When I go out I have to curl it other wise it just hangs there – so I wash it at night, then use the curling iron AND sponge rollers in the morning. It works for me. Plus I like the smell of freshly washed hair.
Topic: what about edible panties? And would you have to douche if you did the whole Marianne Faithful “Mars Bar” thing? 
I use Big Sexy Hair’s Dry Shampoo- it’s good for my dark-almost-black hair because it is clear, whereas a lot of dry shampoos are light colored. Usually, I do: day 1- hair down and voluminous, day 2- hair down and voluminous still (sometimes a lil teasing required), day 3- dry shampoo on the roots, hair half pulled up and teased, day 4- more dry shampoo and a teased pony tail. I only use a teensy bit of dry shampoo, too-- and I’m probably greasier than lindsaybluth, what with being a greasy Italian and all ;). But really, my hair barely gets greasy at all at this point, just because my body has adjusted.
I should add: I say this as someone who uses a lot of product in my hair (usually root lifter, blow dry serum, Moroccan Oil, hairspray) and does a lot to it (teasing, curling, straightening). My hair is healthier than ever, despite everything I do, no doubt to me washing it less.
Also, Guin, hair that is a little dirty (not weighed down greasy, but a little dirty-- maybe a day) actually holds a curl better. The hair shaft is a little roughed up, so it holds on better.
</ hair tangent >
I have never douched before. Never felt the need to do so, though I could imagine having the desire for a “deep cleanse” if there was a whole bunch of semen up in me and it wasn’t coming out fast enough for my liking. But I have been schooled about the dangers of douching as well. So I would use a natural rinsing that would protect my normal flora.
My mother, at least when I was growing up, used to douche a lot. We never talked about it, but I saw the products in her cabinet and the only reason I know what a douche nozzle looks like is because I once saw one on the wicker stand in my parents’ bathroom (but only in retrospect did I know what it was. I think I thought it was some kind of enema thing at the time).
But my mother is kind of a nudist. She doesn’t wear panties at night, which I understand a lot of people don’t do either. But when she wakes up, she doesn’t immediately put them on. She’ll make breakfast, watch hours of CSPAN, do housechores, chase the cats outside, all while wearing a skimpy teddy and nothing else. Once she visited me and sat on my furniture bare-assed. In my seemingly calm and nonchalant way I said, “I’m so happy to see your bare behind spread out on my couch like that.” We laughed, but I was still like WTF!? I hope she doesn’t do that when she visits other people’s houses. I have a horrible feeling she does! I have this vague memory of my grandmother remarking about how it was good my mother’s vagina did not smell since she had sat on every surface of her house without wearing any clothing.
While I don’t mind the smell of my vagina, I know I wouldn’t want to spread its scent all over my furniture. I wouldn’t want someone to come in and think to themselves, “This place smells like coochie. Healthy coochie, but still coochie.” So maybe my mother douches so she can be 100% odor-free and let her vajayjay hang out whenever it wants. I don’t know. It’s just a hypothesis. And I’m not about to ask her to confirm if it’s true.
The WHAT?
Could you please explain that reference? Thanks.
Indeed. I suspect it’s not something I want to Google…
Snopes has a piece on it (SFW picture-wise, unless your work objects to Mick Jagger’s naked torso.)
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Really? Oh, dear.
Now THAT would be asking for a yeast infection. If it happened. Which it didn’t.
I have to say though that when ‘digging around up there’ first came up, my immediate thought was “What, are you Marianne Faithful?”
I use a volumizer on it – that’s what my stylist reccomended. It definitely works. I’m just saying that I’ll never have “wash and wear” hair.
Marianne Faithfull – well, I guess you could use a female condom with it…(quite honestly, considering some of the kinks out there, that’s actually pretty tame. Unhealthy, but tame.)
Never have, and wouldn’t dream of it. I’ve made zero effort in 25 years to ‘clean’ my vagina (or my rectum for that matter). The skin outside gets cleaned with ‘baby’ wipes a few times per day and with soap and water daily, usually.
