Feminine Hygiene

Feminine hygiene is so important to our overall health. In addition to keeping our skin clean and free of bacteria, it can prevent odor, itching and discomfort from perspiration.

Feminine hygiene involves more than just bathing or showering. It encompasses a whole spectrum of practices women should follow to be healthy. Most of us learn these skills from our mom, sister or friends. Or we just figure it out for ourselves.

But, not every aspect of this topic is well-known. For example, whoever taught us to always wash our new jeans, panties, shorts, or other clothing bottoms before we wear them? You should, because dyes and other chemicals on new clothing can cause your vaginal area to become irritated or infected. I have noticed some clothing that will put this on label, but not often.

During your menstrual cycle, be sure to wear fabrics that allow your vaginal region to breathe. Wear loose, breathable, clothing like loose panties that allow for air circulation. Natural, breathable fabric such as cotton is preferred. Wear thigh-high pantyhose or pantyhose made with a cotton crotch to reduce the vaginal sweating caused by nylon and other synthetic fabrics.

When not on your cycle, try to sleep without wearing panties or pajama bottoms if possible, as this will provide your vagina with the air circulation needed to help prevent infection.

Tight pants, shorts, or panties made from synthetic fabrics can reduce the air circulation around your vagina and cause it to sweat, which can increase your chances for odors and infection.

Remove wet, sweaty bottom clothing as soon as possible. Wet or sweaty panties and pants can cause bacteria to multiply and increase your likelihood for getting odors and infections. Take a shower and wear fresh, clean clothing after you have gone swimming or exercised.

Of course, bathing or showering daily is the beginning of developing healthy habits. It is so important to wash the skin daily to get as much bacteria off as possible to prevent sickness and infection. Sweat is the body's way of removing waste & bacteria from the body. So it should be washed off every day. In the shower, wash the vagina externally with mild soap, then rinse with fresh water and dry off immediately with a clean towel. For internal cleansing, use WaterWorks, which is described at the bottom of this post. If you have problems with excessive sweating, abundant discharge, rashes, folliculitis, or pimply lesions on your Mons Pubis or inner thighs, be sure that you use a new sharp razor to shave and that you change the razor after 4-5 uses.

You can use a blow dryer to gently dry the external vaginal area around pubic hair, inside the creases & around the vaginal lips (Labia Majora & Minora), between your buttocks and all over the outer groin area. This can reduce irritation and infection.

Use moist baby wipes instead of toilet paper and always wipe from the front toward the back. This will help ensure that fecal matter and bacteria won't be pushed into the vaginal canal.

Never use chemical douches, deodorants, sprays or powders. We never recommend douching, as these products usually cause more infections by disrupting your natural pH, hormones and the delicate chemical balance of your vagina. Women who use these products and douche with chemicals will be battling ongoing irritation and infections on a regular basis.

Be sure to change tampons, sanitary napkins, and panty liners frequently - this means every time you use the restroom or at least every 3-4 hours. When pads and tampons are worn for long periods of time bacteria can build up. Not only can it cause foul odors, but especially with tampons, it can cause mild to very serious infections like toxic shock syndrome.

If you can, try to use menstrual products that do not contain scents or dyes. And try to find the all-cotton pads and tampons because some of the commercial products contain fiberglass. This fiberglass can find its way into your vagina or under your skin, causing non-infectious irritations.

Always wash your vaginal area after sex to rinse out the semen, bodily fluids and residue from condoms and other intimate products. All of these can cause infection, irritation, and odors if not removed. For this purpose, WaterWorks is wonderful, as it is an all-natural, FDA-cleared method for feminine cleansing. (See www.waterworkshealth.com for more details). WaterWorks is so gentle. It uses only the pressure from gravity for a gentle water flow to rinse the vagina. It can be done every day while in the shower.

I think it's important for us all to just get into a routine like we do with our hair and nails. Then it just becomes easy and we feel better.

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What Causes Vaginal Odor?

This week’s question comes from quite a few of you, like Sandy and Joanie, who asked: "I’m so frustrated, because I don’t understand how I can shower (sometimes four or five times a day) but am still so embarrassed because I feel like others can smell me if they get too close. Am I doing something wrong? I feel like I’ve always been a clean person. Can you help me, or tell me what I’m doing wrong?"

Thank you for your question. This is such a common problem for so many women, so let’s talk about what this odor means and what can be done to help. Vaginal odor, no matter the cause, is a distressing thing to try to deal with. There can be many causes. Most of you have heard of BV, or bacterial vaginosis, and know about the odor that can accompany it. It is the most common vaginal infection and is caused by an imbalance of the normal bacterial environment. This is found most commonly in women of childbearing age that are sexually active, but all women are at risk. Normally the vagina maintains a healthy balance of good and bad bacteria but BV happens when the bad bacteria outgrow the good bacteria. This imbalance interferes with the vagina’s ability to “self-clean”, as the predominant bacteria is smothered out and over taken by the bad species of bacteria not normally found in the vagina.

