no boys allowed in the room!!!!

but I don't throw them out in the street

srsly who does that

it wasn't a judgment they're just weird to me!

lol it's okay I just have a guilty conscience

yeah, I don't mind other people using them (though the ones I've seen do seem a bit bulky and wasteful but that's the manufacturer's fault and def. not yours) but they are not for me.

I usually just removed the old-style card applicator tubes too, so I am not really target market, but at least I could get them to slide out when wanted and not when not wanted, and they seemed less wasteful and less annoying to dispose of somehow.

my mum was too cheap to buy the app ones when i was a teen (they are way more expensive in nz), so non-app is basically all i've known. the few times i've used app ones, i've found it... awkward. TMI ALERT!!!!--> with app ones i'm never sure if it's in properly? and man there is nothing more uncomfortable than walking round with a tampon that is not in all the way.

otm

yeah it's a horrible feeling

I can't get the non-apps to feel like they are in the right place!

Hmm maybe this is a fingers too short or vagina too long problem?

I have very short fingers and don't have that problem so that seems...unlikely, but what do I know, I've only ever had the one vagina so

I have pretty long finger so idk maybe I will have to experiment further. But this is one reason why I am diva cup shy--how will I get it in the right place?

occasionally it takes multiple tries but if you fold it correctly it just opens in the right place and sits there

i had depression-related probs on every form of hormonal birth control except the nuva ring, which is probably because it's such a low dose. not "mood swings", but like complete personality/interest-in-life loss, lethargy, etc.

my periods are agony for a couple of hours before they start, and this has def gotten worse over the years. i used to have 0 problems and only a couple day long period. now its a couple hours of seriously crippling cramps/back pain, and like a three day period. my sis has endometriosis and i think that is genetic(?) and i pray i and my other sisters don't have/develop it. she's had terrible problems as a result

endometriosis is awful. one of my friends in high school had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and was on a lot of cortisone and painkillers through her teens and early 20's...later on she found out she had endometriosis and the crazy thing is that as painful as endometriosis is, she had had no idea she even had it because of all the painkillers she'd been taking.

I went off hormonal bc in an effort to stop having migraines and 1) it worked, so yay, but 2) I think the process of weaning myself off the hormones sent me into a weird emotional storm that I'm just now crawling my way out of. Super weird, not easy, but ultimately glad I stopped. Maybe I'm attributing more powers to hormones than they deserve, but I feel better in p much every way now, finally. That's my $0.02 about hormonal bc for women.

Oh and now that I'm off, cramps wake me up at night but at least I feel alive.

never been on the pill, cramps are pretty minor, in that it just feels like a mild hangover, so getting my period is often a complete surprise. it makes me feel like i fail at being female. i also use applicators, because it's like a tool, and tools are cool.

I saw a blue plastic tampon applicator on the ground at the bus stop this morning and thought of you, harbl.

I wrote, "harbl was here" on a post-it note and stuck it on the applicator.

:D

since itt we discuss tampons and applicators
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/2013/innovations-issue/#/?part=tampon

my favorite part: "digital tampons"

FASCINATING! Update: someone I know really believes that tampons can uh harm? your "virginity" and has never used them in her life (despite having given birth!) and won't allow her teenaged daughter to have them in the house. I am so weirded out. This just came up like 2 weeks ago and I don't know where to go with it. I think at a minimum I'm going to let the daughter know that I am at least open to talking about it if she has any questions?

Oh dear. That is too bad.

is this the neighbor?
i would not interfere behind mom's back but i would tell mom to her face that i don't agree that tampons have an impact on "virginity"

It was unexpected. She's mostly normal and modern and realistic about life things.

xp I did tell her, and I don't think she has any rational reason (I mean even in her own mind), it's just learned emotional prejudice.

My mom tried this gambit on me when I was 13. Swiftly got the Mayo Clinic medical book (her Bible) out and fought back with BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE.

"I lost my virginity to tampax."
Who the fuck even thinks this is a reasonable thing to think?

The sad thing is that the person in question was also sexually assaulted at least twice in her life, which makes me think like when that happened to her and whenever she has thought about it in all the years afterward, did she think it was "sex"?? What must that mean for a person with those beliefs to think of it that way? It's horrifying.

