To ask you for help with my bits?

[SoreFannyRedFace]

I was reading an old MN thread about how bar soap and a flannel is much better than body wash. I've had two showers now with soap and a flannel, and I think I must have gone a bit gung ho on my bits because they are very, very sore. Soap clearly does not agree with me.

Does anybody have any ideas about how to calm things down? So far all I have done is slather myself in sudocrem, and it hasn't done much. I had to duck out of a family trip to pizza express because I didn't fancy sitting there in agony. Gutted.

I've been using Femfresh for years - but reading this thread it seems that's bad?? I had no idea

Kittykat93 me too, although Superdrug do a cheaper unperfumed one which is good. Far less stingy than soap.

I think the crux of the matter is that some women have a stronger odour down there than others. I never use soap on my bits, in the shower I think it gets sufficiently clean when the water runs down my body and I make sure plenty trickles in that area.

Could be the wrong soap too. Some are really harsh. Holland barrett sell a great variety of soaps. I love the deep sea minerals one

It's not the particular aroma of the lady parts that's at issue though - that's normal. You can't wash away the smell of sweat from the outer labial area of the vulva just with water - a full on hot sweaty day in the summer sweating buckets or after a session at the gym - you'd need to wash your armpits with soap and water, how is this similarly hairy sweat-producing part of the body any less prone to the smell of stale sweat (added to which urine can splash on it and/or soak into the pubic hair in that area, especially for ladies who prefer a longer length to their lady garden's topiary) and require LESS washing?? (Using some kind of soap).

I absolutely do not agree with any trends to 'make the lady parts smell 'better'' - they smell like they're meant to and no one should feel that they need to expunge their aromas, but this is about the cleanliness of the immediate surrounding areas and that they need to not smell of sweat (and soaked-in urine).

If you use soap it would have to be baby soap. Not Imperial Leather! I wash my back bum with baby soap. . Not your fanny. As poops are greasy you do actually benefit from soap. But your fanny needs nothing but water. You can soap the outside but never soap your labia and that's quite difficult if they are outsidey ones

Feminine washes are a huge marketing ploy designed to make women think we smell therefore we buy into these products. Working in GUM the majority of women who come in with BV or thrush are users if these or highly perfumed soaps, body washes etc. It's a vicious circle woman thinks she smells - scrubs with femine wash - causes BV which smells - scrubs because she smells and so on!!