To think the NCT should not be promoting Vagisil?

[ifigoup]

I've just been at an NCT Nearly New sale to buy baby clothes etc. I'm pregnant with DC1, not an NCT member, and this was the first time I'd been.

On the way in I was given a goody bag containing free samples of nappy cream, baby bubble bath etc. I didn't actually look at any of it until after I'd left. When I got home I was shocked to discover that among the samples was a bottle of "feminine wash".

I always thought the NCT was pro-women and their bodies. Why on earth would they be giving out something that's unnecessary at best, harmful to the natural balance of your body, and perpetuates the idea that female genitalia are dirty???

Jengnr

I'm namechanging to RegiftTheVagisil...

Sparklingbrook That could be said about 95% of the threads in AIBU

I would say 99% myself.

I was trying to be generous

Meh.
It's a freebie in a bag, not a gun to your head.
Half the things we keep in our bathrooms aren't 'necessary'

Deodorant = stops you smelling when the bacteria on your skin reacts with the sweat on your body. More effective when combined with anti perspirant to help prevent sweat.
Soap = cleans away dirt.
Whitening toothpaste = makes more yellow teeth whiter (not much but we still buy it!).
Face creams = can treat conditions like dry skin or acne or can help prevent skin damage by containing sun screen for example.

All of those products have a point (assuming they have active ingredients but that's another discussion really).

Make-up and hair products = not treating a problem but all do something eg makes your lips redder. Tend to be marketed in a positive way to make you "more beautiful" not "less vulnerable".

Vagisil = what does it do? Preys on insecurities about women smelling to sell something many women don't need.

Do I think Vagisil should not be sold? Actually no I don't although I think some of their claims might need looking at so women know exactly what they are buying. I also do not like their marketing tactics that run women down while dressing it up as faux concern but ultimately if women want to buy it that's their choice.

Do I think that an organisation (NCT) that from it's very inception has been about championing women and taking back control from others to improve their experiences in pregnancy, childbirth and postnatally should have anything to do with a product that undermines women by hinting that there is something wrong with them and they need to buy their product to fix it? Yes I do.

Yes I do not my last line should say!

Isn't there a school of thought that your bits only smell bad if the bacteria are out of balance? Unfortunately people then try to wash the smell away with ever stronger products and make the balance, and therefore the smell problem, even worse. A vicious circle.

Personally I am also a clean facecloth and hot water in the shower woman. Never ever smelly or itchy or have any kind of problems.

And for those saying they smelt like a butcher after giving birth. Well yeah, you smelled of blood. Because you were bleeding. What would you expect to smell like?

Or even No I do not.

Ffs

People use all sorts of unnecessary products because they want to

Who are you to say they shouldn't OP?

I agree. The amount of products I see on MN being decreed to be unnecessary is quite scary. I do hope the people who make these decisions never get into any position of power in real life. I've never bought this product but I'm almost tempted to by this thread.

Yanbu OP. Funny how these things are usually derided on here but because you've mentioned NCT, suddenly you're the one in the wrong... I wonder what the reaction would have been if you'd been given free formula? (Which did actually happen to me after a hospital visit when pregnant with DC2 - not in the UK though!)

I piss myself regularly and currently cannot maintain the previous treatment I was having.

If I use normal soap or shower gel despite taking care to make sure I only wash externally causes irritation so I use a simerler product to this.

And yes walking around knowing my inner thighs smell like piss does make me feel ill at ease and you can fuck off if you think that makes me less sensitive to woman's rights.

personally I like to feel clean, don't like to feel I smell at all. I don't because I wash. However I find that soap makes me smell a bit fishy especially after sex, so I prefer a shower gel or indeed a 'feminine wash' that is PH balanced never cause me an issue except for the original source teetree and mint

I know that my underparts would become whiffy if I did not wash them regularly but I don't feel in the least bit defensive, vulnerable or ashamed about that and I don't believe I have an infection or any other illness. My feet would be bad too if I left them for a day or two, ditto armpits, ditto hair, ditto bum.

It's just another body part which most of us in the priviliged first world , with our easy access to hot water, heated homes, a thousand choices of soap and bathing products, like to wash regularly.

Really, no biggie.

I keep hearing this myth that all you need is water on the 'outside parts' and you should never use soap to 'preserve the friendly bacteria'.

Thats lovely dear, hows your thrush?

I used to know someone who had a really smelly fanny. For about a year it vaguely bugged me and then one day I realised it was a sweaty minge smell. I wish she had used vagisil, I used to have a weekly meeting at the end of the working day in the Middle East summer.

Yabvvvu ge a life!!! We are talking about adults not kids, if they don't want it, they can chuck it in the bin!

I suppose part of the problem is that there isn't a dedicated male equivalent - Smeg-be-gone, Whiifysack or ScroteSoap, maybe.

I used to feel that them handing out tena lady pant liners was suggesting not to bother with pelvic floor exercises, I now think (the hormones have settled a bit) that they are comforting to have on at a trampolining party, when you aren't certain your pelvic floor will cope. I fear that the NCT do these sorts of things just to make money and probably damage their integrity as a result!

YABU.

Nobody is forcing you to use it. I echo the "get a life" chorus.

Abit The bacteria are what keeps the thrush in check. Thrush is a fungus which gets out of control when there are no bacteria present. Epic his why people talk about balance.

And no, I never get thrush with hot water and a flannel.

iklboo ROTFL . I suppose you do have male washing products.

It's up to individuals what thy use on their bodies, fine if your happy with warm flannel and water, but some might want something else, each to thir own and all that.

TinklyLittleLaugh

I use baby bath and I dont get thrush either. But if I did I would wash.
Thrush is a yeast infection and can be caused by diabetes. No bacteria load in the world will keep it at bay.