The world's first reusable tampon applicator

Hey, far be it from me to tell other people how to manage their bodily fluids! But, given your comment about the awkwardness of washing off the remnants of a slasher flick in public – I don’t see how a reusable applicator would be desirable. Unless you were just going to stash it in your bag to get crusty, which seems both unappealing and unhygenic (if one were to then reuse it).

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FREE TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME for the first 100 customers!

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And an interesting variation that I ran into as a young gent in So. Cal. (with a very large Catholic Hispanic population) is that there’s a weird thing where young ladies who use tampons are considered somehow less “pure” or “good” than their pad wearing peers. Because you know, putting something inside yourself must be a whorish behavior that sullies your eternal soul, and makes you no longer a virgin…

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It’ would be much easier to hold the non bloody parts of the applicator to take to the sink for rinsing than it is to keep your heavily bloodied fingers away from your clothes, the stall door etc. I did always try to wipe my hands clean, but there is only so much you can do without a sink.

This applicator is designed to rinse clean easily and unlike my hand has no fingernails to get trapped in.

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Not just there. The slut shaming of young women who used tampons when I was in high school in the Bible Belt American South in the 1980s was definitely a thing.

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Does not surprise me one iota.

In sex ed in school (some 35 years ago!) they made a big point about how using a tampon would not deflower a girl, that she would still be a virgin (assuming that she was a virgin). This was in a progressive NYC school. It seemed crazy then too, of course, but I can only assume that they were speaking to somebody’s hang-ups…

And I can see how a lot of people, especially certain kinds of religious people, would see that having control over sticking tampons on one’s hoo-ha would be a step on the slippery road towards sexual liberation… because in a very very mild way I guess it is.

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It might seem the name should be read in Japanese.

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I’m not sure this is a good application for 3D printing. You want an antimicrobial material and a smooth result. I know that it’s possible to achieve both but I’m not sure that I’d want to assume that people would get it right. The consequences of getting it wrong can be particularly nasty.

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This. It is extremely important tampons be sterile until right before application.

Exactly. A low-waste version.
On an alternative note, these make great water sampling devices to monitor contaminants in storm water runoff. Absorbs well, undyed sterile cotton with a handy string to attach to things. PDF of the paper about it: http://rgvstormwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Tampons.pdf

I literally cried when i discovered menstrual cups and how wonderful they are. Way less wasteful than tampons, way cheaper, and for some odd reason they seem to help alleviate cramps for me. I think it’s really sad that a lot of women don’t seem to realize these things exist, as since discovering them i’ve convinced a number of my friends to give them a try, most of who quite like them now :slight_smile: . They can be messy to start with, until you get them figured out, but once you do… I’d never go back. Never.

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I agree with this. I use a menstrual cup and sometimes i’m just doing my best to clean as much as I can from around my finger nails with toilet paper before leaving the stall and hoping no one else at the sinks sees the water run red. I thank God when I find a bathroom that’s one stall where the sink is reachable while you sit on the toilet.

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Also handy for first aid of bullet wounds.

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