This Canadian company is changing the conversation around menstrual health
A Canadian menstrual cup company is on a mission to change the way we experience and talk about periods and menstrual health.
Periods, notoriously seen as icky and embarrassing, are becoming a more mainstream conversation, and nixit is at the forefront of it. They want to change the way periods and menstrual health are viewed to eliminate stigma and educate along the way.
“Our mission is not just to sell people nixit, it’s to educate about menstrual health and empower them to make the right period product choice that works for their body,” nixit founder Rachael Newton told Daily Hive.
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If you follow nixit on social media, you might be used to vaginal designs popping up in your feed, or discussions of pleasure, menstrual flow, and how to use their version of the menstrual cup. If you’re not following them but have had questions about periods, pleasure, dating, you name it, they might just have the answer for you.
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If you’re not familiar with nixit, it is a Canadian menstrual cup company launched in 2019. They’re Toronto-based and have taken a different spin on the menstrual cup. While the majority of cups use suction to remain in place, nixit uses a different design and the body’s shape to stay in place. The disc-shaped cup sits just below the cervix and uses the pubic bone to stay in place. It is safe to use during penetrative sex and is reusable.
TikTok has become a space where nixit helps educate and raise some brand awareness. They’ve got videos about the clitoris, the vulva, how to insert the nixit menstrual cup and more. A sort of one-stop shop for all your menstrual health questions.
@letsnixit Menstrual clots can sometimes be scary to see but they are normal🩸#periodtalk #periodeducation #menstrualcycle #periodt #periodsbelike #cuplife ♬ estelle american boy – jay !
With a goal to educate in mind, Newton knows they have to talk about everything.
Think about it, if you’ve ever had a period, how often have you wondered if something was normal, but were maybe too embarrassed to ask a friend? Well, enter nixit.
“We can only do that by talking about all the different things that are associated with periods: heavy clots, different coloured blood, all the different products that are available, the benefits of all of them, maybe some of the negatives to them as well,” she said.
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These videos aren’t your mom’s (or your own if you are a fellow millennial) tampon commercials. There’s no blue liquid, no one is riding a horse or bashfully sneaking to the washroom with a tampon. They’ve opted for realism, using red liquids, realistic diagrams and not a single horse.
“We’re trying to show periods in a realistic way. When I got my period, it was a bit horrific in the sense that there was just so much blood and I wasn’t expecting that,” said Newton.
Not surprisingly, they’ve become a resource for young menstruators, and for those who have been menstruating for years and still have questions. In a way, they’ve created an online community for menstruators around the world.
“It’s somewhere they can come to safely talk about their period, what they’re experiencing, and can answer each other’s questions. There’s a sense of community that I think is really important,” Newton said.
Newton said it has been so important for her and for nixit to promote menstrual health because of the widespread stigma attached to menstruation. It’s also a tool for menstruators to use to advocate for themselves. It’s incredibly difficult to navigate menstrual health concerns if everyone menstruates in secret and there’s no sense of what might be considered concerning.
@letsnixit Feels like so much more sometimes 🙃 #periodeducation #periodtips #periodtiktok #periodproblems ♬ Attack on Titan 1 round – sasha<3
Their videos garner thousands of views, whether answering questions about periods or comparing nixit to other period products, they’ve certainly sparked a conversation.
If you haven’t ventured into the menstrual cup game yet, you’re probably wondering how on earth you might use one. Especially nixit, which is unlike the vast majority of menstrual cups out there. Designed like a disc, it looks a bit daunting. Don’t worry, nixit has a TikTok for that.
@letsnixit Reply to @mariexxxxx0 You won’t believe how soft and flexible nixit is 👉 @letsnixit #menstrualcups #tampons #periodtok ♬ sonido original – taliaespinoza
“It’s a great way to allow people to visualize how to insert it, where it sits, how to clean it, all those sorts of things,” said Newton.
@letsnixit How to insert the nixit menstrual cup 💚 #periodtiktok #menstrualcup #periodeducation #periodpositive ♬ original sound – Becca means
While the response to their videos has been mostly positive, they still receive some comments that come from a place of believing periods are gross. It’s why Newton does what she does, she wants people to feel empowered, not disgusted.
“It’s our role to show people that it’s not disgusting, and why it’s not,” she said. “I think there’s something so empowering about using a cup and understanding your flow and touching it and seeing it, compared to pulling out your tampon and never knowing what’s going on.”
Even speaking from more personal experience, as a nixit user myself, I’ve learned so much more about my menstrual health. Simple things like cycle tracking and being aware of when your heavy days are can really make your life that much easier. It’s also been a key factor in monitoring my menstrual health. Using nixit has put me in touch with my menstrual cycle in a way I’ve never experienced with other period products.
Newton said she gets a lot of feedback similar to mine, that if only we had all known this when we were teens puberty might’ve been a little less awful.
@letsnixit Sip the period pain away! #naturalremedy #periodcramps #smoothie #periodtips ♬ K Flays High Enough ozuedits – carlos ♚
It’s not just good for menstrual health, using a reusable menstrual product reduces the amount of waste you contribute to landfills each year. Newton said that tampon users will use about 11,000 tampons in their lifetime, all of which end up in a landfill. Switching to a reusable cup will greatly reduce that number.
“You’ll reduce your period waste by 99% which is pretty amazing,” she said.
As nixit approaches their third birthday, Newton reflects on the company’s goals and how far they’ve come since 2019.
“Our goal was to bring the menstrual cup mainstream, and I feel like we have done that in the last three years,” she said.
If you’re thinking of making the switch, don’t be discouraged by small leaks or trouble with inserting it on the first go. Like most things in life, there’s a learning curve, but nixit has TikToks for that, too. Not to mention that you can email them directly and they can provide you with tips and tricks to nail things down.
The how-to guide on nixit’s website provides realistic goals, tells users how to prepare for those first couple of months of learning how to use the cup, and offers some troubleshooting for those who might need it.
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