This is how you can take care of your vagina

A lot of ladies are concerned about how their vaginas smell, in as much as in some cases the smell is caused by infections, in other cases, it's due to poor hygiene. And when they now hear me say 'poor hygiene', they will now rush and start making use of strong antiseptic soap or "feminine hygiene" sprays, but these practices can actually do more harm than good.

However, to have a healthy vagina, you'll have to clean the area with hot water only to avoid disrupting your natural pH, change menstrual products frequently to prevent bacterial growth, and wipe front to back when using the toilet. You should also adopt some minor lifestyle changes, eat foods that boost your vaginal health (e.g., yogurt, fruit, garlic), and do kegel exercises to keep your vaginal area healthy and strong overall.

Nevertheless, below are
some of the things you should often do to maintain a hygienic and smell free vagina. 

Read below and thank me later! 

1. Wash it with warm water

Use warm water in washing your vagina, stay away from scented soaps or gels or antiseptic soaps that may upset the healthy bacteria and irritate the sensitive skin around your vagina.
And a lot of people often refer to the entire area "down there" as the vagina, but the vagina is actually the tube-like muscle located inside your body. The vulva, the skin outside the vagina, may be cleansed with no-frills bar soap, as long as it doesn't irritate you, but make sure you rinse thoroughly with warm water to avoid leaving traces of soap in there.

2. Your vagina is smart

What a lot of ladies don't know is that the vagina cleanses itself, so frequent use of douches and vagina sprays only gets the situation worse. Douching with chemical ingredients that are supposed to make your vagina smell like a 212 body spray *winks*, actually ends up having quite the opposite effect. They wash away all the healthy bacteria that helps your vagina stay clean and infection-free. The chemicals they leave behind can cause irritation and even burning, the same goes for feminine sprays.

However, as it stands, you should care less about your vagina and more for the areas around it, the vulva.

 3. Have a good hygiene during your period

To avoid increased infection rate during your period which may lead to foul smell, then you must adhere to these instructions:

• Change your tampons regularly. The more time you  leave your tampons 'in there' the more the pH change plus high growth of bacteria. This in turn leads to bad smell...

• Think about getting a menstrual cup, they are inserted into the vagina and it helps collect blood. Make sure you wash and rinse it regularly. You can get 'em menstrual cups from any pharmacy outlet near you.

  

4. Wear cotton panties:

 Well, I didn't say so as an imperative on the choices of underwear you should wear. Bellow are some of the reasons I said so:

• Cotton fabrics dries faster and allows for air to pass through it
• Since it doesn't remain damp for long, it thereby prevents the growth of some fungi and bacteria which can lead to infections.
• Underwear made of other materials like lace, silk etc. may be worn only if it has a cotton liner in the region touching your vagina.

5.  The vagina should be washed last

Clean your vaginal area last and stay way from vaginal area just after washing your anus. This is important to heed because when fecal matter from your anus enters your vagina, it can lead to different infections like urinary tract infection (UTI). 

 6.  Eat the right kind of foods

There are foods that help with vagina hygiene, or let me say, they have the kind of 'good' bacteria your vagina needs to stay healthy. Food like yoghurt, garlic etc. can help with that. 

• Yoghurt can help replenish the body's good bacteria which helps in stabilizing the normal body flora (NBF). Eating yoghurt regularly is a good way to both prevent and treat some fungi infections. 
• Taking fruits like oranges, pineapples, strawberries etc. helps freshen the liquid secreted by your vagina thereby giving it a fresher smell. The smell doesn't have to smell fruity for it to smell 'fresher' to you. But at least it can help the body stay hydrated and this helps with flushing off of toxins in the body and around that area thereby preventing bad odour.
• Taking garlic can help with killing of some fungi or yeast that cause bad odour or infections. This is so cos garlic has the properties that kill some fungi or yeast. 

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