How Lunette Is Modernizing Women’s Periods
I’ll never forget the first time my menstrual pad failed me. It was long before the first menstrual cup was invented. I sat frozen in my sixth-grade desk chair staring at a small, bright red pool of blood between my legs and prayed that no one would notice.
Back then, periods were something women only spoke about in hushed voices, and kids were ruthless when they caught a girl with an unnoticed spot on her pants. I didn’t make it through that day unscathed. In fact, after that experience, I never left the house without a purse packed full of extra pads, and a case of paranoia that intensified approximately once every three weeks.
Menstruation Then & Now
I often say, “Women have it hard.” And, we do. Bleeding for roughly a week once every month isn’t easy. It affects all areas of our life: professional, physical, emotional, and sexual. Menstruating can be painful and exhausting, and maintenance alone takes a huge amount of effort.
You’d think that by now our society would have replaced the wasteful feminine products that pack the shelves in the grocers’ feminine hygiene section. But women still feel tied to toting around tampons and pads that fail them repeatedly and take up tons of space and money. This is where Lunette Menstrual Cup comes in.
It’s true that menstrual cups have been around for a while, but up until recently, menstrual cup makers haven’t been unable to crack the mystery: why women still shy away from using menstrual cups as their go-to feminine protection products? Lunette is the first menstrual cup brand that gets it and isn’t afraid to tackle the challenge.
Smashing Period Taboos
The menstrual cup differs from tampons and pads in that women have to be intimately comfortable with their bodies and their periods to use them. Both of these things may on the outside seem reasonable. One might even expect that women would already be both familiar with their own anatomy and something that their body does once a month starting in adolescence. But periods and vaginas have both been (and still are in many communities) taboo topics. And many women are still reluctant to talk about their periods and touch their own vaginas
This is where Lunette plays a vital role in changing the future of how women experience their periods. They have not only created a feminine protection product that is ecological and economical, they are also actively working to change attitudes about periods through honest and inspiring conversations and actions. I mean, this company even has Menstrual Mentors to assist customers and an online Cup Bot to instantly answer important questions.
By working to remove the shame and stigma associated with periods, and inviting women to join the conversation, Lunette begins to break down the barriers holding women back from purchasing a product that offers them a host of benefits.
Benefits of Using Menstrual Cups
Menstrual cups improve women’s lives in the following ways:
- A menstrual cup is reusable and lasts up to 12 hours. It eliminates the need to carry around a bag full of tampons and pads.
- Women save a lot of money with a reusable menstrual cup.
- You feel good when you reduce the waste that’s created by disposable tampons and pads.
- Menstrual cups require fewer changes throughout the day and save women time.
- Menstrual cups improve your sex life! No more avoiding oral sex for weeks out of each month. (Mind
blown !) - Menstrual cups help women get to know their bodies better.
Cathy Chapman, Lunette’s Menstrual Maven
Lunette is a female owned and run, inclusive, LGBTQ-friendly company, and has seriously caught our attention and earned our love. So when I found out that the Cathy Chapman, the North America President of Lunette and chief of menstrual matters, was based out of the Pacific Northwest, I had to get a hold of her for a little Q&A session.
This taboo-busting badass had plenty to share, and left me feeling pretty damned empowered.
Q&A with Cathy Chapman, North America President of Lunette
SEL: Tell us about your role with Lunette. How did you get involved? What do you love most about your work?
CC: I was originally invited to work with Lunette in 2012— to assist with their social media and marketing strategy. I was really impressed with the product and the brand culture. Menstrual cups were relatively still a new concept for most of the U.S. population, and it was a fun challenge to come up with ways to educate the general population about comfortable and reusable period-care in a “cool”, approachable way.
Heli Kurjanen, the founder and creator of Lunette, provided me with the biggest and greatest role in my career to date—as the North America President of Lunette in 2016. But bigger than the title, this has been my opportunity to help lead an important social movement, and make a true impact, which is an exciting, inspiring place to be from a career standpoint.
SEL:Why are you passionate about women’s period health?
CC: I’ve always been health conscious. I paid attention to what I ate, exercised regularly, but it wasn’t until I became a parent that I really became an advocate for women’s health. Like a lot of mom’s, I used blogging as an outlet to the “grown-up” world while I was taking care of my young children at home. I connected with some pretty amazing, really smart people, and honestly, I thought, “Hey, I wanna be like them!”
Being a part of a larger conversation and actively breaking taboos surrounding menstruation was empowering—and people are listening!
SEL: How do you define period positivity? How can it change women’s lives?
Being period positive doesn’t need to be associated with pinks, flowers, and frills and I’ve always talked about period power openly and loudly, with conviction. While the menstrual movement and openness of conversation have been gaining attention recently in the media and within the category, I’m pretty proud that the Lunette brand has always been doing it in the mainstream and LGBT communities … and I think that’s why we’ve been very successful year over year. Periods are nothing to be ashamed of, to be sneaky about or to hide – it’s empowering when you decide to adopt period positivity!
SEL: Your mission is very similar to ours. Tell us about the honest and inspiring conversations about menstruation that you would like people to start having and how you think your product can help with that.
CC: The more we openly talk about menstruation, the less taboo it becomes. When people ask how they can become more active in the menstrual hygiene conversation I always suggest volunteering. It’s a great way to get hands-on knowledge of some of the obstacles menstruators are facing right now.
SEL: How is Lunette different than the other menstrual cups on the market?
CC: Lunette is thrilled to be a part of the overall menstrual movement—one that involves a lot of other products, from menstrual cups to holistic supplements to social activation. We’re collectively giving today’s modern woman healthier and more empowering choices for their period care, and that’s an exciting place to be. The category is certainly growing, but as one of the original leaders globally, we’ve got a superior product that has been well designed and r
SEL: How can switching to Lunette improve women’s lives?
CC: Getting to know your vagina and your menstrual cycle is critical to understanding your overall health, and just like the clean beauty movement is taking place in other product categories, we’re seeing it now on our side of things with the fast rise of menstrual cups. People are actively looking for options—like Lunette—that are healthier for their body and better for the earth.
SEL: You say, “Lunette is about liberation.” Can you tell me more about this?
CC: Our brand’s mission is to change attitudes about periods: nobody should feel ashamed of them, nobody should miss a chance because of them. Using safe, reusable period care—like the Lunette Menstrual Cup—liberates menstruators from the seemingly endless cycle of purchasing disposable products and allows people to live their life without restrictions due to their period (Swimming, yoga…yeah, even oral sex!).
SEL: Lunette does a lot of giving back. Can you share the programs and partnerships you are most proud of?
We’ve teamed up with a lot of organizations throughout the years, not just to give people access to menstrual cups, but also to educate populations on reproductive health and safe menstrual hygiene practices. The partnership that I am most proud of is our collaboration with The Cup Project in Kenya. We initially started working with them in 2015. Since then, we have included, H&M owned Monki to the collaboration with the Monki x Lunette x The Cup, Pink Lunette Menstrual Cup. With every Monki cup sold, we donate a menstrual cup to a menstruator in need.
SEL: Anything else you’d like to share?
Pads and tampons generate a lot of waste. If half of the world’s population menstruates for around 40 years of their lifetime, that’s a lot of disposable period products going into the landfills and oceans (the average person uses approximately 11,000 tampons during their reproductive years). The Lunette Menstrual Cup is made of medical silicone and can last for several years. And when you’re done, you simply burn it—toxic emission-free. The entire Lunette cup packaging is even 100% compostable.
Find out more about your period, and menstrual cups at Lunette.com
Images via Lunette & Lunette Fb.
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