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peacelovecookies t1_j5g3yy2 wrote

Reply to comment by kakachina in TIFU by washing my hooha with Dr. Bronner’s Tea Tree Castile Soap giving myself a chemical burn by aquakitty99

I’m sorry, you mean don’t wash the vulva? The inner labia?

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Teni96 t1_j5g4bwl wrote

You’re supposed to use just water cause anything else can mess up the PH balance down there.

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kakachina t1_j5ginte wrote

There’s no reason you should be getting downvoted. You’re not supposed to use anything but water on the inner area. Any OBGYN or doctor will tell you that unless they’re not fully careful about it

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peacelovecookies t1_j5liac9 wrote

I’ve been washing it for almost 60 years, not gonna stop now. No problems so far.

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DuckRubberDuck t1_j5g7ao8 wrote

You can buy soap with an altered PH so it matches the PH down there

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Poemang94 t1_j5g9dpr wrote

Summers Eve. It's a wash meant for your bits and it's pH balanced for it.

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kakachina t1_j5gii4e wrote

Summers eve is actually soooo bad. Talk to your OBGYN and they’ll help you out. Any doctor will say to avoid any soap even if it’s targeted for the vaginal area if they care

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Poemang94 t1_j5gk3el wrote

Well they say they're only a bad brand for the dyes from the scents being bad for PH, i thought. I use all unscented. No doctor or gyno recommends using fragrances or anything with dyes. Which is why unscented is the recommended. But looking things up. Summers Eve unscented is one of the top nether region soaps recommended by gynos.

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Satansjavlanamn t1_j5golhw wrote

Dude when you're on your period an unscented soap made for your privates as well as an intimate oil is pretty much necessary if you use pads.

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BrightGreyEyes t1_j5i8b8r wrote

It's marketed for your bits, but it's not pH balanced for it. It's also not necessary. The vagina is self-cleaning; assuming you're healthy, anything you do to "clean" it just kills the good microbes, making you more susceptible to infections. Some odor is normal. Summer's Eve, Lumi, and all the products like them are built around making people feel self conscious about normal body stuff

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Poemang94 t1_j5i8pa5 wrote

That's a false statement. The inside(the vagina) is self cleaning. Outside(vulva) is not. Who told you the vulva cleans itself? Cuz this is what's being talked about in my comments.

Nobody here is saying use these products up inside your vagina to take care of it. Lol

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BrightGreyEyes t1_j5ia0nc wrote

I know the difference. You're still not supposed to use soap, just warm water. Products like Summer's Eve are basically a "It's best not to, but if you absolutely must, at least use something vaguely vagina safe," thing. Even if you're not soaping up your actual insides, some soap will get in when you wash your vulva. You don't need it, so why spend money with a company that was founded to make people feel bad about their bodies?

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Poemang94 t1_j5iagp5 wrote

I don't really pay attention to that stuff to be honest. I never actually looked into it. I've never felt bad about my body, I just clean all of my body because I thought it was how you do it and so I picked something I believed to be safe.

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BrightGreyEyes t1_j5icjpp wrote

That's partly because of companies like Summer's Eve that made people feel like normal vaginal odor was bad. You're lucky though. If I even look at a bottle of Summer's Eve or any similar product, I get BV.

I started using it in college when I got BV for the first time because I thought maybe I wasn't cleaning my vulva well enough (I now suspect he just had bad hygiene) and kept using it after. Even though I broke up with that guy and wasn't sleeping with anyone, I still kept getting BV. Eventually, I told my doctor that I was cleaning down there really well so I didn't understand why it kept happening, and she was like "WITH SOAP?!?!" When I said I was using sensitive skin Summer's Eve (no fragrance, dyes, etc), she explained how even that wasn't great and why it was unnecessary. I'm usually pretty well informed about vaginal health, and I had mentioned how careful I was to rinse down there at the end of my shower just incase and shampoo, body wash, conditioner got near that area so I think she thought I couldn't be using soap down there. I happen to have incredibly sensitive lady bits, but it still makes other people more vulnerable to BV and yeast infections. The wipes freak me out even more because you're not even washing it off

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Poemang94 t1_j5ie0ry wrote

Yeah I've been using it since I was 17. I'm 28 now but I've never had any issues whatsoever. I thought I was doing myself good. Well, I've learned something today. I'm gonna throw out all of my Summers Eve stuff. Everything I believed I was doing right was bad. Now I feel a bit sad.

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BrightGreyEyes t1_j5ig9zu wrote

Don't feel bad. There has been a lot of marketing for a very long time aimed at making people think it's necessary, and the medical establishment isn't always great about communicating about this kind of thing because it's usually not really their job unless it's causing problems. There's also a lot of weird sexism and shame that would take too long to get into here that helps perpetuate these ideas. Blame lack of good sex ed. I took a lot of microbiology, anatomy and physiology, etc and even did some sexual health work, but it still took like 5 rounds of BV for either me or my doctor to realize what was going on.

If it's worked out well for you, then it's probably fine. It also might be weird to suddenly stop (who knows, every body is different), so I'd start by just using it less frequently to see how it goes. I just wouldn't advocate it to others unless it's a "if you absolutely must" situation. I would avoid buying the wipes again, though, if only because they're bad for the environment

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Poemang94 t1_j5igsjm wrote

Yeah that's pretty understandable. Still know knowing that it's bad for vaginal health and I still think I'm gonna stop it altogether. I don't want to cause problems for myself later. Lol the wipes I only use when I absolutely need to but the wash is a daily thing. So anything to help myself be better about it and the environment, I'd gladly throw them out.

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BrightGreyEyes t1_j5iju9g wrote

Since you already have it, I wouldn't get rid of it even if you stop using it down there. The wash and the wipes would actually probably be really good for armpits after intense workouts or hot sweaty days

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