What Should Pussy Smell Like

What Should Pussy Smell Like

This Is What Your Vagina Is Supposed To Smell Like
Hint: it's not freshly baked cookies.
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Maybe you've wondered, "Does my vagina smell normal?" YourTango gets down to business.
I don't care how comfortable you are with your own body, we all have those moments where we think about how we smell down there. Maybe it's at the doctor's office before a pelvic exam, or it might be as your partner is making their way to your vagina for some up-close and personal fun. You wonder, "Do I smell normal? And what is normal anyway? What is a vagina supposed to smell like?"
Healthy vaginas often do have smells! Most of the time, these vagina scents aren't awful—they just smell like a vagina; like the way you sometimes smell sweaty or how your feet stink in certain shoes. We smell like humans, and the smell of our vaginas depend on certain factors. If you just took a shower and washed your lady-bits, there probably isn't any smell. But if you just had a marathon sex session, your vagina will have an odor.
It's important not to forget that your vagina also secretes pheromones that are supposed to trigger sexual interest and excitement.
"I don't know how to describe what a vagina should smell like, but I can tell you what it shouldn't smell like," says Mary Jane Minkin, M.D. , clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale University School of Medicine. "The vagina shouldn't smell like rotten fish or anything rotting. [That odor] is from bacterial vaginosis , which is really an imbalance of good guy and bad guy bacteria (the bad guys are the anaerobic bacteria which tend to be overgrowing, and anaerobes classically produce a foul or rotting type odor)."
"Many women notice after having their periods that there is a different odor," says Sara Gottfried, M.D. , founder and medical director of The Gottfried Center for Integrative Medicine and author of The Hormone Cure . " A lot of women notice a change in scent after having sex . Semen is really basic—it has a pH of around eight—so when you have sex, it changes the pH in the vagina to the basic side of things."
The good news is that vaginas are self-cleaning and they naturally produce some discharge that helps to eject germs and bacteria out of your body, like a bouncer at the exclusive Vagina Club. You have regular discharge , which is mostly white with a little yellow, but when it's grey or neon green or yellow, that's not good.
"Another thing that we do see causing bad odors is a retained tampon," said Dr. Minkin. "If someone does notice a foul odor, check in for a retained tampon (something folks forget to take out at the end of their period). If they find one and cannot remove it, call the health care provider to remove it. That's one of the few times a douche would be helpful , and then follow it up with some RepHresh, an over-the-counter solution that helps keep the pH levels healthy."
As far as smell goes, Dr. Minkin says, "There are times I do see women who complain of an odor, and I don't smell anything abnormal. The one thing I strongly discourage women from doing is using scented products in the vagina, because that tissue is the most delicate in the body, and the most sensitive to irritation like an allergen."
For the most part, don't mess with your vagina. It knows how to take care of itself. If you do see or smell something that doesn't seem right, have a health care professional check it out.
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By
Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio
|
May 20, 2021, 10 p.m.

We’ve seen “smell good” tips on Tik Tok, we’ve read about it in articles and we’ve debated about it in hygiene aisles, but how should you smell down there?
Planned Parenthood Educator here, ready to debunk some of the myths about hygiene and odor.
Spoiler alert : they don’t always correlate .
When it comes to bodily smells, there are thousands of questions. Let’s start with hygiene, which means keeping the body clean. There are a lot of myths floating around about how to clean the body and keep the penis and vagina healthy. In fact, I recently read an article from the Washington Post that addressed myths from feminine wash products and how harmful that can be for confused teens feeling the pressure to be “perfect” smelling down there.
As the article so beautifully states: “Vaginas should smell like vaginas—not creamsicles,” and they’re right!
Cleaning the vagina is a delicate process. Even the smallest change can throw off a person’s PH. So, the healthiest way to clean the vulva (which is the external genital area around the vaginal opening) is gently —this skin is soft and sensitive y’all!— with water and unscented soap; or even just plain water.
The vagina (the internal part) is self-cleaning. But if that’s the case, you may be wondering, “What’s the deal with discharge?”
Discharge means fluid and it’s totally normal. Vaginal discharge can actually be a sign of the vagina cleaning itself. Discharge also helps the vagina stay lubricated, since it is a muscle that has the ability to stretch up to 200% (kind of like a balloon), so it doesn’t feel dry or itchy.
People have different amounts of discharge and usually it’s clear or white – and it can be slightly yellow when it dries. Normal discharge may have a mild odor (which can be different for everybody) and can vary in thickness and color throughout a person’s menstrual cycle. It’s a great idea to get a sense of your regular vaginal fluid patterns to understand more about your own body.
When you are washing up, nothing needs to go inside a vagina to “clean” it. Feminine wash, like douches, or body wash, as well as unclean toys or fingers and scented tampons can disrupt the healthy bacteria and pH balance of the vagina; which can lead to uncomfortable infections like bacterial vaginosis, urinary tract infections or yeast infections.
Even though the vagina is self-cleaning, hygiene is still an important part of caring for your sexual health. Improper hygiene can sometimes cause a build-up of shedding skin cells, oils and moisture that collects around the clitoris or folds of the labia, called smegma.
That said, if a vulva smells really bad, fishy or yeasty it’s a great idea to make an appointment with a health care provider!
If your vagina smells like—well, a vagina, it’s important to remember that vaginas and vulvas are not a field of flowers, so you shouldn’t expect them to smell like a meadow on the first day of spring… and if they do—you may have some problems later.
A penis also needs a warm water rinse daily. If a penis has foreskin, pull back gently and wash underneath. Practicing good hygiene can help prevent smegma build-up under the foreskin, which people with a penis are susceptible to as well.
Discharge from the penis, which normally happens during sexual arousal, is called semen (or ejaculate). This discharge is usually a white liquid. We always say everybody is different and it’s true! The color, odor and texture of semen is different for everyone. It might be thick and sticky, stringy or clumpy.
If you notice random discharge from the penis that is NOT pre-ejaculate (aka pre-cum, which secretes out of the penis during sexual excitement before ejaculation) or semen, or if discharge appears or smells unusual for your own body, I recommend talking with a doctor or nurse.
Educators like me are also available to answer any other questions Text PPNOW to 774636 or https://www.plannedparenthood.org/online-tools/chat

