* music *
Oh boy, here we go.
* music *
Hi, this is Amanda, and today,
I am here to talk to you about the FLEX Cup.
* crickets chirp *
We have had a lot of requests
for review of the FLEX Cup.
We resisted it for a very long time
because we are not so silent
about not liking the company.
That said, I did purchase this cup myself,
and decided to give it a shot.
So, the FLEX Cup actually started out
as the Keela Cup, and it was designed
with the idea of being more friendly
for people with disabilities.
The FLEX Cup does come in two sizes.
This is the larger size.
I happened to be able to snag it on sale,
which is why I went with this one.
The biggest innovation here is the idea of this loop.
While other cups do have a loop,
none of them have a loop quite like this.
For the FLEX Cup, this loop is attached
to a silicone sort of string, I suppose,
that attaches to the rim of the cup,
and the idea is that, when you pull the stem,
it will release the suction of the cup for you.
So, hopefully you can see this,
this is the inside of the cup.
There is the string here, and I'm going to pull the stem
from behind, and it will eventually pucker in.
You have to pull it pretty far
for it to start doing that.
Let me see if I can get this, a nice side view too.
Again, you would be able to sort of slip your finger
into the loop and pull, and it will eventually...
Ah, there it goes.
Now it starts to pucker.
Okay, so.
* sighs *
I have a lot of thoughts.
Unfortunately, none of them are very good.
I don't like the company,
and so I can't say with certainty
that it doesn't cloud my view of the cup,
but I don't believe it is.
So, right away, I didn't love it.
It was slightly more awkward to fold and insert.
You kinda have to be a little bit aware
of where the stem is.
The stem does add just a little bit
of bulk to your fold.
It's not bad, but what I have mostly found was that,
when I went to open my cup,
I was kind of feeling it,
because it's right there, in the center,
and my cervix does like to sit just inside the cup.
That is not everybody's experience,
but it is mine.
So my first impressions of the cup were that,
despite the sort of bulky stem,
which I will show you here really quick,
this attaches to the rim
and goes down through the center of the cup,
and then out through this hole here,
I thought that this might actually sort of,
I guess, make folding it a little more difficult,
but it's not too bad.
I can do my usual C fold, or even,
oh, can't do it that way * laughs *
a punch down fold just fine.
You do kinda need to be aware of where it's located
because, obviously, this way was not really wanting
to go all that easily, but just kinda play with it.
As for wear,
* sighs *
I didn't find it very comfortable for two reasons.
Both of them are personal to me.
First of all, the silicone's nice and soft.
I like that just fine.
The stem is not removable.
Pretty much every other cup,
you can trim the stem, remove the stem, whatever you want.
You cannot do that with this cup,
and I did find, even though it's very soft,
I kinda found it irritating
because it wanted to sit lower in my vaginal canal
for the next thing that I didn't like,
which is that, because this stem runs through the center
of the cup, my cervix wanted to bump into it
because my cervix likes to sit just inside my cup,
but just inside this cup is this knot and stem,
so that was not comfortable for me,
which made the cup want to sit
a little bit lower in my vaginal canal,
which made this want to be kinda pokey,
and just kinda sticking out slightly,
which you can feel.
In the bottom portion of your vagina is where you have
the most sensation, so anything that's down there,
really, I'm sensitive to.
While I didn't find the cup completely comfortable,
it didn't leak, so that's a plus.
Okay, so, onto removal.
As for removal, I tried it both ways.
I tried my usual just pinch the base, pull it out.
That was fine.
And I also tried the pull stem.
With the pull stem, you really gotta kinda tug a bit
to get it going, and then you still have to pinch the base,
and then get it out of there, at least I did.
The thing is, now I gotta clean this.
I gotta dump it, which is fine,
but I also have to then pull the stem back through,
because you gotta clean the whole thing,
and then I would take it, you know, wash it out,
and then I would have to get the stem back down through,
and then be ready to reinsert.
It's not bad, but I don't see
where this is easier than a cup
with a one-piece body.
A standard cup looks something like this.
Same insertion, same wear, minus this bit here
if you have a cervix that likes to dip,
but when it comes to removal,
you do need to sort of pinch the base,
which, this one, granted,
you can sort of release the suction a bit
before pulling it down,
but you're definitely still gonna have to pinch the base
to remove it, at least I did, again,
but when it comes to washing,
this is where the really big differences were for me.
This cup was incredibly difficult to clean,
at least in comparison to a standard cup.
A cup like this, I take it to the sink,
I give it a little wash, reinsert, I'm good to go.
Again, with this cup, I have to pull the stem back through,
which it doesn't like to do,
fully wash, and then get the stem back in.
There are people who love this cup,
and there are definitely people
that this is gonna work better for
just because every single body is unique and different.
It's just not a cup that I would recommend,
and I didn't personally like it,
so I guess that's the long and short of it.
I wish I had more to say.
I wish I felt less negative about it
because, if I felt like it was something
that was actually gonna help, it would be different.
I just don't.
The only aspect that I can see
that was possibly remotely easier
would be the breaking the seal, but everything
after that point was just really much more difficult,
even for someone like me who has full use
and strength in my hands.
If I had, you know, arthritis,
or a disability, or anything else,
I just can't fathom this actually being easier.
I know I've been using a cup for a very long time,
and so I do have a lot of practice,
but I can totally one-handed, insert, remove,
wash a regular menstrual cup.
I cannot do that with this cup.
I mean, even if I wanted to,
it's just so difficult to take apart,
and then to put back together.
I really don't think it's worth the hassle.
I know we've been asked for this review so many times,
and I hate having such a negative review.
I just, I would never use this cup.
I wish I had more positive to say.
Again, the silicone is very soft.
I like that part of the cup.
On the comfort scale, it might work better
for people with a higher cervix
where it's not going to dip into the cup,
and if stems aren't a bother to you,
this might be something to look into.
I tried the FLEX Cup for two cycles,
and hated every second of it.
This is just a big no for me.
I can't see me recommending it to anybody.
I think there are several cups
that sort of meet some of the things
that this helps address.
There are definitely soft cups on the market.
There are definitely cups with more comfortable stems,
and as for the releasing of the suction,
I think that, if that were a real issue,
I would probably look for something
with just maybe a bit of a shorter body or a longer stem
that you could sort of coax the cup down with a bit,
and then be able to, a little more gently,
pinch the base and remove.
I'm so sorry.
I wish I had better news for you.
This sucks.