Do you remember your first period?

Do you remember your first period? Mateja Kalin, Executive Director of Bujaka ltd. and founder of LaliCup menstrual cup, sure does:

Of course, I was not prepared… and, as luck would have it, I got it during a school day. I ran to the toilet all scared and confused, quickly shoved some toilet paper down my pants and pretended nothing happened. As soon as I got home I told my mum about it –  she simply presented me with some pads and that was the end of that ordeal. Great! So now I am an 11-year-old girl who walks like a duck due to pads (because in the late 80s they resembled more to nappies than to pads that we know today).

As a child, I used to constantly dread if my period started when I was on holiday by the sea side. Sure, tampons were a possible solution, but I always found them horribly uncomfortable and had to change them every 2-3 hours (due to my heavy flow). The other option would be to take a week off swimming, but as a child, I didn’t want to miss all the fun I could have in the water.

I soon started thinking that there surely must exist a better solution to period problems; one that allows you to swim and can hold up for more than 3 hours before change. And so, in my twenties, I finally discovered menstrual cups and oh how the tides have turned!

How was the first Slovenian menstrual cup LaliCup born?

With a desire to enlighten other people who are also struggling with menstrual issues, I became a self-proclaimed “ambassador for intimate hygiene during menstruation” in Slovenia. My biggest challenge was to change the habit of tampon and pad usage, which was still deeply rooted, but my beliefs and perseverance lead me forward.

First, I started importing another menstrual cup to Slovenia, but I soon realized that it did not meet my needs as I have a very heavy flow, so I decided to create the first Slovene menstrual cup. Using different experiences of me and my friends as a reference, combined with expert advice, the highest quality materials and modern manufacturing processes, LaliCup – a cup for heavy flow – was created.

It took a few years but now I am happy to report that more and more women know about different menstrual alternatives. They decide to use LaliCup for multiple reasons: from its high capacity to comfortability, environment and economical aspects. And that is what I would consider the best part of my job: the feeling that you get when you know that your work has meaning and that it has changed somebody’s life for the better!

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