Brown Girls Do It Too - What The Fish?

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Ever wondered what the fishy smell is down there? Poppy and Rubina are joined by Dr Ravina to learn about vaginal health, how to keep it 'clean' and bust some popular myths. Have a message for Poppy and Rubina? If you’re over 16, you can message the BGDIT team via WhatsApp for free on 07968100822. Or email us at [e-mail] you're in the UK, for more BBC podcasts listen on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3UjecF5

BBC Sounds Music, radio, podcasts What's that? Smell Oh, it's my new perfume Do you like it? Yeah, it's really unusual Like sandalwood and fish fingers?

Fish fingers? Like fancy fish fingers Made of fancy fish Like salmon or trout Or maybe even hake Oh wait, that might be my Wait, let's do the warning. This podcast contains strong language and adult content.

It's mackerel. That's what it smells like. I love a bit of mackerel on the barbie. So do I. When was the last time you had sex? Because when brown girls get down, the world tends to have a little something to say. And we've got something to say right back. This is a podcast podcast about sex why we can't stop thinking about it talking about it

and doing it doing it it's through your thing now isn't it doing that yeah because i've got the last line and i'm just repeating myself i'm rabina and if i had to describe the smell of my vagina today it would be like a natural greek yogurt that has a bit of kimchi in it, like a fermented cooch full of probiotics, I reckon. That sounds so dreamy. It sounds quite yum. Yeah, it sounds really yum. And good for your tummy.

And good for your tummy. I'm Poppy and if I had to describe the smell of my vagina today and the last month, it would be like a special Bengali curry called shutki. Have you ever smelt shutki? I mean, no, you've talked about it before. So super fishy. We are joined by my almost namesake, Dr. Raveena, who is an actual doctor, like literally the future I should have had, to help us learn about our little lady friend down there. Welcome. Thank you for having me.

Thank you for being here. And I really wanted to do this episode because I'm going through a thing right now where I have, drumroll, bacterial vaginosis. Well, she actually, ladies and gentlemen, is holding a pamphlet that says bacteria. A guide to bacteria. And thrush. And thrush.

You're both. So I didn't know this, Raveena, but I'm with, you know, the Scott, the one we talked about. He would like finger me and then it'd come out and I'd be like, whoa. You have a baseline level of smell

and then this was like, this was a fish market smell, like gone off fish smell. So what the fuck's going on? And then I realised something's not quite right. So I went to the STD clinic and they were

saying to me they are seeing so many women right now coming to them with this thing called BV it's not a sexually transmitted infection it's just a bacterial infection and it's basically when the inside of your vagina and you can help me out on this when it becomes more alkaline than acidic I think you did a good very good I should have had the job that you have but so I'm really glad that you give me a good point here so what happens I should have had the job that you have, but so I'm really glad that you gave me a good point here. So what happens is you have BV. It's basically more alkaline than acid. So more vinegar than lemon juice. More vinegar than lemon juice. But like, but the smell is fishy or you can get discharged. Causes are sort of, well, they say the cause is unknown, but it says here multiple sexual partners.

If you're douching, if you're using... These are the causes. Yeah, these are some of the causes. Having a new sex partner or multiple sex partners. Douching, which is basically rinsing the vagina using vaginal washes or deodorants. Oh right, not sleeping with a douche. Such a douche. Is it a bit like a hosepipe?

It's like a hosepipe. You put up the vagina and it like washes everything out. So people think they're like washing the vagina, but you don't need to stuff anything up there. Definitely not anything that looks like a hosepipe. So I've not done any of those things, but I have had, I say it says multiple,

I've had a new sex partner and he's constantly offloading his little guys in me and that apparently can change the whole dynamic. And when I was up in Glasgow... Oh, it's coming in you. It's coming inside me. Wait, so is it vaginosis or does his sperm

smell of his stinky it's literally what I said to him I was like it's your fucking guys because I was up in Glasgow for two months and I'd never had

that much sex in my life we were having sex every day I love to hear it up to three to five times a day every day without fail

wow yeah without fail and no condom so and I'd never had that much sex in my life in a short space of time. So something was clearly brewing. Clearly brewing. So then you go to the STD clinic.

They give you a course of antibiotics. Yes. So I took the antibiotics. I finished the antibiotics and then he came three days later. First few days, no fishy smell. Third day, back to fishy smell again. I take a second course of antibiotics and now I've got thrush because of the antibiotics.

Yes. Romina, what's going on here? It's a vicious cycle and you know what? You're not alone. So many women have had this happen to them and you're right. So the more men you sleep with

or if you've had a new partner, any sort of introduction of something new, so whether that be semen, whether that be a toy, lubricant, flavoured condoms, douching, like really nice smelling perfume or like shower gel.

Anything new that goes inside will just disrupt this beautiful harmony you have in your womb. Have you ever slept with a Scotsman before? No.

