9 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Your Vagina

we've come to know that there's always more to be learned. Check out these facts about the vagina [...]

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As the beautiful, intelligent, empowered female creatures that we are, it should come as no surprise that we know a lot about what makes us... us: the vagina. And as much as we know about it (sometimes we wonder if we know too much) we've come to know that there's always more to be learned. Check out these facts about the vagina that will blow your mind.

Your hymen is useless — unless it's preventing normal development.

After an embryo forms, the hymen develops, a thin fold of mucous membrane around the vaginal introits (the opening of the vagina). If the hymen isn't open, or is only partially open, a young woman can have normal hormone cycles but not menstruate. Don't worry, it's totally fixable with minor surgery.

The vagina can actually change size during sex.

Ever heard of "vaginal tenting?" It's the totally normal process when the vagina (the *actual* vagina: the muscular canal connecting your vulva to your cervix) expands wider and more relaxed during sex. "The uterus is pulled upward, which changes the position of the cervix, allowing the vagina to become longer," Anna Druet and Anne Högemann, research scientists at the period-tracking app Clue told Glamour magazine.

Not all vaginas are created the same.

Some clitorises are located a tad closer to or farther away from the vaginal opening. That's why women with clitorises located farther away have trouble orgasming. (But we can fix that!)

The clitoris has more nerve endings than any human body part — including the penis.

Speaking of the clitoris, did you know that research has proven that it has 8,000 nerve endings? That's double the nerve endings the penis has. Most clitorises are less than a centimeter in length — no wonder it's the control room of your orgasm.

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Your vagina will let you know when you're fertile.

One of the coolest things about the vagina is that it will let you know when you're ready to conceive. Westchester-based OB-GYN Dr. Alyssa Dweck, M.S., M.D., FACOG, told Buzzfeed Life that your cervical mucus will become clear and stretchy during ovulation, and you'll probably notice more of it.

MORE: 6 Bad Panty Habits That Make Your Vagina Sad

Do. Not. Douche.

If this isn't drilled into your head by now, it never will be. The lining of the vagina is made up of various glands that release fluids designed to cleanse and lubricate the vagina. Which means that if you use soap in any internal parts of your vagina, you'll upset the pH balance, causing infection. Douching, or the rinsing of the vagina with vinegar or an antiseptic with the aid of a douche bag, does the same thing — plus, it rids your vagina of the good bacteria it needs for a happy pH balance.

It's tilted at a 130-degree angle.

That's why learning how to put a tampon in was so damn tricky! However, that could change in time. "The vaginal angle flattens a bit, which may make vaginal intercourse feel different to women as they age and go through menopause," Dr. Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., associate professor at Indiana University, wrote in Read My Lips: A Complete Guide to the Vagina and Vulva

Women can have four different types of orgasms.

Because the vagina is such a pleasure-packed area, we're lucky: We can have up to four different kind of orgasms. There's the clitoral, the blended, the vaginal and of course, multiple.

You can get stuff stuck — but you can't actually lose anything up there.

Maybe you've heard stories (or experienced it yourself) of friends losing forgotten tampons or condoms up their vaginas. You should absolutely call your doctor if you can't fish it out yourself (you'll know from the smell), but fear not: the cervical wall will block anything sizable from making its way into your body. "It's not going anywhere," Dr. Dweck told Buzzfeed. "It'll remain at the top of your vagina at the cervix, and it'll be retrieved."

Related:

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