As a vegan, respecting all animal beings on the planet is a huge priority for you. And of course you want to make sure that the products you surround yourself with reflect this ideal - also your period care products. If you are on the outlook for a vegan menstrual cup, you have come to the right place. The Ruby Cup is  vegan - this is your guarantee that no animal derived ingredients or animal testing are to find anywhere in our production.

On top of the Ruby Cup being cruelty-free, you’ll learn in this article how it is also healthier for you as well as for the environment than other menstrual products - two factors right up the alley of those looking for sustainable options.

You’ll also find out how you can help us end period poverty one menstrual cup at the time.

The Vegan Trademark: Ruby Cup is registered with The Vegan Society

As defined by The Vegan Society, "Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals."

You have probably spent your share of hours reading ingredient lists on the back of supermarket products trying to understand what each cryptic wording covers. This is what most vegans (especially new vegans) do when trying to find out which products are vegan and which contain animal ingredients or derivatives. But in the process you have probably said many silent prayers in the hope that there would be an easier way.

And this is exactly what The Vegan Society has given us in the form of their Vegan Trademark developed in 1990. This trademark, in daily speech also now and then referred to as the vegan flower (because of how it looks) helps people find products that are free from animal ingredients and have not been involved in animal testing. More than 58,000 products worldwide are at this point in time covered by the trademark, and we can proudly say that the Ruby Cup menstrual cup and our menstrual cup Sterilizer are amongst them.

Both products are made of 100% medical grade silicone, and animal testing or animal ingredients were never on the table for us! This goes for all color variants of both products - all colors used in production are 100% plant-based. So you can confidently choose any cup you like from our color palette of red, purple, white, blue and black.

When you’ve decided on your preferred color, we also recommend you to glance over our size guide so that you find out whether the Ruby Cup S or the Ruby Cup M is to be the best choice for you. Don’t worry if you are in doubt, as you will enjoy our 120-day money back guarantee no matter your choice, which means that you will get a size exchange or a refund, no questions asked, if the Ruby Cup happens not to be the right solution for you.

If you prefer to have both a smaller cup for your light-flow days and a bigger cup for your heavy-flow days, go directly for our duo pack.

The Ruby Cup is a healthy menstrual product

The vegan lifestyle and diet is known to be healthy, and some people choose the vegan or plant based diet exactly for health reasons. If this is the case for you, or if being in good health is a concern for you in general, you’ll be happy to know that a menstrual cup is healthier for your body than other menstrual product choices. 

But why exactly is this? First of all, medical grade silicone that the Ruby Cup period cup is made of is biocompatible, which means that it is non-toxic and hypoallergenic to the human body. It simply does not release any toxins, whether you place it in cold, dry, hot or humid environments. It’s body-friendly.

Many disposable tampons and pads contain various forms of plastic (read: polyester, polypropylene, polyethylene amongst others), bleach and the preservative sodium benzoate.

Another defining difference between a menstrual cup and tampons is that the menstrual cup collects your menstrual fluid rather than absorbing it (whereas tampons absorb your period). This is a significant difference, because the mucous membranes inside of your vagina need to be moist in order to protect the delicate skin in there. A menstrual cup doesn’t dry you out, as tampons can have a tendency of doing. Also, there is a very low risk of developing toxic shock syndrome from menstrual cups, which you can read more about in our blog post on toxic shock syndrome (TSS).

A menstrual cup is not only healthier for you - it’s healthier for the planet too 

Another benefit of the vegan diet is the lower CO2 footprint this lifestyle tends to leave on the planet. Therefore, you’ll probably (also!) be pleased to know that a menstrual product is the period product that leaves the lowest environmental impact on the planet - single-use menstrual products, reusable pads, period underwear, menstrual discs and any other period product you can think of all considered. A report from 2021 by the UN on Single-use menstrual products and their alternatives concludes: 

"The environmental impacts of the menstrual cup are insignificant in comparison to the disposable products, with the menstrual cup having less than 1.5% of the impact of the most impactful product (tampon or pad).”

“This extent of the difference is due in part to the long service life assumed in the study (10 years). Nonetheless, sensitivity analyses showed that even if used for just one cycle (one month), the menstrual cup has lower impacts than the single-use products (assuming 20 pads or tampons are used in a month)."

Yes, that’s right. A period cup can last you up to 10 years, but even if just used for one menstrual cycle, it still has a lower impact than single-use products. When used for 10 years, it only has a 1.5% impact of that of disposable tampons and pads.

In other words, your menstrual cup becomes properly zero waste in the course of less than one menstrual cycle after which it does not produce any further waste in up to 9 years and 11 months.

Voting with your wallet - how you can help us end period poverty

Having a vegan lifestyle, you are used to raising your voice for change in the world with your every purchase. Your lifestyle makes you a political consumer who votes with your money, because you know that our purchase choices are affecting the societies we live in.

Voting with your wallet tends to be a slow process, which is why you might every now and then doubt that your personal buying behaviors can change anything. But as an African proverb embedded with wisdom reminds us: If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito.

Even though ending period poverty is a tough battle, we are constantly making an attempt at it at Ruby Cup. And we have had the privilege time and time again to see that our efforts are impacting so many lives around the globe for the better. This is why we call Ruby Cup the period cup that impacts lives: 

• We have donated 115,000+ menstrual cups in 25 countries
• We support women living in refugee camps: Receiving a Ruby Cup means they do not have to choose between food and pads. (CARE International, 2018.)
• We support thousands of school girls so they can attend school every day of the month (Spiegel, 2017)
• And much more.
• In short: We work towards our vision of nobody being held back by their period, one Ruby Cup at a time.

Find out more in our yearly impact report.

All of this is only possible, because countless individuals around the globe are choosing Ruby Cup (that automatically involves a donation of a Ruby Cup to someone without safe access to menstrual products) or supporting us through direct donations.

Please join in if you wanna help us end period poverty one menstrual cup at a time.

Get your Ruby Cup today

The Ruby Cup is a vegan menstrual cup made of body-friendly medical grade silicone. It will last you up to 10 years resulting in a much lower carbon footprint than if you’d use other types of menstrual products (both disposables and non-disposables). Your purchase automatically includes a donation of another cup to someone without safe access to menstrual products. This person’s life will be impacted for the next ten years, maybe forever.

And remember: Enjoy our 120-day money-back guarantee in case the Ruby Cup doesn’t work for you - every body is unique. Get yours today.