1) I fully support the whole practice-before-you-actually-NEED-it-to-work concept. I thought I was pretty damn familiar with the geography of the southern continent, but yeah, not as much as I thought. COMPLETELY not like insertion of tampons/other stiff *cough* applications, because of the somewhat resilient yet also floppy nature of the silicon. It's a voyage of discovery, to be sure.

2) Secondary to this discovery, google "diva cup folding" because the technique they detail in the packaging insert? Is not actually very user-friendly, particularly if your Falklands haven't been invaded recently. The most popular alternative approaches seem to be the "7," "punch-down" and "origami" style folds (link goes to the LJ menstrual_cups community, a good resource for research/troubleshooting). I would personally vouch for the "labial" style. Also, if you're still having difficulty and/or you're practicing in drydock instead of on the Red Sea, lube is your friend. Note: if lubing, apply to yourself not the cup, for easier gripping of said appliance. When it's in, check by swirling a fingertip around the bottom of the cup to make sure you can't feel any big folds or dents--those are places where it didn't seal, and could leak. If there are dents, never fear, just do a couple of quick Kegels and swirl your finger around again, that fixes it for most women.

3) Once it's placed correctly, it's brilliant, can't feel a thing. Much more comfortable than a tampon, once it's actually where it belongs. I didn't really realize how much less gross this was going to feel, it's like not having a period. Well, OK, not quite, the cramps remind me , but they are much less intense than usual and from anecdotal evidence it seems like this is true for about half the users switching--most people think it's because it doesn't bump against your cervix like tampons do, and it doesn't dry out all your natural fluids. And the hoohah? is singing hallelujah without a scratchy tampon, grody string or wet pad to contend with.

4) Retrieval: Again, practice is your friend, it won't be a completely smooth operation at first. I also advise the hook-it-with-your-finger, punch-down removal strategy 'cause if you don't fold/twist it somehow, it kind of snaps your bits when it pops out, and OW. Best way not to do that that I've found is to tilt it as I'm pulling it out, so only part of the rim comes out at a time.

5) If you are not comfortable touching your vagina, you're gonna have trouble with the learning process but once you've figured out your technique for insertion/retrieval, it's really not that much more involved than an applicatorless tampon like OBs (frankly, I think it's way easier than OBs, I hate those damn things, but just talking the amount of touching involved). But other than the time I dropped it in the toilet and thanked God I had antibacterial cleanser on hand and lots and lots of it nothing terrible has happened re: mess. It's no worse than a tampon and WAY, way less messy than pads. The general rule of thumb for emptying seems to be, it'll last about twice as long as a super-absorbent tampon or pad does for you. If you bleed through one of those in an hour, you'll go two with the Diva--if it takes you six, you can get away with changing every twelve hours, the maximum manufacturer-recommended time. Now, full disclosure there, I think I have sort of a medium period, not super light or heavy, and I haven't even gotten CLOSE to actually filling the cup when I've checked on it, so if you're a heavy bleeder, that might be more problematic re: needing to do it more often than the 3 times a day that worked for me, or spilling it as you get it out. If you do need to do it while you're at work or out and about, it wipes out fine with toilet paper if you do have to empty it in a public toilet without easy access to a sink.

6) Which brings us to cleaning, which is the bugbear that most people run up against - "how do I know it's clean?" and "ew, fluids." Re: the latter, mine dumps and rinses like a champ and everything disappears into the toilet or down the sink drain, so I really don't think that's any nastier than wrapping a gross used tampon or pad up in a toilet paper cocoon and trying to get it into one of those stank-nasty little boxes in a public toilet, or having a mummified wastebasket full of them at home. Re: washing, you can buy Diva's proprietary cleaner, which is all vegetable-based, environmentally friendly stuff, or most women just use whatever they use to clean their parts, like a little Dr. Bronner's or other natural soap. If you're worried that it won't get clean enough that way, per the manufacturer's directions you can boil it for 3-5 minutes. I guarantee you, boiling will make it MUCH cleaner than a tampon could hope to be--they're not sterile, after all, they're just prewrapped.

6) And the cup, in the cute little bag that comes with it, is a lot more tolerant of being jammed in my purse than the tampons have been--ladies, is there anything worse than either not having one when you need it, or holding some dilapidated mess that looks like it's that's been stampeded across the Rio Grande from being in the bottom of your bag and thinking "do I really want that in there? but what choice do I have?"

Verdict: I'm sold. It's the Diva for me. Anybody need a box of Tampax?