A healthy vagina normally contains many microorganisms. The most common are from the Lactobacilli family, commonly found in yogurt and beneficial to the vagina as it is a hydrogen peroxide-producing species, which helps prevent other vaginal microorganisms from multiplying to a level where they cause symptoms. The microorganisms involved in BV are very diverse, but include Gardnarella Vaginalis, Mobiluncus, Bacteroides and Mycoplasma.

The bad bacteria can cause symptoms like itching, burning, pain, and can even give you a bladder infection. In pregnant women, it can cause preterm birth and low birth weight babies. There can be a noticeable thin, grey-white discharge with an unpleasant fishy odor that accompanies it. This discharge coats and clings to the vaginal walls, preventing the release of normal discharge that is used to clear the vagina of unwanted bacteria.

However, you should note that vaginal odor does not necessarily mean you have a BV infection. Yeast, trichomoniasis, and other STDs can also be a cause. And, sometime vaginal odor occurs without any infection at all. Anything that would disrupt the normal vaginal pH can cause vaginal odor and, if left untreated, can reach the level of a BV infection. Many things can disrupt this vaginal environment: menstrual cycles (blood is neutral pH), sexual activity (semen is a sugary, alkaline fluid), hormone imbalance, antibiotics and douching, which can sterilize the normal vaginal environment and create recurrent vaginal infections.

Most often when vaginal odor occurs, we seek out medical help and are prescribed antibiotics that destroy the bad bacteria only. This can help until it returns again, at which point the treatment will need to be repeated. Some feel that eating yogurt or taking herbal preparations with lactobacilli will cure and prevent BV. What do I think? I think yogurt is good, and eating it will help your digestion and intestinal tract, but you would have to put it in your vagina for it to help there (not recommended).

So, this is a long explanation to show you why a simple shower (no matter how many you take!) cannot eliminate vaginal odor problems. The one product I have found to be of most value in removing vaginal odor and keeping it away is the WaterWorks vaginal cleansing system. It is FDA cleared for the removal of unpleasant vaginal odor.

How does it work? It is a reusable system that looks a lot like a douching device, but it uses only tap water. The reusable nozzle of the device is made a medical grade stainless steel. It is the reaction of the stainless steel with the vaginal mucosa as the water gently sprinkles out, that creates a chemical reaction that removes odor. Many of you have seen this same thing done by chefs when they rub their hands under running water with stainless steel bars to remove the unwanted onion and garlic smell after cooking.

The best part is you don’t have to take pills or use vaginal gels. WaterWorks can be safely and effectively used every time you bathe or shower. Many of my patients use it right after sexual intercourse to rinse out the semen, which can help eliminate odor.

I hope this helped you understand just a little more about how our bodies function as women. I hope your week is productive and you stay safe.

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Everything You Need to Know About Feminine Odor

Today, I want to help those of you that are concerned about the type of vaginal odor that seems to get better and then, for no reason, will show up again and again. It is so frustrating because you know you haven't changed your hygiene habits, so why does it keep coming back?

The thing is, women have always struggled with vaginal odor, rashes and irritation. Why? Because period blood, sex and many medicines can disrupt the normally-low vaginal pH and create an environment for odor, bacterial and yeast infections to return over and over.

Many women struggle with how to clean up inside the vagina and have only learned what our mothers and grandmothers told us. The truth is, most of us over clean, and grab every product we can, in an effort to help - whether it is douches, sprays, special soap for "down there", creams, lubricants or inserts. We even read on the Internet about "natural" ways to cleanse and heal the vagina. For some reason, we think natural is better, and we use douches with vinegar or lemon juice, or soak tampons with vinegar, lemon juice, yogurt, lactobacillus, colloidal Silver, and an unending number of herbal products.

But, unfortunately, the odor and irritation does not get better and returns anyway, which makes us work even harder to clean up inside. This goes on and on.

The vagina was made in such a way that it does not need help from us to heal or cleanse itself. Yet, we feel the need to intervene. Many women do not "feel" clean unless they can clean up inside their vagina. Especially with the change of vaginal discharge throughout the month, a change of your sexual partner (or finding out that he cheated on you or if he gave you an STD). The natural vaginal environment is acidic (lower pH) than the rest of our body. Semen, period blood, douches, soap, vaginal creams and lubricants can raise the pH and completely hinder the vagina from healing and cleaning itself.

It is a healthy feminine hygiene practice to use soap to cleanse the outside of your body, around the vagina, anus and labia. But up inside, if you feel the need to rinse out your vagina to clean out semen, blood or excess discharge, you should only use warm water.

A lot of women are using WaterWorks now because it has been FDA cleared for vaginal cleansing to remove odor. WaterWorks is very different from store bought douches. It is made to be reusable. Therefore, you can save money and the environment by using it. It is designed with a refillable bag to fill with warm shower water connected to tubing with a medical grade stainless steel nozzle. The nozzle is placed inside the vagina and sprinkles out the warm water. It is the reaction of the stainless steel, water and vaginal mucosa that removes vaginal odor. It is a wonderful, useful discovery to help women with excessive discharge and odor. It can be used daily or as often as needed.

