I’m familiar with the role of bacteria in humans. We don’t use a bidet, but we do wipe with wet wipes after pooping and I usually poke into my anus a teeny little ways when I’m washing in the shower.
And, no snark, I am shocked that douching would be a charged issue for some women. To me, it just seems like housekeeping.
It’s just a vagina…
Well, to me, it’s just a vagina means that it should be treated like most other body parts. No one buys special cleaning agents for their penises or arms or shoulders–they just use soap. And to be honest, I don’t even put soap up in my vagina. I wash with soap around the labia but use just water for the vagina itself.
See, this is where I think we’re differing- I never have a noticeable smell in my panties at the end of the day (unless I just went running or something-- and that’s sweat). If I regularly had a funky smell in my panties, I’d go to the doctor to find out what’s wrong with me, because that shouldn’t be happening.
NOW, if you’ve gotten the all clear, well, then of course do what works for you. I’m simply saying, if tomorrow my panties got all funky, it’d be a pretty good indicator that I was ill.
Ye gods! I never use soap in my vagina! Even one little soap molecule in there can cause “discomfort” for hours. At least once, I’ve had to go into the (private) bathroom at my old office and give myself a quick wipe with water because I had a little soap that migrated in there from washing my labia area!
I don’t use any special cleaning agents - just warm water.
That was directed toward DianaG, who said “At the end of the day, my panties smell faintly of fresh, clean, human vagina”
No one likes a funky smell, but some people don’t like any smell.
Do you consider your bra after you’ve worn it for a day without major sweating “odorless”?
So…how is that a douche? Isn’t douching what you do with one of those products you find in the feminine hygiene aisle?
But isn’t that awfully, well, clinical?
I use an empty douche bottle, and fill it with warm water. I think “douching” traditionally refers to the act and not the material.
Maybe - but what does that matter?
As I said above, I don’t mind the sexy smell during sex. It’s at the office or the pool or the store that bothers me.
Okay, I was talking about during sex. I frankly can’t even imagine worrying about it at the office or the pool or the store.
Yeah. . . if you can smell your vagina at the grocery store, that’s not normal.
That’s the thing . . . I don’t think any of us non-douchers can smell ourselves at the office, or pool, or store. Frankly, the only time I can smell myself besides when I’m having sex or masturbating is if I get all yogic like and get my head real close to my vajayjay.
Also, I thought this whole thing started because your husband liked that you didn’t smell during sex, but now you’re saying you do.
No, of course I can’t smell myself at the store. But if I’m doing my daily routine, and at the end of the day I have a faint fresh vagina odor on my panties, I don’t like it.
And of course I smell sexy during sex. It’s before the sex - he didn’t like the faint fresh vagina odor.
What kind of periods do You have? Everything slides out even when you don’t want it to! Nothing stays behind, and I should know, I used to have large clots also(before I got on the pill).
I don’t douche and never have. I also don’t feel a strong need to go poking around with a finger. Before you ask, I am 34 and a mom. I have not had a yeast infection since that summer I spent in my bathing suit 
Sex should smell like sex. Are we getting so sterile with our anti-bacterial wipes and everything that we forget that people have a slight (not unpleasant) musk?
I have had no complaints, on the contrary, men have complimented me (like Diosa, I have no trouble asking). As for things like menstrual blood, or semen, I find it just flushes out on it’s own - it’s not like I walk around on my hands all day, gravity does help.
I was also taught that it’s not only unnecessary, but potential harmful and that if you smell that badly, you get checked out.
I have to say, I’m pretty sure my husband would find it objectionable, if not disgusting, if my pussy was as completely odor-free a freshly bleached toilet.
I have had various fluids within my vagina. they come out on their own because the vagina is a self cleaning organ. With normal exterior washing it is not smelly nor is it a source of infection. I have never had a yeast infection, actually.
I have to admit, I have a bias that women who douche are completely self-hating and/or have sex with sexist men who might enjoy fucking a plastic doll. Of course, that’s a really ridiculous bias, because I personally do things that other women might view as self-hating along the same lines, such as wax my pubic hair. BUT my gut reaction is to pity someone who feels they need to douche. I’m NOT saying that reaction is justified or even rational.
I’m pretty sure there is a huge generational element. As another poster said, the message I grew up on was not “douching is unnecessary” but “douching is completely unhealthy - you should never do it unless a doctor tells you too.”
It’s not like the vagina is in anyway intended to be traffic free - penises going in, baby’s coming out…
Douching once in awhile - assuming something non-toxic/non-irritating as the douche - isn’t likely to cause any harm. Want to douche after your period? Fine, once a month in unlikely to cause any problem and if it makes you happy, why not?
The problem of course is that some people are going to go nuts and douche all the time with all sorts of things that may or may not be healthy. So the recommendation becomes “don’t do it”.
Thank you Broomstick. My heavens, you’d think an occasional douche was some sort of offense to one’s sensibilities. Talk about being made to feel self-conscious.
I’ve been trying to figure out why I’ve reacted so strongly to this thread, and I think it’s for a few reasons.
Upthread, a doucher has stated that she doesn’t understand how some women don’t douche, because she would feel all unclean all the time. She further stated that she roots around in her vagina to make sure she gets all of the uterine lining and blood and semen out from previous periods/sexual encounters. Which basically makes it seem like those of us who have never douched in our life walk around with months old blood clots and semen remains in our vaginas at all times, which is simply not true. Frankly, if the doucher’s vagina is not cleaning itself out within a few hours of something being in there, there’s a problem. As someone said earlier, it’s a self-cleaning structure and emits tons of secretions that should wash out stuff from earlier. My last period ended a week ago and I used a dildo about a day after that and there was no blood on it.
Sateryn76 keeps talking about how even a slight amount of vaginal odor on her panties at the end of the day bothers her, and how her panties have none due to this bi-monthly douche. I simply don’t believe that her used panties at the end of the day smell exactly like panties fresh from the store that have never been used. Every vagina secretes stuff throughout the day, and a small amount of discharge is normal. It’s a freaking mucous membrane, for gods sake. If you bunched some cloth around your lips and then held your head looking downwards all day, wouldn’t you expect some moisture on the cloth at the end of the day? Also, I really don’t understand her motivations or her grasp of the biology of the vagina. She talks about how her husband is a biologist who works with bacterial cultures and decided that bacteria grossed him out or something, so now he prefers that she douche. So, rinsing some warm water through there twice a month is supposed to be antibiotic? What about the fact that most things that cause vaginas to smell bad are yeast and fungi? And she also mentioned that her husband will ejaculate in her before they go to bed, and that protein will remain in her vagina overnight, which will lead to bacteria breeding in her vagina. What? I’ve never heard of vaginal flora consuming the protein in semen. Which leads me to believe that her belief in her douching practices are based in myth and half-formed supposition and not science. I welcome being educated otherwise