Let’s face it. We, women, take our vaginas completely for granted sometimes. From waxing and plucking to scrubbing and spraying – every day, women subject their lady bits to unwarranted torture.
Whether we do it out of ignorance or whether we do it knowingly, it’s only a matter of time before our pubes decide to retaliate. And you don’t want to wait for nasty itchy rashes and painful urinary tract infections to make you wish you had taken better care of your privates, do you?
Here are 8 things you need to stop doing to your delicate itty-bitties, pronto!
1. Using Fancy Cleansers And Soaps
By all means, keep your vagina clean – but using expensive chemical-laden soaps is not the way to go about things down under. If you absolutely must, use a mild soap. The more you hold off lathering your labia, the better it is for the health of your pubes. Your vaginal skin is very sensitive and definitely not soap-friendly. Soap will, in fact, create a pH imbalance and is one of the main ways you make your vagina susceptible to itchy infections that will stress out both you and your vagina.
The truth is, your vagina is a self-cleaning organ, which makes it pretty self-sufficient. All you need is a few splashes of warm water in the shower every day and you’re good to go.
2. Leaving It Sweaty And Damp
Whether you keep your sweaty gym clothes on hours after your workout, or whether you’re in a hurry to get done showering – do not encourage dampness down there. Your vagina is meant to stay dry, and any noticeable increase in moisture levels around your privates will give rise to the perfect breeding ground for yeast infections.
The next time, wait till you’re completely dry down there before pulling on some pants. And If you’ve just finished gym, taking a moment to change into a fresh set of clothes will do not just your vagina but also the people around you a huge favor!
3. Wearing The Wrong Underwear
You may think you’re doing your vagina a huge favor by dressing it up in all sorts of luxurious fabrics, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Your vagina strongly disapproves of satin, lace, lycra, and silk because these materials basically smother your privates. Just as it’s no fun being suffocated to death by a shiny, satiny pillow, wearing underwears made of fabric that keeps moisture trapped to your skin is not a joke to your vagina. When your privates get attacked by bacteria, those underwears are not going to look let alone feel as cute!
What your vagina will love, however, are airy underwears made of organic cotton. This will allow your vagina ample air to breathe so that it stays dry and happy.
4. Sleeping With Your Panties On
Now that we’ve covered underwears, let’s talk about not wearing any. No, we’re not suggesting you go completely starkers all through the day, but consider dropping your panties before hitting the pillows. This may seem ridiculous, but your vagina needs rest too. That doesn’t seem very likely with you keeping an elastic band snapped around your waist with the material rubbing back and forth over your pubes, does it? And as the risk of sounding repetitive, air. You need to air your vagina out and what better time to do this than at night when you’re done with your day?
So the next time, wear a long night shirt and skip the undies. Your vagina will seriously thank you for giving it the much-needed beauty sleep it deserves!
5. Shaving Off Your Entire Crop
You don’t need to sport a forest and a little trimming and weeding, especially along that tell-tale swimsuit line can be a good thing. But you certainly do not want to get rid of the entire mop! Your vagina wasn’t designed to be left bald for a reason – that thick wiry hair actually acts as a natural armor, protecting your pubes from the onslaught of harmful microbes.
Removing all your pubic hair may definitely make you feel smoother, cleaner, and more glamorous down there but think of all that exposure to airborne dirt and those crazy ingrowths! As for the horrors of accidentally using a rusted or infected razor – the less said the better.
So if you know what’s good for you and your vagina – ditch your razor for a good trimmer instead.
6. Peeing Before Sex
‘Always after sex, but never before’ is every gynecologist’s mantra for keeping those nasty urinary tract infections (UTIs) at bay. Taking a leak immediately before sex is reportedly the first and foremost cause of post-coital UTIs. This is because it leads to a weaker, slower stream of urine or eliminating the need to empty your bladder at all after you’re finished.
Why is this a bad thing? Because all that inserting and friction during sex makes your vagina extremely vulnerable to traveling bacteria. These pesky microbes are given enough time to latch onto your urethral walls with the help of fairly strong appendages that act as velcro hooks. So unless your flow of urine is not strong enough to dislodge these appendages, the bacteria will set up camp in your vagina, thus placing you at an increased risk of UTIs.
If you can’t remember to keep peeing for after sex, at least try holding it in for a while before you unload. This will help create a stronger desire, and consequently, a stronger stream that will wash away any traces of bacteria.
7. Piercing Your Vagina
First of all, the pain you’re going to subject yourself to is going to be massive. Secondly, you’re clearly unaware of the ways in which vaginal piercings can go horribly wrong and the terrible health consequences that would follow.
Agreed, piercing the clitoris, clitoral hood or the labia may help boost sexual pleasure. Can this, however, be outweighed by the risks of introducing foreign objects in and around your privates? If the person in charge of piercing your vagina doesn’t do it right or uses infected instruments to carry out this procedure, you could contract seriously painful bacterial or allergic reaction. You could even get hepatitis or HIV/AIDS! Plus the risk of vaginal scarring is extremely high with such procedures.
Our suggestion? Save those rhinestones and rings for your ears; your vagina really is better off without jewelry and embellishments.
8. Using Poor Substitutes For Lube
Lube is always a good idea, but not if you’re using stuff that isn’t…well, lube. Petroleum jelly and household staples may seem to be waiting to come to your rescue in the heat of the moment. But in the long run, they can actually do more harm than good.
The lubes that you generally get in the market have been made using vagina-friendly ingredients. It has also been tested safe for internal use. Any product that hasn’t been made for the purpose of vaginal lubrication should be considered as unsafe, no matter how organically it has been made. Slathering on foreign ointments, gels, and lotions may once again, lead to infections.
A general rule of thumb when it comes to investing in lube is to go for the water-based variety. These are the safest to use with condoms as they won’t cause the latex to break, and are also the least likely to cause vaginal irritation and infection.
