Personal hygiene

[Pepperedbeef]

I read a twitter exchange arising from an article about poor female genital hygiene. One user said, “unperfumed soap and water, it’s not hard girls”. Lots of people responded saying you should never use soap on your vagina. The reply was “not inside it, no but on the folds”. This left some dumbfounded. Do some females really think that no cleaning agent should be used in the area at all?!

People are being unpleasant simply because there are unpleasant people on MN.

Absolutely, especially the ones who start accounts just to get their rocks off or find stories for a rag paper/lowbrow tv show.

You can smell dick, it has a particular smell. Washing penis’ is as simple as washing your arm. Washing vulvas is a little more delicate due to ph balance but I agree it should be common sense to use unperfumed soap if sensitive. I just rub my shower gel over the pubis which I’m sure is what most women do?

I’m wondering what parents are teaching their kids about hygiene if it’s news to some women that a bit of soap or whatever is needed.*

You need to stop wondering about that and get a new hobby mate.

Ultimately there's not a lot you can do about it though is there, unless you're their health professional. at the end of the day if someone (of either gender) isn't bothered about personal hygiene I don't think there's much that can be done. If it was a friend you could tell them they smelled bad I guess but the friendship would be over, even though it'd hurt to hear I'd rather know especially as they wouldn't be the only ones noticing.

I guess it doesn't affect anyone else but that person and their partner and if they're tolerating it then whatever. People smell in all kinds of ways and it's awful to be near in public but it's not just dirty fannies and cocks, there's also bad breath and BO to contend with. Just gotta hold your breath and move away!

How do you know specifically that it’s their fanny that smells though? Maybe it’s something they’ve spilled on their clothes, or a chemical they work with.. I used to work in a lab and some of the smells there would make your eyes water- sulfur, acetic acid, ammonia, chlorine... Sometimes on long days the smell must have clung a bit.

Smells in toilets are more likely to be full sanitary towel bins.

No body ever mentions smokers on these threads either. People always smell of “fanny”. The most common odour i come across is cigarette. And the person i know who occasionally has a whiff of bo is actually the person who showers most (relative, who stays with me often so i know he showers 2 or 3 times a day)

There is actually a disorder called “fish odour syndrome” where sufferers produce a fishy odour. Nothing to do with their fanny.

You can smell them, huh? Is your nose, y'know, in them during such times? 'Cause that's totes cheating!

Do we get another poo thread to follow this now?

All this oversharing is really strange.

@Bluecheeseandpineapple

I'm laughing so much I've woken up the baby!

But you are actually not supposed to. Water only. That's the official one taught in schools, reccomended by doctors etc. If you have something that requires a cleaning agent then specifically designed vaginas wash only.

namechange edmund, but only been posting since last summer so fairly new

Hi folks,

We've received an overwhelming amount of reports about this thread - we're taking it down whilst we have a proper look.

Maybe a lot of people are just really un self aware or they go nose blind from smelling it all the time

Bingo!

In my case Lemon I moved to a different part of the office as I didn’t work directly with her but sat near her. Members of the team she worked in weren’t so lucky.

Taken down just in time for lunch. Perfect.

reallyanotherone It's a very distinctive scent. It's obvious once you've smelled it a few times, you don't forget it! If a woman uses a clean toilet stall before me with an empty sanitary bin and then I go in and the smell is so bad I have to hold my breath it's clear what it is.

Also (TMI) I had BV myself once years ago, so I know exactly what it smells like! It's a common infection easily treated but like I say, so many women seem to not realise that it's an infection they just think it's the normal scent of their vag 😷

Thank you MNHQ for you fair consideration and for reinstating

Hi again folks,

We've had a look behind the scenes and can see that the OP has been around for some time. We're reinstating this thread and moving it, with the OP's permission, to the sex topic. We hope that doing this will put a stop to the troll hunting but if you see anything that doesn't belong, give us a shout and we'll take a look.

P.S we can never really vouch for anyone 100% but on this occasion, we don't have any reason to suspect that the OP isn't being genuine.

Goodness knows why people bother reporting something so inoculous

🤷🏻‍♀️ I don't understand... even if it was a 'troll', if it's a topic people are interested in discussing and it's being discussed respectfully what's the issue? I must admit I've never seen MN reinstate a thread before!

zzzzz um yes, nose blind is a thing it's called sensory adaptation. You can see it in action when you smell your lovely candle when you first walk in the room, but can't smell it once you've been sat in the room with it burning for a while.

My comment wasn't intended to harm anyone, I genuinely believe there are partners who are too embarrassed to say anything about their partner's hygiene, of both genders. As it's such an awkward topic to bring up. Personally I think it's important to do so as nobody should have to be intimate with someone who smells terrible and favour a more direct 'go wash first' to my OH if he smells after a long day at work! But if no amount of washing sorts it out and it's an actual health problem I can imagine it's difficult to actually broach that something seems to be wrong with the other person's genitalia as some would take it as an insult or be so embarrassed they lash out.

lemon I’m really not bothered if someone wants to presume I’m a troll but MNHQ are very fair and reasonable

In the case of the woman in work, somebody spoke to her eventually. It was a hygiene issue, there were other indicators of poor hygiene too. Things improved in some areas but not others

Oh this thread has given me a good laugh. I have never smelt another woman's vagina and definitely do not envy those of you who have 😂

eliza I haven't read your link, but talc itself is carcinogenic so doubt it was anything to do with Johnson's. That being said, I've seen what Johnson's products do to my baby's skin so they're certainly not going anywhere near my vagina.

eliza I’ve been fine with Johnson’s but that does make me think. I can’t remember what I used on my son as was so long ago, definitely oilatum sometimes. What is a good alternative baby cleanser? Only use talc on my roots in an emergency!

I have the Sex Topic hidden for good reason.

I would have thought General Health a better topic if this really needs discussing.