Tampons and disposable pads are the most common choices for "feminine hygiene" (I hate that term - perhaps we should say "blood stoppage"?). I don't know exact percentages but I bet tampons and disposable pads are used by 95% of women, at least women in industrialized societies. Most women I've talked to don't know that sponges and cloth pads are real options, but even fewer know about the following methods. I had heard about menstrual cups, but had no real information about them to include in my site. Thanks to information I've found in the Museum of Menstruation web site, I was able to add this section.
The basic idea here is to put a rubber, cup-shaped device in your vagina to catch your flow. When it fills up, you rinse it out and put it back in. You keep the same device for years. I have heard that some women use their diaphragms (a birth control device with a similar shape) for this purpose. I don't know if that is a good idea or not.
The advantages of a menstrual cup would be environmental and financial (assuming they are reusable) because you would use the same cup for years and years. They would also be a safer tampon substitute in terms of avoiding Toxic Shock Syndrome.
Menstrual cups are not a new idea. I believe there have been other attempts to popularize this method that have failed in the past. This might be because these devices don't work, or maybe it is messy to pull out the full cup, or maybe these companies just can't compete with the big tampon and pad manufacturers and their huge advertising budgets. It seems like an idea that needs to be investigated.
The Keeper: this is a cup on stick, made of rubber. The stick is to help you put it in a take it out. It comes in two sizes, one size for women who have gone through a vaginal childbirth, and one size for everyone else. The Keeper costs $35.00 in the US, but is supposed to last for 10 years. You can order the Keeper (and find out more about it) through Eco-Logique, Inc.
Instead: I don't know what to make of a device with a name that is an adverb, but I guess it gets that "alternative" idea across. This is a disposable menstrual cup made of a plastic ring with a little bag hanging from it. Imagine a basketball hoop, but of course there isn't a hole in the bottom. The bag is made of some condom-like material. The ring is supposed to keep it in place inside of you and the bag collects the flow. When it fills up, you throw it all away.
This section will grow, I'm sure, but right now I have only one other product:
Interlabial Padettes: These are for light flow only. They are little wads of cotton that you tuck between the lips of you vulva (interlabial = "between the lips") and they stay there somehow. Don't ask me. They sell them in drugstores in Florida, for some reason, but have to be ordered otherwise. To see a picture of one, go to The Museum of Menstruation.