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Strong Odor from Vaginal Discharge

Vaginal discharge is normal and it changes color and consistency throughout the month during the menstrual cycle. After our period it changes from thin and watery to thick and pasty, and during ovulation it becomes like mucous and very gooey, but not smelly or itchy.

It is naturally odorless and has the purpose of keeping the vagina clean and healthy. It fights off abnormal bacteria and supplies the perfect lubrication during sex. If we had no vaginal discharge, the vagina would feel dry and itchy (which is common in menopause or any times of hormone imbalance). Sex would be impossible or extremely painful because the vagina would not be able to stretch.

When vaginal discharge becomes odorous and itchy, it is usually caused from an imbalance of the vaginal pH. This change suppresses the healthy bacteria, called Lactobacillus, and it is unable to do its job of keeping the vagina clean and healthy. This imbalance causes an overgrowth of a variety of microorganisms such as yeast, bacteria and fungi - producing yeast and bacterial infections (BV). With these come odor and itching or burning.

Why does this happen? Many of us feel we did something wrong or we are dirty, so cleaning more will help. In fact, that will just make it worse - continuing the cycle of it feeling better for a day and then recurring, sometimes coming back even worse. Most of the time, excessive washing and douching is the cause of reoccurring infections and odors. Wearing tight or non-absorbent panties can also prevent healing.

Vaginal odor may also worsen after sex, due to the mixing of semen, sweat, and vaginal fluids. Semen has a neutral pH of 7.4, which is the same as period blood. But the vagina has to maintain a lower pH than that of the rest of our body - somewhere around 7.2 - in order to kill the abnormal bacteria that would cause infections and odor. The normal/'healthy' Lactobacillus vaginal bacteria, likes a lower pH. When semen is deposited into the vagina, the vaginal flora can be disrupted as the pH rises. It is this rise of pH that allows the yeast and abnormal bacteria to grow and overpower the Lactobacillus. Then, abnormal bacteria and yeast produce odor and irritation.

So make it a habit to jump out of bed after sex and rinse the semen out of the vagina with plain water only. Do not ever let soap get into your vagina, as it is very alkaline and can bring on recurrent infections and odor. Soap should only be used to wash your skin and the outer part of the vagina - the labia, and the anal area.

WaterWorks makes feminine hygiene easy. It is FDA cleared to help reduce vaginal odor. It is reusable and uses just ordinary tap water only. The unique design helps us easily rinse inside the vagina, and it can be used daily. Most women use it every day and have overcome their recurrent odor and discharge problems.

Water alone is better than anything to rinse the vagina. We should never use dilute vinegar, lemon juice or other chemicals. WaterWorks is designed with a stainless steel nozzle that is inserted into the vagina, causing a reaction as it comes in contact with the vaginal mucosa to facilitate the removal of vaginal odor.

I hope this helps you all have a better understanding of how our bodies work and what keeps us healthy.

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Can WaterWorks Help With Vaginal Discharge in Addition to Vaginal Odor?

This week the question is:

“I know WaterWorks helps with vaginal odor, but I have a lot of discharge, will it help me with that too?”

It seems kind of funny, but problems with vaginal odor and discharge seem way too embarrassing to bring up over lunch with the girls, even though in my experience, based on what I hear safely behind closed exam room doors, it's one of the most common problems women have. Maybe it would be good to know that the women closest to us suffer too.

Because vaginal odor can be caused by an imbalance of the normal bacterial flora in the vagina, odor and discharge often go hand in hand. Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) and yeast infections can both be culprits of recurrent odor and discharge.

Unlike store bought douches which contain chemicals that can make the situation worse by destroying that normal ecosystem WaterWorks uses of only tap water for vaginal cleansing, so it can be used every time you shower without causing any adverse effects. In fact, by using WaterWorks, a healthy balance can be created as the abnormal discharge and bacteria are removed and normal vaginal pH can be restored.

This is best seen by using WaterWorks to rinse out semen after sex. What is really happening has to do with the composition of the semen, which is a sugary, alkaline substance created to protect the sperm from the acidic environment of the vagina. If not for this, the sperm would die on contact with the vagina and no one would ever get pregnant. After sex, semen remains inside and if you have sex again within a day or two, it gives the vagina no time to restore the normal flora that creates the acidic environment. Once this happens there can be persistent discharge and odor that reoccurs.

So back to the question as to whether WaterWorks helps to eliminate vaginal discharge with the odor, the answer is yes. We have many women writing in and telling us how much they love WaterWorks. The WaterWorks system is a reusable vaginal cleansing system that has been FDA cleared for vaginal odor and it is the reaction of the stainless steel nozzle end that is designed to comfortably insert into the vagina, with ordinary tap water that eliminates or reduces the unpleasant odor.

The unique design and gentle sprinkling action will rinse unwanted discharge and semen from the vagina and help facilitate the natural healing process of your own body. No chemicals and no medications. What a wonderful gift to every woman.

Oh, and just for the sake of any curious readers, I do not receive commission from any of the WaterWorks that are sold, so there is no monetary incentive for me in telling you about it. I was just so excited when I discovered WaterWorks and met the inventor, because now women had a natural way to combat feminine odor and discharge without having to use chemicals or medications. All natural. What could be better than this?

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