It is of course very important to keep up with your vaginal health if you want to stave off yeast infections, vaginal odor and excess vaginal discharge, as well as keep a tight vagina. There are several ways to maintain vaginal hygiene and none of them are very expensive or difficult. The one thing you shouldn’t do is douche or use too much scented soap; these things damage your vaginal flora and allow for bacteria to come into your body.

Herbal Soap

There are a few herbal soaps that are safe and gentle enough to use in small quantities. These soaps shouldn’t be used for more than a minute or two at a time; anymore than that and you’ll just end up leaving residue behind and not doing much more good. Use it only when you are starting to have trouble with vaginal odor, excess vaginal discharge or you want to have a tight vagina; there is rarely need to use it daily.

Menstrual Hygiene

Don’t neglect your hygiene during your period. Make sure to wear clean tampons and pads and change them regularly. You can use special cleansing wipes for cleaning up after each trip to the bathroom, but again, this isn’t necessary unless you want a bit more comfort. Be careful that the wipes aren’t scented or else you could damage your vaginal flora.

After Sex Care

If you are sexually active, it is important to that you urinate after each sexual encounter. This is because urine washes out bacteria that the penis carries (or that the condom carries) and that can cause damage to your vagina.

Douching is not the way to go here; just urinate and you’ll wash everything bad out while retaining everything good. You should also steer away from using food in bed; whip cream or chocolate may be fun, but keep it away from the vaginal area as the sugar gives yeast a good place to grow.

Maintaining good vaginal health is important if you want avoid vaginal odor, excess vaginal discharge and overall health. It is not difficult to do and it is well worth the effort. Take care of yourself and you can enjoy sex and your body for a lot longer.

Dealing with things such as vaginal discharge and vaginal odor are not done after the fact, but should also be tackled using preventative measures. Preventing odor and abnormal discharge are much easier than having to fix things like yeast infections afterwards, so you should consider your lifestyle and how it impacts your vaginal health.

Clothing

Clothing will impact the state of your vagina, and not in the self confidence way! Wearing tight clothing all of the time causes you to sweat more which promotes the growth of bacteria and increases the chance of contracting infections. This in turn leads to vaginal odor and excess, off colour discharge. It’s also just very uncomfortable!

Instead of wearing tight clothing all of time, wear looser form fitting clothing or more skirts; this way, you still look sexy, but your undercarriage can breathe. Fabrics you should stick to are one hundred percent cotton because it’s light, warm and breathable.

Cleaning

Vaginal hygiene is incredibly important, but you don’t have to do much for it. A healthy vagina will clean itself, using the healthy bacteria in it. The only steps for hygiene you should take include urinating after sex (to clean out the bacteria) and using very gentle soap for only a minute or so a day. No scrubbing, no excessive washing, and try to avoid douching. Remember that the body is quite capable of keeping itself clean and by overdoing it, all you do is upset your body’s natural functions which leave room for the bad bacteria to come in.

Sex

Of course sex has an impact on your vaginal health. Practicing clean sex is the best way to handle your vaginal health – use condoms that are made for sensitive skin (or test run a few until you find one that works anyway), make sure that any other toys or body parts (fingers for example), are clean and urinate after sex to get rid of all of the bacteria.

Furthermore, although anal sex is fun for many people, going straight from anal to vaginal can lead to infections, so take the time to clean up a bit or change condoms. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to stay clean, but it’s worth it in the long run.

Diet

Diet by itself has little impact on vaginal health, but it is still something to keep in mind. Stay hydrated, eat less junk food and eat more vegetables and you may find yourself contending with the “fish odor” less often. It will also give you more energy, more muscle tone (even in your genital area) and you’ll feel sexier.

Lifestyle has an impact on every facet of your body, including your vaginal health. If you want to stave off the chances of contracting yeast infections and excess vaginal discharge, then you should be sure to wear nicer clothing, only use very gentle soaps and cleansers for a minute or two a day and keep the sex clean. You’ll enjoy your body a lot more when it’s not itching and stinking!

Vaginal odor is a common female complaint and source of embarrassment. Many women live in fear of the “fishy smell” in fact and this fear translates to lowered sexual activity, lowered feelings of worth, and even feelings of disgust and anger. The causes of vaginal odor are a bit varied, though it boils down to an unbalance in the healthy bacteria in the vagina that are supposed to keep everything clean and scent free. There are a few causes of the bacterial problem and understanding these causes is a great way to get rid of the vaginal odor.

Diet

You are what you eat after all and if you have a positive vaginal odor diet, you will have odor! Diets that are high in stink factor include foods such as fish, a lot of red meat, garlic, curry, cheese and high fat, high sugar foods. If you want to lower your stink factor, try eating more vegetables, drinking more water, and cutting way back on the fish you eat (or eat fresh fish at least which has less of the chemicals and junk in it that translates to odor).

It’s not hard to keep your diet vagina friendly; stinky vaginas purely from diet are rare. You should also steer clear of the food foreplay; whip cream and chocolate may be popular “toys” for the bedroom, but keep them away from the vaginal area or you increase the risk of yeast infections and smelly vaginal discharge.

Too Much Douching/Washing

Many women with a smelly vagina try to fix it by washing it excessively, but this is the opposite of what you should do! The vagina has it’s own ways of keeping clean and by using a lot of soap and shower gel, you disrupt this process. Instead, you should take a look at the more underlying causes of the odor and use some gentle cleanser for brief cleaning, not excessive cleaning!

And on the topic of cleaning, try not to douche too much; a little is all right, but douching every single time you have sex or a menstrual cycle is going to disrupt your vagina’s natural cleaning cycle and can lead to vaginal odor.

Sex

Sex always lets off a bit of an odor, but unsafe sex ramps up your chances of infection and thus vaginal odor. For example, having anal sex and then having vaginal sex right after, without protection, will increase the chances of you contracting an infection.

Using food as part of the foreplay can increase the odds of a yeast infection. And of course, not using sanitary toys or even washed hands will do it. Keep it clean, keep it safe, and you’ll keep the stinky vagina away.

Taking care of your vagina and its odor means playing things smart and clean. Use a gentle cleanser to get rid of vaginal odor, have safe sex and try to enjoy a healthier lifestyle (healthy foods, exercise and not wearing tight clothing all time) and you’ll find that the fear of the fish odor will fade into oblivion.