Is your choice of underwear important?
MANY things can help a woman feel confident, and sexy underwear is one of them.
Whether it’s a thong, lace, silk, or nice cotton panties, the sexier they are, the greater you feel.
But is there a prescription as to what you wear down there as it pertains to your vagina’s health? Dr Charles Rockhead, obstetrician gynaecologist, says no.
“The kind of underwear you wear really doesn’t make a difference as long as it’s clean and doesn’t have too many chemicals that could affect the good bacteria – lactobacillus – that live in the vagina and keep it healthy by maintaining an acidic environment,” he said. “Anything you do to reduce the lactobacillus in the vagina can result in vaginal infection.”
Dr Rockhead said the focus is really not on the type of underwear you wear, but your practices that could affect your vaginal health.
“I don’t counsel patients on the kind of underwear to wear, I counsel patients on things like antibiotic usage which reduces bacteria, and scented tampons that will reduce bacteria, because some of these tampons have chemicals that sometimes affect the vagina or the flora in the vagina. Also scented panty shields, washing the vagina with soap, and using certain condoms or spermicidal jellies are things that will cause an infection. But in terms of the kind of material you wear, as long as those bacteria – lactobascillus – are present and in proper proportions, you should not get an infection,” he explained.
But he said it is important to practise proper hygiene when looking after your vaginal health.
“You’re not going to wear a panty for 48 hours, so you wash your vagina with water and a clean rag when you get up in the morning, and when you go home you wash it again,” he said.
When proper personal hygiene isn’t practised, Dr Rockhead said you are likely to smell, but noted that the scent of sweat from your pubic hair and the scent of your vagina should never be confused.
“When you don’t bathe, the places that smell the most is where you sweat, where your sweat glands are, which is your armpit, your hair and your pubic hair. People are mixing the smell from sweat with the smell of your vaginal health. They are two different things,” he said.
In this regard, Dr Rockhead said your underwear choice may make a difference.
“If you’re talking about sweating, then cotton underwear will help as it will dry out constantly, versus if you use silk or polyester which will trap the heat there and cause the sweat to be concentrated and give a smell. But that smell is not the vagina. Remember, the vulva is on the outside and the vagina is on the inside,” he said.
Dr Rockhead said reducing sweat odour can be done through shaving and wearing breathable clothes.
