5 Vagina Myths That Are Sabotaging Your Health, Sex Life
When it comes to taking care of your lady flower, there is so much conflicting info out there that [...]
Your vagina will be permanently stretched after giving birth
Is it true that your vagina will be permanently bigger or stretched out after you have a kid? While your vagina definitely changes after you give birth, Leena Nathan, MD, ob-gyn at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, says most of the time it will go right back into place.
"Having a baby does cause the vaginal muscles to loosen, but they often naturally bounce back over time," Nathan told Health.
Try kegel exercises to help coerce your lady parts back into place.
prevnextYou need special soaps to balance your vagina's pH levels
Don't be fooled by modern day marketing! Assuming everything is healthy down there, all you need to keep things in tip-top shape is a plain or gentle soap. Your vagina is equipped with its own system for keeping germs and microbes at bay, so as long as you're using plenty of warm water when you wash once a day, you're golden, says Alyssa Dweck, MD, New York-based ob-gyn and co-author of The Complete A to Z for Your V.
Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to keeping your lady parts fresh as a flower? Hit the showers when you're finished at the gym. Sitting around in your sweat — especially if you're wearing tight synthetic fabrics — could set you up for a fungal infection, like a yeast infection.
prevnextIf you experience discharge, you must have a yeast infection
Speaking of yeast infections, you should know that although they are pretty common when it comes to types of infections you can contract down there, they're not the only ones. So if you can't stop itching and you notice strange curd-like discharge, don't immediately assume you have a yeast infection, says Dweck.
If you're running to the pharmacy to pick up an OTC yeast treatment, you could be wasting time you could be using to treat whatever you have. Instead of CVS, head to your gyno's office for a visit and let her make the decision.
It could be an allergic reaction to scented feminine hygiene products, bacterial vaginosis (which is brought on by an overgrowth of harmful bacteria in the vagina) or even the sexually transmitted disease trichomoniasis.
Even if your gyno agrees that it's a yeast infection, she can point you in the right direction treatment-wise, and you'll know you made the best decision.
prevnextThe G-spot isn't a real thing
If you read a lot online about finding that G-spot but just can't seem to find it IRL, it doesn't mean it's not there. And while one study did conclude that "objective measures have failed to provide strong and consistent evidence for the existence of an anatomical site that could be related to the famed G-spot," Nathan begs to differ.
She says that while there's no separate organ called the G-spot that works as a sexual pleasure button (ahem, like the clitoris) she does confirm that the vagina consists of "bundles of nerve fibers" that can increase sexual pleasure.
So if you've never been able to tap into that pleasure bundle, don't feel bad. "Some people are just more sensitive than others," Nathan told Health.
prevnextWearing yoga pants could lead to an infection
If you've ever heard that wearing yoga pants too often could give you some sort of infection down there, throw that mentality right out the window. While the aforementioned tidbit about not hanging out in your sweaty workout clothes still rings true, there's no reason you can't hang out in your favorite comfy yoga pants when you get home from work.
That being said, it's still important to make sure your lady flower isn't smothered by man-made materials 24/7. She needs room to breathe!
"It's important that the vulva and vagina get to breathe and aren't suffocated by fabric all the time," Dweck says.
So take off those damp workout leggings as soon as you can, and certainly don't sleep in tight clothing. Try sleeping sans undies to air out your girl!
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