There are two major causes of vaginal pain. When you're in the shower, a simple swipe of mild, scent-free soap and water between the labial folds and along the perineum is all you need.ġ3. It's self-cleaning.ĭischarge flushes out cells from the vaginal wall, excess water, and bacteria. It will not cure a yeast infection and may lead to more problems. That said, please never ever put yogurt, which contains lactic acid (or any food, tbh), up in there. The most important bug taking up residence: lactobacilli, a strain that produces lactic acid, which keeps bad microorganisms in check so you don't get an infection. Do 10 reps a day, working your way up to 10-second holds. Just clamp down as if you're stopping the flow of urine, hold for three seconds then relax for three seconds. But doing kegels can strengthen the muscles surrounding your urethral and vaginal openings. So when your pelvic floor is weak, you know, like right after you push a human out of you, it can be harder to hold your pee. Your pelvic floor muscles hold your vagina, uterus, rectum, and urethra in place, according to ACOG. You can strengthen it like any other muscle. Nor will it shrink if you go through a dry spell.Īt first, your vaginal muscles may be tense after weeks or month without sex or foreplay, but penetration shouldn't be painful. So can we all agree to kill the sexist 'hot dog in a hallway' metaphor forever? Thanks.

Lots of sex won't stretch it out.Īs explained above, the vagina is incredibly elastic, so it always returns to its usual tightness after sex. The vagina typically swells to two inches wide during sex and it can get even bigger to allow a baby to pass through it. But the sides can separate and widen, kind of like the way an umbrella opens. Usually, the walls of the vagina lie compressed against each other. Whatever your colorway, there's no 'normal.' She's perfect just the way she is. You also can have different colors in different areas - for example, your labia could be on the darker side yet your perineum could be pale pink. Many light-skinned women have brown or purplish labia, while a darker-skinned woman can have a lighter vulva. The shade of your labia or vaginal tissue isn't necessarily related to the tone of the rest of your skin. The surrounding area often can be different colors. It's only when your microbiome, or the healthy array of bacteria in your vag, gets disrupted by lubes or even antibiotics that the yeast can overgrow and cause symptoms like itching and burning, per ACOG. Your vagina always has a little bit of yeast in it.Įven if you don't have a full-on yeast infection, your hoo-ha typically contains some of the fungus. So, yeah, every girl is a unique and special unicorn.ĥ. The labia majora, or the lip-like tissue around the opening of your vagina, can be as little as one quarter inch or up to two inches wide, per ACOG. So not having a hymen doesn't really mean you've never had sex before. And even if you were born with one, playing sports as a kid, using tampons, or random medical procedures can 'break' it. That thin membrane partially covering the entrance to the vagina isn't guaranteed, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. A person born with a vagina may also identify as a trans man, male, non-binary, genderqueer, gender fluid, or gender nonconforming. Not everyone who has a vagina is a woman.Ī person's sexual organs are not an indicator of their gender, and it's harmful to assume so. It can all feel good.Īnd actually: Unless sex researchers make a surprisingly major breakthrough, Cosmo won’t be publishing any more G-spot sex positions or “how to find it” guides. You can’t standardize a vagina-there is no consistency across women as to where exactly we experience pleasure.”įor some women, there is sexual sensitivity where the G-spot is supposed to be. “I’ve never understood why it was interpreted as some new sexual organ. “I don’t think we have any evidence that the G-spot is a spot or a structure,” says Nicole Prause, PhD, a neuroscientist who studies orgasms and sexual arousal. And just like that, your most frustrating fake body part was born.ĭozens of trials used surveys, pathologic specimens, imaging, and biochemical markers to try to pinpoint the elusive G-spot once and for all. They named the thing, which they described as a “sensitive” “small bean,” for German researcher Ernst Gräfenberg (yeah, a dude). According to a recent Cosmo investigation, a team of researchers officially coined the term “G-spot” in the early ’80s.

Images of different vagina shapes