To clarify on some details that came up earlier in the thread: my vagina always smells the same (pleasant, rather like plain yogurt IMO), and there’s never much of an accumulation of cervical mucus. I know this because I use FAM so I stick a couple [freshly-scrubbed] fingers all the way up my vagina every day to check the consistency of the goop. There has never been semen or any type of lubricant in my vagina. I’ve never had a yeast infection or UTI. Furthermore for the past year I’ve used a Divacup during my period, it fits right up against my cervix so blood doesn’t get all up in my accordion-like vaginal folds. I’m blood-free the last time I empty my cup. 
Never have, and I don’t think I’ve ever even seen douches for sale anywhere. In fact, I know I haven’t, because I have no idea what a douche nozzle looks like - though my mental images amuse me. I, too, was taught it was an unhealthy thing to do and, to be honest, I didn’t know it was something people still did. I wonder if this is maybe something that varies significantly by location - I’ve never even seen ads for douches.
(And no, I’ve never, ever gone rooting around up inside me to look for left-over clots or decaying semen. The idea is just icky. Clots and semen have always come out on their own, no need to go digging…)
Honestly, the thought has never occurred to me. It’s never occurred to me to root around for any semen that hasn’t come out yet or to scrub my colon, either. Stuff comes out both holes all on its own, and if I suspect there’s anything in there that I don’t want on my drawers, that’s why Og gave us toidy paper for our butts and pantyliners for our pussies. And I say this as someone who used to have some massively clotty periods–ones the size of my thumbnail were pretty common. Having those come out is indeed a seriously oogy feeling, but it lasts all of 20 seconds.
Out of curiosity, if you use a vinegar and water douche, wouldn’t your crotch smell like vinegar, rather than actually being odorless?
As for the hair thing, I have really fine, thin, limp hair and have good luck shampooing one day, then wetting and rubbing with conditioner the next day, sometimes a third day. Blow dry and style every day.
Really – I have no desire to smell like a salad! Don’t they also use baking soda? And Lysol, I can imagine, would sting like HELL. I’ve used Lysol to clean my freaking bathroom!
TMI: Just for an “experiment”, when I took my shower tonight, I decided to see if there was anything left from my period, as it ended Friday. I put my finger inside myself, but I found nothing – no leftover clots, or anything. And I had an extremely heavy period this time – blood clots and all. So obviously everything’s working as it should be.
So if you’re finding leftover clots of blood, and extreme discharge, (not semen, I mean extreme vaginal fluids), maybe you want to talk to your doctor?
I never use conditioner – it just weighs mine down. My hair gets really oily easily. BP would LOVE my hair!
So I did what my hair stylist told me – use a volumizing gel after I get out of the shower and scrunch it – when it dries, comb it, and then curl it with the curling iron. It looks great then. If I don’t plan on going anywhere, I don’t bother with the gel, though – I just let it go.
Did anyone else see that episode of *Intervention *where the woman spends hours daily scrubbing her vagina and rectum with a toothbrush?
Well, I just hope she went vagina then rectum and not the other way around.
In all seriousness…yeesh. The idea of scrubbing my vagina for hours with a bristly object? Chafing, baby, chafing!
Amateur.
I’ve had clots bigger than my THUMB.
I’m 23, and nope, I don’t. I try to be fairly low-maintenance as far as hygiene goes. I shower every day, if just because there are parts that do need to be cleaned that often, but if there’s something that I don’t need to do (and I’ve been taught that douching is one of these things), I just don’t bother.
I passed a super-giant clot once that was about the size of a chicken liver, and looked like one. I was about 16 and an 88-lb virgin at the time, so birthing that one was a bit of a struggle… still ranks as one of the more unpleasant experiences of my life. Not really painful, but nasty.
Jesus! I’ll never complain about my cramps again. They’re annoying but easily taken care of with aspirin and regular exercise.
Does being heavier-set make it easier to pass clots, though? I have friends of all sizes who bitch about their periods…
I’m a total fatty and I have never had blood clots, I have 2-3 day light periods (and have my whole life), and never get cramps. So, if being fat makes it worse, I will count on having no periods at all when I lose weight. Success!