How To Clean + Care For Your Menstrual Cup

HELLO CLEAN.
How To Clean + Care For Your Menstrual Cup...

Cleaning your Hello Cup is easy, quick and important so have a read of our top tips on how to clean and look after your Hello Cup before, during and after your period.

Emptying and reinserting your cup during your period.

Once you've removed your menstrual cup (for a guide check out our removal video), empty the contents into the loo.

Depending on where you are, you have a few options:

• Rinse out with cold water, wash with a mild soap, rinse and reinsert.
• No tap handy? No worries. Wipe your cup out with loo paper and reinsert. You can also take a water bottle into the loo with you can use it to rinse your cup.
• For extra cleanliness, we recommend using our Hello Go hand and cup sterilising spray before reinserting. Just spray your cup and let it dry (takes a few seconds). This protects your cup from any bacteria. And as the name suggests, it can also be used on your hands!
  
  

Sanitising your cup after your period. 

After removal, empty your cup and rinse under the tap with cold water (cold water prevents stains setting in - more about that below). Next we recommend you sterilise your cup so it’s good to go when Aunt Flo arrives next.

There are a few ways to sterilise your menstrual cup:

• Sterilise your cup in rapidly boiling water for 3 minutes. You can do this in the microwave or stovetop. Check out our whisk hack here).
• Soak your menstrual cup in a glass of cold water with a quarter of a sterilising tablet (Milton is the most common brand available in supermarkets or pharmacies) for 15 minutes. Do NOT leave your cup in soaking for longer than 30 minutes otherwise you risk damaging it.

Once sterilised dry you cup and pop it away. You can store you cup anywhere as long as it is a dry place and out of direct sunlight. Make sure your cup is totally dry before you store it in your Hello Cotton bag before your next cycle.

Hello Go Sanitising Spray (Powered by Zoono).

Hello Go is our cleaning pocket rocket and your added layer of protection. When Hello Go dries it forms a layer of microscopic pins that attract, pierce and kill pathogens. This patented technology means Hello Go is free of alcohol which can dry out the skin. Hello Go is food-grade, water-based and gentle - in fact, it has a neutral pH similar to that of water (water has a pH of 7 and Hello Go has a pH of 6.9), which means that it won't affect the pH of your vagina. Once Hello Go dries it forms an antimicrobial layer that lasts for 24 hours.

Goodbye Staining.

Stains can happen. Prevention is the best way to keep stains at bay – so rinse your menstrual cup with cold water each time you remove it. Make sure that you flush out the suction holes and rinse the base and around the lettering on the cup. It’s important to use cold water first because hot water can actually set stains in!

So what can you do if your cup does get stained? While stains aren’t overly attractive - they don’t affect your cup. Some people have higher iron content in their menstrual flow which means they are more susceptible to having staining. But don’t fret because you can shift even stubborn stains.

The best stain buster is to soak your cup in a 1:3 solution of household bleach (that's 1 part bleach and 3 parts water) for 15-20 minutes. Don't leave the cup in the solution for any longer than the recommended time frame and make sure you give it a through rinse before reinserting.

Another stain removing tool is good old fashioned lemon juice! Soak your cup in a 50:50 mixture of water and lemon juice for up to one hour. Rinse and repeat if needed. You can also swap out the lemon juice for white vinegar to help lift stains they are both great for removing any lingering odours too!) Your cup should be as good as new.