Road Test: I tried a menstrual disc for the first time

“Once I had the menstrual disc in properly, I didn’t feel it at all. It was exactly like wearing a tampon.”

There are many different ways people can deal with their period. Pads, tampons, menstrual cups and period underwear – if you try to think of a new leakage-stopping solution, chances are it’s already been made.

No matter your armour of choice, it’ll do the job. Personally, I’ve always been a girl who opts for pads and tampons when I’m on my period. They’re what I know and am comfortable with and I’m quite content opting for those two period products for the foreseeable future. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke, you know?

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However, I decided to tentatively step outside of my comfort zone recently when period care brand Hey Zomi offered to send me a menstrual disc to review. After a fair bit of deliberation, I agreed. After all, who am I to turn down a freebie? When it arrived in the mail a couple of days later and I took it out of its (adorable) packaging, I sat on my bedroom floor staring at it. Was I about to regret signing up for this?

What is a menstrual disc?

Menstrual discs can easily be confused with a menstrual cup, but these two products are not the same. While they are both reusable period care products that capture period blood, they are quite different shapes. 

Menstrual cups are funnel-like shaped products that sit in your vagina, slightly beneath your cervix. They have a little knob on the end of them that you use to pull them out, and then you simply rinse and repeat.

Hey Zomi menstrual discs work in a similar way, except they’re shaped almost like a bowl. They’ve got a funky-looking handle on the end that you hook your fingernail around to pull them out once you need to empty it.

Why should I use a menstrual disc?

Despite my hesitations towards using menstrual discs, cups and the like, I know they’re very beneficial for an array of reasons. Because they’re reusable, unlike pads or tampons, menstrual discs are far better for the planet than traditional period care. While our used pads and tampons get disposed of, harming the planet, period cups and discs get washed and reused time and time again.

And if helping the planet isn’t reason enough for you to give a menstrual disc a go, think of the cozzie livs. People who get periods spend approximately $10,000 on period care products throughout their lifetime. I don’t know about you, but that makes me want to curl into a ball and cry.

Reusable menstrual products offer a solution to this. According to Hey Zomi, its menstrual disc only needs to be replaced once every five years, which means you’re saving a lot of money in the long run.

Putting it to the test

First thing first, I had to insert the menstrual disc. And let me tell you, it wasn’t easy to begin with. There was a lot of fiddling, a lot of awkward positions and a lot of paranoia. I used a lubricant as the brand recommended, but getting it inside wasn’t the actual issue – it was making sure it was in the right position (secure above the pubic bone) and keeping it in place.

The first couple of times I tried wearing the disc, it didn’t last very long. I could feel it lose its positioning and start to slip out after an hour (thank god I tried this at home). But after awkwardly putting it in the third time, it stuck.

Once I had the menstrual disc in properly, I didn’t feel it at all. It was exactly like wearing a tampon. Hey Zomi says you can wear its menstrual disc for up to eight hours, so I put it to the test to see how long it would hold.

I spent my day walking around, running errands; all the regular things I usually would do. And it was all going great until about seven hours later when I could feel it starting to slip again. Taking it out was messy, to say the least, especially since I didn’t know how to angle it properly.

The second day of trialling the disc was worse than the first. Since I was on the heaviest day of my period and hadn’t yet got the hang of the disc, it did leak a bit (nothing a liner couldn’t handle, though). I thought I had it in properly, as I couldn’t feel it and had tucked it into its designated spot above my pelvic bone, but I guess there wasn’t really a way I could check. It stayed in place throughout the day, and I had no issues with it trying to slip out. However, without going into any grisly details, I will say that disaster struck when I took it out. 

I felt defeated and wanted to give up; resorting back to my usual period care seemed like a pleasant idea. But I’d made a commitment, and I was going to persevere. Thankfully, the rest of my period using the disc was a breeze. The fact that it was my lighter days definitely played a factor in this, but I’d also gotten the hang of using it. I even took it for a test run when going for a swim and all was well. Things were looking up, after all.

Final thoughts

While I had a grim start, my experience using Hey Zomi’s menstrual disc was – once I got the hang of it – a pleasant one. There’s definitely a learning curve if you’re used to pads and tampons, but the brand has heaps of ‘how to’ videos and diagrams to help you along.

While I wouldn’t wear it to work or on days out just yet (emptying it out in public is something I’m not ready for) and I’ll avoid using it on my heaviest day until I’m 100 per cent confident, I certainly will continue to use my menstrual disc. But until I know I’ve mastered it and can have a mess-free experience, I’ll be sticking to using it on my work-from-home days and for shorter outings. 

You can find out more about Hey Zomi here.