When taking a pregnancy, ovulation, or UTI test, which requires you to wee into a specimen cup to collect the urine and then dip the test is annoying for many reasons. Here are my top five most annoying and at the end I have a solution for you!
1. Finding a Specimen cup
If you are doing the test at home (which most of us are), it depends on the pack of tests you purchase as to whether they come with a specimen cup. Sometimes they do, but often they don’t and you need to find a cup to use. What do you choose?
a) an old mug that hasn’t been used for a while
b) a plastic beaker you have lying about
c) a glass
Whatever you choose, it always feels a bit odd to wee into a cup and then rinse it out.
2. Actually Getting Wee in the Cup
When using a specimen cup to collect urine, it is tricky; as a woman, you can’t see what you are doing, and have to hope that you are holding it in the right spot and that you will collect some urine before you finish your wee.
3. Not Getting Wee on your hands
See point 2, you can’t see what you are doing. You are not entirely sure where your pee is going to come out, and getting the cup in the right spot is rather hit and miss. Then even if you do get it in the right place when you stop collecting, can you do that without peeing on your hands? It’s like being a contortionist!
4. A big enough cup
I don’t know about you, but I often don’t know how big a pee I am going to do.
If you do get a cup with the test you purchased it is usually tiny (both in terms of depth and diameter) and often overflows on a big wee.
Even if you do a test in a cup you have found at home it still doesn’t mean that you can necessarily fit it all in without overflows.
Overflow often means wee on your hands, which no one really wants, however fine they are with it!
5. The Plastic Waste
Finally, a big bugbear of mine is the waste; the plastic cups that they send out with the tests are plastic. Which usually means that they cannot be recycled (due to the plastic they are made from), and even a cup from home you often don’t want to use it to drink from after weeing in it – however many times you put it through the dishwasher.
What is the Solution?
We have invented a cardboard handle called the Hoopsy Hold which turns ANY strip test into a midstream one – eliminating the need for a specimen cup, getting pee on your hands, finding a cup, washing one out or the plastic waste.
Basically, it is a cardboard handle that you can thread your pregnancy, ovulation, STI or ketone test into and it makes it longer and so turns it into a midstream test. No cup required.
When you are done you can keep it to reuse or recycle it in the paper recycling – in my tests I reused it 6 times, so it can definitely be used more than once.
About Hoopsy
Hoopsy is on a mission to make healthcare more sustainable—starting with eco pregnancy test kits. Our plastic-free, paper-based hCG pregnancy test strips reduce waste without compromising accuracy. We believe better health starts with better choices—for you, and for the planet.
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