05/11/2026
LH strips or temping? I asked you on my stories, and the answers were really interesting.
Both are useful. But LH strips get a lot more credit than they deserve.
LH strips pick up the hormone surge that usually happens a day or so before ovulation. They can be helpful, but they’re far from perfect. A positive doesn’t prove you actually released an egg. Some women, particularly those with PCOS, see several surges in a cycle or have LH that sits high all month, so the strips never give a clear answer. Others have a short surge that’s easy to miss if you only test once a day.
Then there’s the emotional side. Squinting at faint lines, testing every day for weeks, feeling like s*x has to happen on a schedule. For a lot of women, LH strips become a monthly source of anxiety rather than clarity. If that’s you, you’re not doing it wrong. The tool just isn’t as simple as the box makes it look.
Temping works the other way around. After you ovulate, progesterone causes a small but sustained rise in your resting temperature. That rise confirms ovulation happened, but only after the fact, so it can’t warn you ahead of time. The upside is there are no lines to interpret, and a wearable like a Tempdrop does the work while you sleep.
Used together, they fill each other’s gaps. Over a few cycles you also learn your luteal phase length, which is one of the most valuable things you can know about your cycle before trying to conceive.
This is why I encourage women to start tracking months before they plan to try. By the time you’re ready, you’ll know your patterns and the strips become a backup rather than something you obsess over.
Comment OVUL and I’ll send you my ovulation guide.
