Hygiene is one of the basic things in such a close type of contact as sex. However, genital hygiene has its own peculiarities. Below is a detailed look at how to prepare your body for intimacy.
Sexual hygiene: basic principles
Preparing for sex is not just about the intimate area. A clean body and pleasant breath, no pungent perfume – all this helps to focus on pleasure. I’m not talking about your own body odor, which is a turn-on, just a clean body.
If you use spermicidal creams/inserts/vaginal pills for contraception, you should not wash your vulva and penis with soap (even intimate soap) 2 hours before and 2 hours after intercourse. The reason is that this destroys the active ingredient and reduces the contraceptive effect of the spermicide. Rinsing the external genitals and the penis with warm water, pushing back the foreskin, is enough.
Hygiene that will definitely hurt
There is a category of women and men who do not use condoms. Instead, immediately after sex, they wash their penis and irrigate the vagina with antiseptics, such as myramistin, cyteal, and chlorhexidine. How do these products do harm?
- Disrupt the ratio of good and conditionally bad flora of the external genitals for both sexes. This contributes to the formation of chronic inflammation of the intimate area in both women and men.
- They form bacteria that are insensitive (resistant) to modern antibiotics.
- Destroy the surface of the mucous membranes, causing atrophy (thinning). This results in itching, burning, and eventually leads to painful sexual intercourse not only in women but also in men.
- They contribute to the intimate area allergies to everything from condoms to ordinary cotton underwear!
Other hygiene procedures before sex
- Cut the nails short (for men);
- Wash your hands with a liquid detergent (a lumpy one is fine, too);
- Inform your partner about the genital herpes in the acute stage. Please note that herpes bumps can be completely invisible among the hair of the intimate area, but they are very highly contagious (infectious). In this case, a condom will not protect a healthy partner from infection;
- Intimate hairstyles (as for me, a neat haircut is enough) are common for partners of both sexes, but here fantasies might be endless. In my opinion, you only need to be careful with piercing. Any injury to the genitals can turn into chronic discomfort in the intimate area!
- Drinking a glass of clean water without gas or with cranberries after sexual intercourse and emptying the bladder (prevention of postcoital cystitis) is important for both sexes;
- Wash your genitals with water or intimate hygiene foam after sexual intercourse.
Sex toys
Whether you’re using a sex toy for solo sex or with a partner, it’s important to wash it after each use. Secretions and bacteria can accumulate on toys, so you should wash them regularly.
And I want to remind you that hygiene is part of foreplay. You are preparing and already fantasizing…
Was it useful?
Then share useful and proven information, since it prevents the nonsense and myths that have become attached to sexual life in our society!
More about your pleasure you can find in the webinar Honest Answers to Intimate Questions About Sex and Your Pleasure. All the information you need to know about yourself, your health, and your sex life is in my course All about you. What it’s like to be a Woman.
I’m eager to file all of these courses in English, just send me a request to dr.silinaeducation@gmail.com.
You can always choose your doctor at the Lior Medical Center.
💞 to all and enjoy everything you do in your life!
With love, your Natalia Silina,
gynecologist-endocrinologist,
Director of the LIOR Medical Center
