These things are ahh-mazing!!! That is a sigh of relief combined with the word amazing, say it that way because that’s how I meant it.Truly, these are great. They deserve all the stars. I’m 37 come February and I have had my flow since I was 11. Lifetime tampon user and after pregnancies and life stages hormone fluctuations tampons started changing my vaginal ph during my flow. I’m talking a stench that made me stay home even though it was only me who knew during tampon changes. I am a medical professional so luckily for me, the smell changes I experienced didn’t freak me out. I knew it was foreign object ph issues causing the stench so I started changing my tampons every two hours regardless if I filled them or not. It didn’t matter, the second I inserted a tampon my ph struggled. I have heard of menstrual cups obviously being in the medical field and all but I have an anatomical malformation that causes my vaginal canal to be far more narrow than is normal. Due to that, my 5 pound babies at full term couldn’t pass through even though I was fully dilated so I had to do c sections. It’s not an issue outside of labor, Pap smears and certain positions but my husband isn’t complaining ? it also makes me weary of trying certain feminine products because fit is an issue. But I was desperate to find something that wasn’t a pad or tampon. I finally found ecoblossom and decided because price was great that I’d try them. I will never ever ever go back to tampons.There was no learning curve for me with these. It comes with instructions and they were clear and easy to follow. Nearly fail proof. There was not one single leak or mess involved while wearing it and while removing it to clean and put back in. It sealed every time, and it did not change my ph and therefore even after overnight use, I never noticed any smells. There’s no trash to layer up in 20 sheets of toilet paper, place in a sealed bag and walk out to your dump bins to rid of each time. Just clean with antibacterial soap and water and reuse between cycles, look up steaming techniques before you store away for the next cycle. I have made the best impulse buy ever. Huge sigh of relief. Read below for my tipsif you’re like me and want to keep your fingers out your hooha as much as possible, here are my stepsInsertion - wash your hands and your cup with antibacterial soap and water, rinse but don’t dry your cup, being wet helps with ease. Fold your cup hotdog style or long ways, insert up and back towards tail bone. As it goes in shuffle your fingers back to allow what’s inserted to start to open while you pinch the area not yet inserted, so keep it folded until it’s in but as it goes in release it to open once you are left with just the stem, slightly push up, you should feel some resistance. If you’re sitting or squatting doing this, stand up once you insert it, it will open your vagina a little thus letting the cup fully open, grab the stem and lightly tug, if you have resistance, even a little IT IS SEALED no need to stick your finger up there and twist the base to check.Removal -Sit down on the toilet so you don’t worry about making a mess. Bear down slightly until you have the stem, then relax no need to bear down more than a second. Wiggle the stem side to side while lightly pulling down, it will slide out with a tiny little pop (the speed not the sound) at the rim when that part comes out. I shuffle my fingers from the stem to base as the cup comes out so it doesn’t tip and I pour it into the toilet all in one pretty smooth action. Wash and re-insert or wash, steam sterilize and store