It's a new guy. I basically... And do you know what, Robina? I had, over the course of the last five to eight years, three male friends separately call me and say, why do women's vaginas smell so fishy?

And I had to fucking go at them because I'm like, we're not going to fucking smell of Chanel down there, bitch. But actually, it turns out those women might have had BV because the nurse and the doctor I spoke to said, a lot of women don't even know they have it. Some people have chronic BV and they don't know. And they actually don't have symptoms other than the smell, which a lot of women can't smell their own discharge. So they're like whatever don't need to treat it they don't have any itch whereas

with thrush you might have itch so that's why loads of women come and say oh i've got like a really itchy vagina vulva and even like inside so where in the vagina walls that's really itchy and you get like cottage cheese come out oh yeah that's that's happening like squished veneer kind of vibe you know but that is basically what your candidate is that is your thrush yeah um and everyone comes forward about that they are like there is something weird it is thick it is disgusting and i'm like yeah i can diagnose this over the phone i don't even need to see a picture but they they sometimes bring their pads to my clinic like oh i saved it for you love to see it need to see a picture. But they sometimes bring their pads to my clinic. Like, oh, I saved it for you. Love to see it. Love to see it.

No judgment, of course. But BV, yeah, so unnoticeable sometimes. And sometimes it's a smell, but sometimes you get this sort of like green, grey, bluey discharge. And that's also not normal and you should speak to someone.

Yeah, I'm getting that because the BV's fighting with the thrush, so I'm not getting paneer. I'm getting that because the bv is fighting with the thrush so i'm not getting paneer yeah i'm getting the other one yeah have you ever had thrush before no so i had sex obviously i'm a slag um it's so painful i mean i still came good but it's it's painful like well having sex while you have thrush bv it's not it's just the smell i mean women have different types of symptoms right what is thrush so thrush, yeah. BV, it's not, it's just the smell. I mean, women have different types of symptoms, right? What is thrush? So thrush is basically like a yeast.

So with our vagina and in our womb, we have like the perfect balance of like bacteria, yeast, bugs, fungi. But if there's like any... Fungi.

Fungi, I know. I didn't know that. But perfect amount. It's like a perfect ecosystem. Yeah. But if you get like anything that throws off, you suddenly get

like an overgrowth of yeast. So if you had antibiotics, kills your perfect bacteria. You like the good bacteria, but you kill it with antibiotics, which is not your fault. We have to deal with the infection, but it's like a side effect. So we kill the bacteria and then we get an overgrowth of yeast. And that is basically what flush is. It's a yeast called candida. So we give it, we give antifungals.

So you can have the cream, you can have the tablet whatever you want usually does the trick funny you should mention that because I do have the cream as well do I put this and I shouldn't ask the nurses

while you're here on the podcast Raveena Dr Raveena do I put this like inside my vagina or just like in the end

like the lip not the lips but like the open I mean surely you can read this on the packet that must say it doesn't say

it just says in the affected area let's read the back good question the affected I mean surely you can read this on the packet that must say that it doesn't say it just says on the affected area let's read the bag good question the affected area is inside it's not outside yeah good question so everyone knows

you have a vulva I hope everyone knows but if you don't you have majora minora so big lips little lips so you want to

smother it around everything that's itchy feels a bit irritated a bit red on the outside but also on the minora which is like the small little bit inside going into the opening. So I can do that.

But can I put it inside or no? You can, but I think a pessary is better. So a pessary, same drug, different formulation, stick it up there, reduces inflammation, works a treat. Okay, pessary. Okay, that's really good to know. And I was just thinking, when I was sitting in this STD clinic, the nurses were saying, STDs is the highest it's ever been.

Why do you think that is, Dr Ravina? You know what, I think it's a range of different reasons. I think a lot of women are anti-condoms, but not just women, men, men as well. They don't want the condoms and that's the main barrier of protection against STIs. I think people are probably having more sex, possibly. And we are probably having more partners. So STIs jumps between person to person. So if you have, if you catch it from one person and have sex with someone else, you can then transfer that to someone else. But also if you had chlamydia or gonorrhea from years ago, 10 years later, that can be reactivated. So basically

people are having more sex with different people so that could possibly be one of the reasons and also less use of condoms and also more people are using natural fertility methods so you might have seen things like natural cycles and and fertility tracking those apps everyone's relying on these apps everyone's like loves their data so what's happening is everyone just wants to know oh actually you know what i'm in control of my body i can do it myself and i love that for women i want them to be empowered to do this for them but there is a risk that we're not protecting against scis and sometimes you get unwanted pregnancies because you can't always predict exactly when you're going to ovulate so i think

everyone's going a bit more down the like natural route don't want contraception don't want to use condoms yeah because i'm going to tell you, Doctor, and the consensus right now as a serial data is one guy said, I'm going to use a condom. No one is using condoms. Yeah, because when you just said, I think women don't want condoms, I think it's men largely leading that brigade.

