Difference between cleaning and sterilizing your menstrual cup

Wait, aren’t cleaning and sterilising a menstrual cup the same thing?! Nope.

But it’s true that most people use them as synonyms, and most likely they actually mean sterilising.

Let’s see the actual difference and why you should both clean and sterilise your menstrual cup!

Cleaning the cup is something hygiene guidelines suggest we do everytime we empty our cup. So when your cup is full and you take it out, it’s good practice to clean it before putting it back inside.

Even though there is only one documented case of TSS (Toxic Shock Syndrome) with menstrual cups (and it’s a false myth to think it can happen only with tampons, it could also be the case of severe burns or infections post surgeries or due to a bad use of a barrier contraceptives) it is very important we do our best to prevent it.

On top of choosing medical grade silicone products, which is a non-porous material preventing bacteria from sticking to it and growing, it is recommended not to keep a menstrual cup in your body without cleaning it for more than 8 hours.

Cleaning the cup means washing it with water (drinking water) everytime we take it out (so every 4–8hrs). That’s why we invented emanui!

Many menstruators claim public toilets are not made for them (so true); there are very few toilets where you have a sink inside the toilet cubicle.

So, we should take the cup out, empty it in the toilet, put our pants back up (holding the cup in our hand), get out of the cubicle, wash it under running water, go back inside, hope that there haven’t been stains left on our undies and put the cup back inside.

Not the easiest thing to do, right??

On top of not being practical, not everyone is still super confident about periods (actually most people aren’t) so they tend to avoid choosing a menstrual cup or (worse) to clean it because they don’t want their colleagues or other people to watch them cleaning the cup in a public toilet.

Emanui solves it all!! No need to step out the toilet cubicle to clean the cup and most importantly, no excuses for not cleaning it every time we empty it!

What is sterilising then?

It means bringing something to a very high temperature (close to 100 degrees celsius) so that it kills all bacteria.

It is also recommended by hygienic guidelines that we sterilise our cup within cycles. This gives us two options: doing it the day after our last day of period or the day before our next period will start.

Not everyone is as regular as clockwork so it might be difficult to spot the right day before your period starts, so we suggest sterilising your cup at the end of your period with emanui!

It takes just 3 mins in the microwave!!

Please keep in mind, once your cup is sterilised, you have to store it safely to keep it sterile. If you are wondering “can I store it in emanui?”, the answer is yes.

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