Guys can we talk mooncup? I know some of you use them and now that I no longer have an IUD I think I might give one a shot. Which do you use and do you like them etc.

i am wondering about them too. i have a v short but v heavy flow, and super tampons are waay too absorbent, normals are not absorbent enough etc tmi tmi

Mine's not really bad. I'm OK with regulars throughout etc. I don't know if that matters but there it is.

i just hate having to change them so often, is my thing with regulars

Pretty sure I've talked about this before, but:

I primarily prefer pads, because I don't want to lose my virginity to tampons. JUST KIDDING. My period is BANANAS heavy so tampons are a joke. But after the first couple of Shining-elevator-scene days, I really like the Diva Cup because I can just stick it in and go about my day and only empty it once, maybe twice if I'm out for a long time. That is with a flow that would still be too heavy for regular tampons, so you regular users would probably find that you can empty it even less.

Dealing with it in a public restroom, especially a stall, takes some getting used to but once you do it a couple of times it is pretty easy. I have found that carrying a little packet of some kind of vagina-friendly wipes so I can clean off the cup and my hands and not risk getting little bits of TP stuck to everything makes it much easier. It is also useful to practice taking it out and putting it in before you find yourself with your leg propped up on the stall wall, bleeding all over everything while you try to get the fucker back in the right way. I would also wear a backup pad/liner with it the first few times you take the show on the road just in case you don't have it situated quite right. But seriously, by the second or third day you use it, you'll be an expert at cramming it up there the right way.

Other pros - environment, cheaper by far in the long run.

Oh, I have tried The Keeper long long ago and didn't care for it. I do like the Diva Cup. That's the only other one I've used, and I've had this one for a long ass time.

The only thing I tried in this vein was the instead cups years and years ago and I could ever get the fuckers to sit right but I think they work differently than the keeper, diva, and mooncup do.

I can't remember what thread it was on that we talked about this stuff but since i"m here and too tired to look I'm gonna put it here anyway. I have started washing my face with coconut oil. I am very scared about this but it's been three nights and my face has totally cleared up? I had these little bumps that I thought were tiny spots but they're just gone. I'm kind of amazed. Will keep you posted.

My best technique is to fold it in half, insert it, let it unfold, and the twist and pull slightly until it feels like its created a seal. It's also important to figure out how far up is comfortable/appropriate for you. Pro tip: practice inserting it in the shower.

xp that is exciting about the coconut oil!

intrigued by coconut oil face washing

still so far so good - will give a thorough update in a week. let's hope my face doesn't explode between now and then. I have no reason to think it will except for the fact that putting oil on my face still seems weird.

Last week I bought coconut oil on the recommendation of you fine ladies. I haven't tried it yet though because a) Oil scares me and b)PP hates coconut so much the he cannot even stand to look at coconuts on TV. I am going to try it. I just hope I don't get served with papers a week later.

PP hates coconut so much the he cannot even stand to look at coconuts on TV

omg!

I am enjoying smelling like a macaroon. I don't know if I'll keep using it on my face. I haven't decided yet. It's definitely the best shaving "cream" I've ever used.

PP hates coconut so much the he cannot even stand to look at coconuts on TV

hahaha this is so funny

e - how much do you use on your face when you wash it? i finally bought some

Just a little scoop. I just googled it but it says to massage it in and then put a hot washcloth over your face to open your pores a little and leave it there a couple seconds until it cools. Then you just wipe the excess away with the washcloth. That's it!

lol sunny.

tangentially related to sunny's predicament, but not really: years ago my sister-in-law ended up trying on one of my mother in law's perfumes. sister in law goes home, forgets about it. husband gets affectionate and then freaks right out, because his wife smells like his mom --- it fucked with his head so much she ended up taking a shower to get the perfume off.

i finally managed to revive my yearbook tumblr thing and this picture seemed noteworthy because all four of these girls look like movie stars. The girl who looks like she's about to join the source family is my favorite, but they're all adorable.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/e69611b29c940b832c1595b7612d31eb/tumblr_mp20h0KHxA1rcq6xho1_500.jpg

also that reminds me - i was wondering if we could talk about this concept of "resting bitchface"

We could talk about it, but this is the first I've ever heard of it!

i saw something on jezebel about it -- everyone has a resting face. it's the face you make when you're not making any expression at all. some people, apparently, are told a lot that they have a "resting bitchface", indicating that their natural face is in some way communicating hostility.

and i tried to take a picture of my resting face, to see what it looked like. and it looked sad!

I worry that my resting face looks slack and vacant. Like I will be working away and realize I'm sitting at my desk with my mouth slightly open. I guess that's better than my other bad habit which is to sit with my jaw clenched so tightly that I get terrible headaches.

Anyway, resting bitchface is a dumb concept that has its roots in the fucked up idea that women should always look pleasing and accommodating, IMO.

it fucked with his head so much she ended up taking a shower to get the perfume off.
oh man, i don't doubt it for a second. yikes!

agree with u carl
just one MORE thing for us to feel like we have to "work on" -- your face is sitting wrong