A while back, my girlfriend recommended a local brand of an intimate feminine wash to me when I was ranting about how nasty my campus' toilet was. She preached on how important to maintain our genital hygiene.. (bla bla bla..) and she actually had me wanted to buy one!But still, I needed a second opinion before purchasing. Hence I asked every female college mates I saw at that day in case there was another loyal consumer (with a good testimonial) to convince me. I instead got bad news.
One of my college mates told me that her mom suffered from cervical benign tumor and had it surgically removed twice few years ago. The second time she was about to undergo the surgery, her gynecologist asked her if she ever used any feminine wash and apparently she did, on regular basis. After listening to the gyn.'s explanation, she immediately trashed all the bottles of the feminine wash she had.
Apparently there's not so many cases reported to have something to do with feminine wash in Google. I found one case from myhealthblog.org; a 20-year-old female was sick all the time and once had a miscarriage because she was addicted to feminine wash. She bought all brands of feminine wash and used it every time she peed.
Up till now, I admit I haven't found any scientific research to confirm that the intimate feminine wash may lead to cancer or any other adverse reactions. I'll keep you posted if there's any. For the record, the Environmental Working Group on cosmeticsdatabase.com classifies one of American brand feminine wash as moderately hazard cos ingredients in the product are linked to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, allergies/immunotoxicity, violations, restrictions and warnings.
What makes me feel the urge to submit this topic in my blog is because a friendly internist, who is also one of my freakin' smart lecturers, shared a case about this feminine wash but she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't stop people from buying until they come to her as patients seeking for help.
Apart from what the ads tell you, the chemical ingredients in feminine wash products can actually upset the naturally occurring bacterial flora in your vagina and make you more prone to infections. They want you to ignore the fact that the vagina has a self-cleaning system and some odor can be a normal part of the cleaning process. The vagina cleans itself in part through vaginal secretions, or leucorrhea, which range from thick and white-ish to slippery and clear. If you notice something out of the ordinary for you, you should see your health care provider.
It's inevitable that modern day women have been persuaded by massive healthcare and sanitary products advertisements on the mass media that merely focus on embarrassing female problems.
After the era of instant whitening creams, pharmaceutical companies have been trying to convince us that women need a special soap to keep their genitals clean and fresh with the right pH and natural antiseptic. They want us to believe that unpleasant 'fishy' vaginal odor is one of the problems affecting the lives of many women so that we can all jump on the bandwagon of feminine freshness.I'm not trying to oppose capitalism whatsoever here. All I want is you being a smart consumer regardless how consumptive you are or how much money you have.
Believe it or not, most women often live in insecurity. They have huge fear of weights, skin tones, zits, wrinkles, body odor, unwanted hair on some parts of the body, you name it. I can't deny that I used to be one of them and still is, LOL. Lucky me, my life is surrounded by great people that keeping me sane I can turn myself to if I have any questions related to health and well-being. *wink*
Added later on April 8, 2009 at 6 AM: Here's my tip; never forget to carry around tissue paper wherever you go cos you'll never know when you're gonna end up in nasty toilets. I personally carry both dry and wet tissue in my purse all the time. HTH.
P.S. Hopefully my clean-freak girlfriend who loves to carry around a travel size of a feminine wash will somehow get to read this.
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Image Courtesy: au.lifestyle.yahoo.com, teamsugar.com
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