Just wanted to take a few minutes to talk about vaginal douching. If you google search vaginal douching you may get quite a lot of mixed information. It is really bad for you? Should you do it or not? What are the risks?


I’m going to try my best to give you some facts and share with you my experiences with vaginal douching. So should you douche or not?


The word ‘douche’ means to cleanse the vagina internally, or rinsing of the vagina or any other body cavity. For vaginal douching a device called a vaginal douche is used to introduce water (sometimes other cleaning agents) into the body for medical or hygienic purposes. The way I see it is if you use water for you douche then you shouldn’t go too far wrong. If you use soaps or solutions then the pH levels of these can disrupt the vagina’s natural ph level (which is slightly acidic by the way to fight infection). The word douche is originally a French word meaning wash or shower.


Douching is a method of cleaning or washing out the vagina. You can use water for your douche but another popular mixture used in douching is vinegar and water. A lot of women will already know the superpowers of vinegar (it can be used to clean everything from your shower to your vagina.). There are some douches which contain antiseptics and fragrances but as I said you need to be careful with these as they can do more harm than good.


Women usually Vaginal douche for personal hygiene and to prevent infections but can also be used to cleanse the vagina after menstruation, or immediately after sexual intercourse to prevent any pregnancies, though not proven to be effective.


Let me just say if you are relying on a vaginal douche to stop you getting pregnant… good luck to you…


The equipment used to douche is called a douche bag, which is a piece of the bag holding the mixture and attached with a small pipe. The same bag is used for an enema, but you should never mix the two to avoid the risk of spreading intestinal bacteria into the vagina. The douche injects the mixture into the vaginal area and rinses it out. The instructions on how to carry out the douching come with the vaginal douche. The user normally just has to insert the small pipe or nozzle into the vagina and squeeze the bag to rinse the vagina. According to medical advice vaginal douching can be done up to twice a day although I would suggest that this is too much and will flush away good bacteria from within the vagina.


The douching mixture ranges from plain water (recommended) to ones containing hydrogen peroxide or apple cider vinegar which is mixed with plain distilled water to provide relief from bacterial vaginosis.


Symptoms associated with bacterial vaginosis can be relieved with the help of a hydrogen peroxide douche this helps by restoring the pH balance. They destroy bad bacteria and helps in strengthening the good ones. One needs to remember to use only small amounts of hydrogen peroxide mixed with distilled water to experience correct results or else it might cause more harm than benefit. Vaginal douching though popular among women in the age group 18-45, the United States Department of Health and Human Services does not endorse douching mainly for the reasons stated.


Some of the Pros of vaginal douching which works in its favor are that it keeps the vaginal area clean and hygienic though there is very little evidence to prove that douching is beneficial. Some researchers have found out that douching during pregnancies reduced the risk of preterm deliveries, but another research also suggests that douching during pregnancy increased the risk of preterm deliveries. Depends on what research you read on a certain day. Douching can help to restore proper pH balance of the vagina if you know what state your vagina is in although you can risk upsetting the balance.


The cons associated with vaginal douching are more prominent than its benefits. Douching is known to cause an imbalance of bacteria’s in the vagina making the vagina more vulnerable for infections. According to researches women who douche have more risks of infections of the uterus and fallopian tubes. Douching also increases the risk of ectopic pregnancy wherein the embryo is implanted outside the uterus. The more you douche the risks of ectopic pregnancy are high and also the chances of developing cervical cancer. Too much vaginal douching also is linked to causing yeast infections by disturbing the natural bacteria in the vagina. Studies also have suggested adolescents who douche regularly are more likely to develop sexually transmitted diseases. Not so good after all.


According to a lot of the so-called experts, vaginal douching should be avoided and in a way, I tend to agree with them. But as they say everything in moderation. I think its the way that you douche that is important. Stay away from those heavily scented soaps and strong detergents. If you have a vaginal odor and you are worried I would say go pay a visit to your doctor first.


Keeping the vagina clean by washing with mild soap and warm water is good enough to clean the vagina and keep vaginal odor away.