To not want nor agree with fucking douching or moisturising MY OWN Vag.

[frogslegs35]

I can't go anywhere nor watch TV without being reminded that I 'Should' be doing one of/both and I'm getting slightly pissed off with this severely outdated information.
Dr's recommend it here Half of pharmacies are taken up with feminine products such as Provag gel - moisturiser for your vagina (WTAF?) and floraVag - to purify your vagina I'm getting leaflets in the mailbox and even got given one on a visit to the cinema ffs!
Final straw today was in the pharmacy - the assistant asked if I'd like to buy some on promotion so I told her I didn't use it and didn't want to cause myself thrush and she looked at me like I'd just told her I ate newborn babies
If my translation of language would have allowed I'd have also informed her that my own Gynaecologist and GP both advise against using anything other than gentle soap on the outside - so thank you very much but my vag is capable of cleaning itself, is clean and hygenic, doesn't smell and I manage perfectly well without FloraVag.
Rant over

[JenaiMorris]

I have a theory that bald foofs smell more, hence manufacturers are getting away with shifting more of this crap now.

I know on the rare occasions I've done mine, that the aroma wasn't quite right. Not bad necessarily, just not normal.

[froubylou]

I had an ex once who was quite good and really liked giving oral sex. He once wisely informed me that 'the cleanest tasting fannys are the hairiest ones'.

I had no reason to doubt him. At the time I was a bit of a landing strip girl but after 2 weeks away on a course he was sat waiting for me when I finally got home after 5 hours on the train. I was (after 2 weeks) a bit of a hairy mary down there and felt very hot and sweaty and unclean after the 5 hours on a train after a day on a course and desperate for a shower.

He muff dived anyway and announced it was perfectly clean and fine as it was all hairy and the hair acts as a natrual drainpipe type thing for wee etc. So instead of you patting your fanny dry with loo roll when you have a wee, you are just wiping the excess off your pubes which are waterproof anyway.

Not sure if his theory was right BUT am currently pg and unable to reach my fanny for a short, back and sides and although I have the usual every 5 mins needing a wee and the lovely pgy associated discharge I find I dont smell like an old lady at the end of the day.

And when I have a bath or shower I use a quick swipe around with whatever soap or shower gel I am using, just a swipe though. Not a scrub or a thorough soaping.

Bubble bath gives me thrush btw.

[NoneDirection]

Are vaginas allowed to smell of anything though? I think a baffling thing for young girls especially is that they are told that their vaginas "shouldn't smell" or that if they smell "out of the ordinary" then they should go to the doctors. As we are not dogs, we fortunately don't go round sniffing each other's nether regions and don't know what "out of the ordinary" is or what they should smell of.

I think all these FemFresh manufacturers play on this fear. Surely there is a scent in this region that isn't "meadow-fresh" or "lavender" but that is totally acceptable? I feel that a lot of people are just trying to obliterate ANY smell and are attempting to disinfect their vaginas on a daily basis.

I'm not advocating not washing BTW - we obv need to keep clean - but saying they shouldn't smell at all is kind of unnatural isn't it? After all musk is the basis of a lot of perfume!

I'm fascinated by how the hell people kept clean 100/200+ years ago. They all still shagged away merrily otherwise we wouldn't be here. They must have not cared at all. No doubt the rich had personal bottom washers but did the lower classes have the luxury of washing every day (every week?!)

[TheCrumpetQueen]

I agree, fanny smells better than penis and I'm hetero.

[Beastofburden]

it would explain a lot, as my generation are much less likely to shave or wax; we didnt really go in for these products.

[Mintyy]

Froubylou
Have you ever heard the phrase too much information?

[VenusDeWillendorf]

I got mild thrush when I was pg, and it was awful.
If I had known about low ph (acidic) wash I might have used it.

Menopausal women need more moisturising washes than soap and water as vaginal walls thin and become itchy and iterated.

I look forward to being able to find some relief from that as apparently it's awful.

The concept that healthy women need deodorising and moisturising is a bit ott. Proctor and gamble obviously have plans for us women!!

However we are being marketed at, its good to remember, we are not smelly and nasty 'down there', and if we are, we should visit the GP, as we have a fungal or bacterial infection.

[VenusDeWillendorf]

Irritated obv, have yet to see a vaginal wall becoming iterated!! It think even that is beyond it's normal function :)

[froubylou]

Lol Mintyy, in a thread that mentions people tasting themselves, fanny washing and odours it is always going to be too much information for some.

Tis only a bit of oral sex.

[lovingthelackofpressure]

I have to wash out spunk from my fanjo. THAT smells if left overnight(and I sometimes do).

[valiumredhead]

Yeah but you don't put soap up there do you?

[ParvatiTheWitch]

No, just Swafega. Oh sorry, that was to lovingthelackofpressure.

[VenusDeWillendorf]

What do you mean valium?
didn't you hear the following joke?

Where's the soap? Yes, doesn't it!

[valiumredhead]

Ha, not heard that for years

I was responding to I have to wash out spunk from my fanjo

[Bumpstarter]

crumpet queen come back and explain which yoghurt you buy that has clotrimazole in it?

[EmmaBemma]

I'm told by a doctor friend that bald fanjos are more prone to bacterial infections - she sees a lot more of them these days. But it could be that there are more bald fanjos these days in general and that's why she's seeing more.

[mignonette]

Doctors are seeing more infected Bartholin Glands and abscesses/ cysts from people shaving pubic hair. I once saw a humongous abscess because of this in a patient. Absolutely awful and painful for her-she couldn't sit down properly. The Sporners would've had a field day with that one.

Minute nicks in the skin allow bacterial ingress. The hair doesn't just trap pheremonic scent, it also acts as a barrier to dirt and other nasties. Just like eyebrows and eyelashes protect the eyes.

[Bumpstarter]

Where are bartholin glands?

[cantspel]

batholin glads are inside the vagina so i dont see how shaving the outside is going to cause them.

I have had 2 batholin cysts at different times of my life both times i had not shaved.

[mignonette]

The Barthoilin Glands are on either side of the Vaginal Opening in the Vestibular region (behind the small labia). They secrete the fluids that lubricate the region. They can become blocked naturally forming a sterile cyst. Sometimes this gets infected. However this particular case happened because of the patient shaving the labia and accidentally nicking herself. The swelling and infection blocked the glands. They make a lot of fluid so swell to enormous proportions if blocked or infected.

[mignonette]

They are not inside the Vagina. They are Vestibular meaning they are inside the vault formed by the joining of the Labia Minora. If you do not take care shaving, their ability to free drain can become compromised by infection and swelling.

[cantspel]

my cysts were just inside the opening of the vagina and my biggest one got to the size of an egg before it burst itself and river of smelly puss was released.

The cyst made me feel like i had flu and the pain from it stopped me sitting but as soon as it burst i felt 100% better. Horrible things