In the other thread on a Summer’s Eve ad, a couple of people mentioned how it was a bad idea to douche. Which is very true. The genitals should be cleaned in the shower with everything else but they don’t need extra care. If it’s smelling bad and a shower doesn’t help, you may have an infection…and douching doesn’t help with that. (It can bring on a yeast infection, though.)
But apparently douches are still around (no idea why). Have you ever used a douche? Why? Did it help?
Just once at the end of my period because I was planning on getting busy that night. Nothing chemical tho - just that standard vinegar and water.
Never once. Can’t imagine why I would want to or need to.
I once changed an OB tampon after cutting habanero peppers for several hours. That was a mistake. Even though I wore gloves, some of the hot pepper juice still soaked through the gloves… which I didn’t learn until after inserting a hot-pepper juice covered tampon into my hoo-ha. It occurred to me to try douching but I was afraid I’d push the hot pepper juice further up and burn my cervix.
It turns out, my body did its job and flushed itself out in about 20 minutes. I had to just sit really, really still. Then everything was fine.
What does that do, that just regular cleaning won’t?
Regular cleaning with… a bottle brush? Once your period is over it can take about 24 hours for the stragglers to emerge.
I haven’t ever.
Oh. Yeah, sometimes I get a little bit of blood towards the end. If I’m gonna…get busy, as it were, I just figure, eh, at night, all secretions are dark. 
I’ve passed those things in the aisle at the drugstore, and I think the same thing about them as I do about V!@gra spam: “Who the hell keeps spending the money to keep this enterprise worthwhile?”
I’ve posted this before, but as late as 1979, I saw a bottle of Lysol at the variety store whose instructions included directions for douching. I almost bought it just for display purposes.
My mom. She…has some hang-ups.
Once, to see what it was like. Didn’t notice any difference.
I don’t see what the big deal is…I douche several times a month, usually after my period and after my ovulation. I use a Summer’s Eve douche nozzle (snerk!) and fill it with regular water. Then I just insert it and get any yuck that I can’t get to with my finger.
I don’t know about you, but my vag isn’t a smooth inside tube. It has valleys along the sides, and I find it far easier to just spray it out than to root around with a finger.
Yeeaaaaaahhhhh.
But why go up in there at all? My understanding is that your vag is designed to be self-cleaning. I wash my labia, but I’ve never actually “washed” my vagina in any way. Like Freudian Slit said, if I felt a shower wasn’t cutting it, I’d hie me to a doctor right sharpish.
Many years back, a doctor suggested vinegar/water as a way to prevent and/or relieve yeast infections. I did so perhaps twice, to relieve the discomfort before I could get to the doc (this was when the remedies were still prescription only and therefore required a trip to the doctor). It did help, temporarily.
But even back then it was widely understood that routine douching was not necessary and might be harmful.
The vag is a self-cleaning organ. It does not require cleaning. Certainly not rooting around in there with a finger! WTH?
Douching actually can cause vaginal odors and yeast infections.
Only time I’ve ever douched was with a (hold onto your hats, girls!) yogurt/buttermilk/garlic/goldenseal/thyme/wormwood homemade medicinal douche, to clear out a raging case of bacterial vaginosis that persisted over three years despite repeated antibiotic treatments.
Worked with one dose. But oh, gods, what a smell (um, the douche, not me.)
Gross Alert!
So, my husband and I do it. He ejaculates in my vag. The next morning, after that protein has been busily growing bacteria overnight, we do it again. It smells bad. Even if we don’t do it again, and I wash my labia area well, anything that comes out of there is going to smell bad for a few days.
Or, I just finished my period. We both know that, due to my heavy and clotty periods, I have bits of tissue rotting away in there. They make me smell bad.
I understand that the vag, like your intestines, has a natural bacterial content and that said bacteria, when in balance, will “clean itself”. However, my definition of clean is different from my bacteria’s definition of clean. I prefer my vag to be completely smell-free, as does my husband.
I will also say that I have not had a yeast infection in 17+ years, and since I only douche a few times a month, in between times, I have noticed no change in either the discharge or smell.
I kinda think “WTF?” when I think of people not cleaning in there, at least occasionally. I would feel so yucky…
Like Sateryn, I don’t see what the big deal is. I don’t use them anymore, but when I was sexually active, I’d use them frequently to get anything missed after menustration and to smell extremely fresh before any play occured.
Yes and a few times per month. Been doing it for 30 years. I am an extremely clean person and can’t understand not wanting to be cleaned out after sex and my period. My gyn knows, says it is fine other than when pregnant and wouldn’t consider stopping feeling clean. Honestly, I find not douching after sex and menstruation gross. But that is my hang up and since I am not a lesbian and don’t have to deal with “normal female odors” other than my own, I don’t care what other people do. My vajayjay area has no scent. None and I will say it has always surprised and delighted by male partners not to smell anything until they cause the natural lub that comes with sexual stimulation.
… I gotta say, your hoot should be smell free (or y’know, like actual fresh vag) just from showering. Are you sure you don’t have bacterial vaginosis?