The right way to wash

[Swashbucklette]

This is probably a silly question but...

When washing the privates, am I supposed to keep to just the outside where the hair grows, or is it fine to rinse between the lips as well? Its just that I've gotten mixed answers when I browsed around Google. Some people say to be thorough and others say it encourages infection. I know I definitely don't want soap to get INSIDE me, but otherwise... *shrug* Ah, I'm confused.

In any case, I usually just wash up with warm water. I have a bad history of getting irritation around that area, so I guess I just want to make sure I'm not unintentionally making things worse.

[Brandye]

Use a mild facial soap and BE THOROUGH. Shampoo is good because it rinses easily. I keep baby shampoo by the bidet. You should not be getting anything into your vagina but the labia the clitoral hood need through cleansing at least twice a day.

Irritation can be caused by not getting it clean enough more often than by by getting it too clean. From the pubic bone to the coccyx you have secretions from the clitoral hood, peri-urethral glands (Skene's), urethra, vagina, Glands of Bartholin, anus, ordinary sweat and sloughed skin. The accumulated and mixed soup from all this can be smelly and irritating. Bacteria love it.

[Swashbucklette]

Face soap, huh? That never occurred to me, but I'll give that a try. I did use baby soap for a little while until the container ran out.

Thanks for the advice! :>