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?!

@reallyanotherone May the record show that unwashed knobs are quite possibly the worst of the worst. They have no bloody excuse. A penis is an external organ that can be washed and cleaned and wiped to ones heartily content. Women face a different sort of battle. Scented pads actually can work to destabilise the vag's PH balance as can soap. It's a much more delicate issue, if you will.
A man with a smelly knob is just filthy, should you ever come across one kick him out of bed. Here endeth the lesson.

Again, thank you Vlad

Btw completely off topic, I’ve seen the other Vlad in the flesh. He looks a bit older than I thought he would!

I use mild soap to wash my vulva, including the folds between inner & outer labia, rinse it well but never wash inside. It is naturally a greasy, sweaty area, even without vaginal secretions, blood & spunk in the mix.

I wouldn't wash other greasy &/or sweaty areas with just water - they wouldn't be properly clean and might still smell

I have smelt dirty genitals on people of both sexes & I don't even have a particularly good sense of smell!

You should never actually wash inside the vagina, I think what the OP is getting at is that this common advice not to wash inside has been misunderstood by a lot of women to mean don't use any cleaning agents in the general area.

Surely that means some people also are just using water to wash their arse because it's so close to the vulva 😷

If after regular daily thorough washing of the external area, the smell is unpleasant or noticeable through clothes or to others, then it's likely a medical issue and necessitates seeing a doctor.

It's only anecdotal but I actually haven't ever smelled dirty cock from just being near a man, like I have with the smell of an infected or dirty vagina. I don't know why that is. It's not misogynistic to say that imo (like PP have implied or suggested), I'm also a woman and I guess the conditions of a vagina just make it more susceptible to producing and holding onto bad smells as there are more folds and dark moist areas? Also I wonder if it's because a healthy vagina will secrete discharge most of the time whereas cocks don't.

No idea why this has been moved to the sex topic when it's nothing to do with sex :/

VladmirsPoutine I used to think the same until actually discussing penile hygiene with men, apparently it's not always that easy to do a thorough clean if you're uncircumcised and not erect when you're cleaning, it can be hard to get into all of the folds around the foreskin that then become exposed when erect. It's no excuse of course but I don't think it's necessarily easier to keep a penis clean. Also it can be sensitive to the point of being a bit painful if you're fully retracting the foreskin in the shower to clean it apparently.

I agree re issues around maintaining the right PH balance, though if you're not using soap inside your vagina I don't think it's difficult for most women. Start shoving imperial leather in there however and of course it's going to upset a lot!

Exactly lemon

I can't actually imagine people washing 'up' their vaginas.

People do. It's called douching. I imagine in desperation to eliminate a bad smell while too embarrassed to see a doctor

Douching also used to be used as a contraceptive - it doesn't work in the slightest.

"Do some females really think that no cleaning agent should be used in the area at all?! hmm"

Yes. This has been official advice since I was a teenager. No soap on the vulva or any part of the front of the downstairs area. The area will get some shower gel on it anyway, falling from the stomach, but it's supposed to be water only.

@Gwenhwyfar
OP kindly posted the link to the NHS website. I think you'd agree their advice is usually okay to follow. I've copied the relevant text for your information.

"Use plain, unperfumed soaps to wash the area around the vagina (the vulva) gently every day. The vagina will clean itself inside your body with natural vaginal secretions (discharge)."

So I'm not sure how long ago it was you were a teenager, but if that was ever the advice (I don't know I just did what my mum taught me), it is not the advice now.

Hope that clears it all up for everyone.

I do assume smells detected through layers of clothing is a hormonal imbalance, but through gym clothes it's an unwashed or sweaty vagina.

Gwen

NHS advice is to wash “area around vagina” with soap daily. That’s always been the advice I’ve been aware of.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/vagina-health/Pages/keep-vagina-clean.aspx

Thanks Buck. To each her own but the stated cleaning regime of some posters does make me feel a little queasy! This thread did start with reference to women who had mistaken their whole genital area for their vagina and never soaped it and then couldn’t understand why they smelt less than fresh even after showering. Thankfully an actress on Twitter put them in the picture

Buck - websites weren't even around when I was a teenager so information was gleaned in other ways. I always read not to use soap.
The NHS info you give mentions 'unpurfumed' soap. That's actually quite hard to find and means you can't use your normal shower gel so I'd still prefer to just use water. Soap is not necessary.

More recently I've been given the advice of not using soap by doctors, so I'll go by that advice as it was targeted for me.

I don't smell after washing with water and I doubt this is the issue of the person you're talking about who smells so bad you can smell it through their clothes.

It was the issue with this person, HR intervened ultimately because of the impact of work colleagues. If water is enough to properly clean body parts prone to sweat, exposed to blood, urine and fecal matter, why do we bother with shower gel or soap on any part of our body? Aren’t we wasting our cash?!

The other parts of our body aren't as sensitive.
How would HR know what the issue was? Nobody is standing there watching her in the shower are they? She might have claimed that she didn't use soap because she'd never admit to not washing at all.

HR provided a lot of suppprt to this lady - they knew what the issue was. Not sure how my pubic mound or the crease between my thigh and labia majoria are any more sensitive than other areas. But as I said, to each her own

Labia are mucous membranes, not normal skin, that's why.
I don't really believe HR were present in the bathroom so I won't be taking you or their word for it.

You don’t need toGwen as you’re confident that women who don’t soap sweaty skin don’t smell!! So everything I say, you can disregard

I will, thanks, since you have no evidence for your story with your colleague.
The issue with genitals is not mainly sweat, but secretions anyway, isn't it? We wash the sweat away with water and also the other secretions.
It's not like washing dirty nails after gardening where you might need soap to get the dirt off.

A fellow anonymous MN’er wants evidence?!

Secretions come from the vagina, sweat comes from external skin and hair. I’m not sure of your point that we only don’t use soap on our genitals as they are sensitive? If water alone is as sufficient as you say it is, why soap anywhere? Armpits, feet? Why not save the money? My answer would be because water alone isn’t sufficient

But like I said, your cleaning regime is yours

Genitals are mucous membranes so yes they're sensitive and soap can cause problems.
Armpits and feet are not sensitive areas in the same way.

Gwen I’d think about changing doctors if I were you...

www.msdmanuals.com/en-gb/home/women-s-health-issues/biology-of-the-female-reproductive-system/female-external-genital-organs

Oh yes, because you and your HR dpt know better than my gynaecologist!

Very quick google comes up with: “Washing with water and gently dry should be sufficient enough to get rid of any sweat,” says Dr Agnihotri.

www.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/body/should-use-soap-vagina/