Douche: Don't

Douche bag with douche nozzle in lower left.

When I was a child there were television commercials depicting touching moments between mother and daughter over, of all things, douching. Apparently using the advertised product was the mother’s secret to “feeling fresh” and she felt obligated to pass on the wisdom to her daughter, who was not “feeling fresh.”

Every time my mother saw one of these commercials with me present she made it clear that they were misogynistic bull (because they implied that natural vaginal odor was something to be washed away) and that there was absolutely no need to use that company’s product or anything else to douche to keep a healthy vagina. Thanks, Mom.

Not only is douching not necessary for vaginal health, the practice is actually unhealthy and can cause more harm than it is falsely believed to repair or prevent.

While the silly commercials are no longer on television, drug stores still carry a dizzying array of douches, so people must still be buying and using them. Don’t.

The vagina is a wonderful thing and naturally cleans itself. The pH in a healthy vagina during reproductive years is acidic, which prevents the growth of “bad” bacteria while keeping “good” bacteria around. When the pH is changed, by douching for example, the balance of bacteria is disturbed, and infection can occur.

Some women believe that douching prevents or removes unpleasant vaginal odor. A healthy vagina does not smell bad. If you are the owner of a vagina you probably notice changes in its odor throughout your cycle; this is the body’s normal reaction to fluctuating hormones.

A bad smell that is not washed away during the course of a regular washing of the vulva (not the vagina) is the sign of an infection—yeast, sexually transmitted, urinary tract, or bacterial—and medical attention should be sought. Douching will not heal an infection, it will cover the signs of one. As with an infection in any other part of the body, an untreated vaginal infection can lead to severe problems.

Douching is not an effective preventative of sexually transmitted infections or pregnancy, and may actually help sperm on their journey to an egg.

Ladies, you have no reason to douche unless specifically told to do so by a doctor. Gentlemen, you have no reason to request a woman douche, ever. Unless you are her doctor, of course.

As I am not a medical professional, you don’t have to take my word for it. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Food and Drug Administration, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Resource Center all say the same thing: Douching should be avoided.