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It’s normal for your vagina to have a slight smell, and the way it smells can vary, too. You might notice a change in odour at certain points in your menstrual cycle, for example. So a slight change in smell isn’t necessarily a problem.
However, if you suddenly notice a strong, unpleasant smell, you might have an infection or a condition that needs treatment.
Read on to learn about some of the most common causes of unusual vaginal odour, and what you can do about them.
Your vagina always contains a certain amount of bacteria, and this is healthy. But bacterial vaginosis (BV) is an infection caused by having too much of a certain bacteria. This changes the normal bacterial balance of your vagina and can sometimes cause it to smell.
BV is the most common type of vaginal infection. It’s not a sexually transmitted infection (STI). However, it can make you more likely to get an STI, like chlamydia.
It doesn’t have any symptoms in about half the people who have it, but you may get a thin, grey or white vaginal discharge with a strong, fish-like smell. This smell may be particularly noticeable after sex.
Other symptoms of BV can include pain, itching or burning in and around your vagina and a burning sensation when you pee.
BV sometimes goes away on its own, but it may keep coming back – so if you think you might have it, you should see your doctor. It can be treated with a course of antibiotics, in the form of tablets you take or a cream you apply to your vagina.
There are things you can do to help with the symptoms of BV and stop it from coming back. These include:
Your vagina can also smell unpleasant if you have trichomoniasis, which is a STI caused by a tiny parasite called Trichomonas vaginalis (TV).
As with BV, you won’t always get symptoms – up to half of people don’t (but they can still pass the infection on). If you do get symptoms, they usually appear within a month. They include having more discharge than normal, with an unpleasant, fishy odour – it can also be frothy and yellow-green in colour. You might also notice soreness, swelling or itching around your vagina, or pain when peeing or having sex.
Like BV, trichomoniasis can be treated with antibiotics, so you should visit your doctor or a sexual health clinic if you think you might have been infected. If you do have it, your recent sexual partners should also get treatment.
It’s also possible for a smelly vagina to be caused by a serious condition called pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This is an infection of your reproductive organs that’s often a complication of STIs such as chlamydia or gonorrhoea, or other infections.
As well as an unusual vaginal discharge with a bad smell, symptoms of PID can include fever, pain in your lower tummy, pain or bleeding during sex or between periods and burning when you pee.
Thankfully, PID can be treated with antibiotics, but it’s important to get help as soon as possible because it can cause long-term problems if left untreated. So see your doctor if you have the symptoms above or you’re worried that you might have an STI.
If you forget to remove a tampon at the end of your period, it can get compressed at the top of your vagina and cause discharge that has a really bad smell, as well as pain and a high temperature (fever).
If this happens, you should try to get the tampon out straight away and speak to a doctor. If you can’t, go to your doctor or a sexual health clinic as soon as possible, so they can remove it.
If you have discharge that has a really bad smell, pain or a high temperature, it’s likely you’ll need further treatment, even if you can get the tampon out yourself.
Using tampons has been linked to a rare but life-threatening bacterial infection called toxic shock syndrome. You can read more about toxic shock syndrome here .
An abnormal opening, or fistula, between your intestines and reproductive system is a serious condition that can cause foul-smelling vaginal discharge, as well as poo in your discharge or vagina.
It can be caused by an injury from giving birth or certain bowel conditions, among other things. If you have any symptoms, see your doctor so you can find the cause and get treatment.
A slight odour in your vagina is perfectly normal, as is some vaginal discharge. But if you’re concerned about keeping your vagina clean, there are simple steps you can take.
First, remember that while there’s a lot of bacteria in your vagina, they’re there to protect it and keep it healthy. This means that when you wash the area around your vagina (vulva), it’s best to avoid perfumed soaps, gels and antiseptics – these can affect the bacteria and pH balance of your vagina, and cause irritation.
Instead, use plain, unperfumed soaps to gently clean the area around your vagina every day. You don’t need to clean inside your vagina, as your vaginal discharge does this for you.
We include references at the end of every article, so you know where we get our facts. We only ever take evidence from medically-recognised sources, approved by the UK National Health Service's The Information Standard , or certified by Health On the Net (HON) . When we talk about popular health trends or claims, we'll always tell you if there's very little or no evidence to back them up. Our medical team also checks our sources, making sure they're appropriate and that we've interpreted the science correctly.
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