In doing research for a case write-up during my OB/GYN rotation I find myself reading about “healthy vulval hygiene practices”. If you’re really curious why go look up vulvar lichen sclerosis and the treatment thereof. You might not want to look at the pictures of advanced disease. One of the hygiene practices to avoid is using hair dryers to dry vulva skin. Now I assume this wouldn’t be on a list of recommendations unless people actually do this. My question is why would anyone do this? Is this common? Seriously, how thick does the hair have to be before you need a hairdryer rather than just a towel? Can anyone enlighten me on the reasoning here?
Now I’m off to finish the write-up that I’m really supposed to be doing right now.
I’ve seen women do this fairly often, in locker rooms. This is in Korea, though, where shaving/trimming genital hair is not very common. I suppose it feels cleaner if the hair is thoroughly dry. :: shrug ::
I don’t do it myself, but I’d guess that it’s to prevent a yeast infection. And I’m not ABOUT to go look up diseases of the pink delicate bits, thankyouverymuch.
No, not a practice I’m familiar with, but excessive moisture is to be avoided, also. For example, it’s a good idea to not wear a wet swimsuit all day. Of course, this is in conjunction with tight fitting clothing, synthetic fabric, blah blah, but I can see someone thinking that if too much moisture is bad, drier must be better.
Male here, I used to dry my pubic hair with a hair dryer when it was long enough and I lived in a house with a hair dryer. It feels really nice. What you describe doesn’t sound very healthy, though.
I have used a hair dryer for a couple of seconds on really cold days. It feels nice. I don’t dry it completely, just use it to shake out the droplets that the towel didn’t get. It’s certainly not a part of my everyday routine–normally I just air-dry.
Same here. Never found the need to do anything but towel or air dry it.
I do try to avoid staying in wet clothes too long (swim suit, gym clothes, that sort of thing), and not using harsh or irritating soaps near the vulva. And of course, nothing directly in the vagina.
I’ve never felt the need to take a blowdryer to my pubic hair—it’s just not all that dense.
I’ve seen maybe one or two lichen sclerosis of the vulva in 7 years of OB/GYN nursing and the docs said “Clean and dry” without mention of NO Blowdryers". I’ll have to add that instruction next time it comes up.
Cyn, OB/GYN RN
Especially in the winter, when I get out of the shower I’m immediately chilly. I wish we had a wall heater in our bathroom because we keep the house at like 67 degrees. Anyway, I towel off and then wrap the towel around my wet hair and then use the hair dryer, well, everywhere to warm up. I’m all shaved up so it’s not a matter of needing to dry anything out though. Am I in danger of the vulva lichen?! Eek!
Occasionally, while drying the hair on my head, I have accidentally touched my ear with the metal slats at the opening of the hair dryer. (Don’t have one of those diffuser things.) That was horrible enough, thank you. I’m far too clumsy to be putting things with heating elements near my crotch.
This is just plain strange to me. A towel is not enough to dry off the girlie parts? I mean I don’t spend time grooming my nether regions but a simple towel does the job.
