for you. Not every­one likes the angling, for exam­ple. However, they're a fan­tas­tic option to con­sid­er for some­one with a long vagi­na and heavy flow, like me.


Wrapping It Up

The most impor­tant rule to remem­ber is that there are no hard-​and-​fast rules. Just as sex toy pref­er­ences vary, so do opin­ions on the best men­stru­al cups!

Ultimately though, as long as my cup works, I'd choose that over a tra­di­tion­al tam­pon or pad most days. FUCK YEAH, clean sheets, min­i­mal main­te­nance, and danc­ing with no wor­ries about my period.

FURTHER READING: Find more of my favorite sex­u­al well­ness and body care prod­ucts!


Thank you to Betty's Toy Box for spon­sor­ing this post. <3

Want to col­lab­o­rate with me? Check out my ser­vices page.

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7 Responses

  1. Amelia says:

    Big fan of men­stru­al cups here!! But last two cycles I used a men­stru­al disc. It has a flat bot­tom and allowed for me to have vir­tu­al­ly mess-​free peri­od sex. My mind was BLOWN in amaze­ment. I’d love to see your thoughts on a disc.

  2. Sm says:

    I've been using Diva Cups for so long because it was dif­fi­cult to find com­pre­hen­sive info on mul­ti­ple brands. Thanks for this!

  3. Yam says:

    I love the men­stru­al cups that you can have have pen­e­tra­tive sex with.

  4. D. Dyer says:

    As a child-​free per­son for whom the gen­er­al rec­om­men­da­tion of a small­er cup has nev­er been a use­ful one, I real­ly appre­ci­ate your clear artic­u­la­tion of how to sort out the best options here.

  5. Jimena says:

    This is so help­ful, thanks!

  6. Prudence says:

    Thank you so much for this! I've been inter­est­ed in try­ing a men­stru­al cup, but the dif­fer­ent options were so confusing.

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