And women just being like, all right, yeah, fine. Yeah, exactly. I mean, sex without a condom is better for a woman too, but it's better for me to talk to a person. You feel it more because most of the sensation to reach a climax for women,

it varies. Some of it's outside, some of it's inside, but if there is a barrier, some women won't feel it. And it varies women to women because they'll feel it on the outside,

they don't need to feel anything on the inside. Whereas men, it's all on the inside. I think you had to give me a dress, or maybe it was one of I think you had to give me a dress, or maybe it was one of my mates that actually had to give me a dressing down.

She's like, you're too old to be this stupid. Because I don't use condoms. And I, you know, I shag around. And I'm like, I look back and I'm like, the risk of getting HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia. I nearly got fucking stage three syphilis. What am I doing? Well, I'm on the pill

and that's why and I think if I wasn't on the pill I'd be like fucking put a glove on me right now because I'm not but I look back and I'm like how have I not had an STD I've never had an STD and I'm like and I've got a clean bill of health

because obviously I went to the doctors to the STD clinic literally the other day and I said check me if everything do everything and I'm like and I've got a clean bill of health because I went to the doctors the um to the STD clinic literally the other day and I said check me if everything do everything yeah and I'm like I can't I can't be this irresponsible like I really can't it's so stupid why are you doing this a lot of the infections like chlamydia gonorrhea they are so common at least one in 10 young people between 20 and 30 will get chlamydia but we can treat it with antibiotics things like HIV yeah that's risky because there is treatment for it, but it's a lifelong condition. And then it affects things like your brain, your lungs.

It can lead to sort of more serious things. That's the risky part. It's the HIV that I think is quite risky. And then imagine having to tell someone that you really like five, six, seven dates in. You're just being like, I've got chlamydia. You might have chlamydia. Oh my God, yes.

Or I have some. But even getting a text. I got a text from the guy recently saying I'm really sorry to have to send you this but can you get tested because I've just come back positive

from ex you know gonorrhea or something yeah and I was like cool with him and it was both of our responsibility we both were like

I wasn't going to have a go at him but you're just like it's fucking more admin do you know how hard it is to get a fucking STD appointment you have to fucking queue up you get to get a ticket you sit down it's fucking long there's a new service it's fucking more admin. Do you know how hard it is to get a fucking STD appointment? You have to fucking queue up.

You get to get a ticket. You sit down. It's fucking long. There's a new service, though. It's a new service where you can just log in online. Yeah, yeah, no, I know that. Get it sent to your home. Home test.

Home test. Love it. Send it off. Babe, I've got five packets of this. Every time I'm on to six, the next day I'm like, all right, get the blood. But there is this, and I will admit this for a lot of people who date like me, this sort of laziness, this idea that you could do the home testing kit. The idea that actually it's just a bit of gonorrhea.

I'll sort it out with antibiotics. That's not a smart way to look at it. That's like, that's not. And I know I do, and I'm guilty of it. And I'm ashamed to admit it. I do. And a lot of these people I date basically have the same attitude. Yeah.

So the main risk with STIs, yes, we can treat them, but it's the long-term effects. Because if you imagine you get an infection up the vagina, it goes up, up, up into the womb and then goes up, up, up into your tubes. And then that leads to something called a pelvic inflammatory disease, which is basically your whole pelvis and womb has an infection in it. And that can then have like consequences on your fertility and having chronic pain. And these are sort of long-term issues so nipping it in the bud and actually just avoiding

it as much as you can and using condoms is like gold standard do you know that you've got patients who are like open to talking to you about this because they've obviously come they've got a problem but do you find there's still that kind of reticence around talking about sexual health i think with women probably over 30 much easier. I had a I had an 18 year old that came to see me clean go aesthetic looks like a TikToker. I said right come on to my couch let's have a look and she undressed looked at her vulva and she had genital warts everywhere and she'd been treating them and but that wasn't I wasn't surprised by that but what I was surprised by I asked her I

said um are you shaving down down below a lot and she goes well my boyfriend wants to have sex every day I said okay so does that mean you're shaving every day she goes I shave every single day and what she'd been doing was shaving these warts again and again and again and it was causing micro abrasions and it was bleach was bleeding and she was basically causing more harm by shaving it. And she'd never spoken to anyone about this. And I said, right, enough's enough. You need to stop shaving. You don't need to remove it if you want to your personal choice.

But what you're doing is actually now causing more harm to these warts. We need to treat them. Let the skin calm down. Super sensitive area. And it just showed me that she'd never she'd never spoken to anyone just clean go up here but like really hadn't looked after her vaginal health at all and that was really interesting the kind of the the phrasing around the choice there because she was like my boyfriend wants to have sex every day yeah there go i have no hair because that's what

he wants exactly and then you know you have to sort of change that psyche your body your choice if you want to remove hair up to to you, but not someone else. Don't remove your genital warts like that. Exactly. Take the cream. But there's so much to unpack from that. My boyfriend wants. Yes.

So much. Sorry, I've gone deep. And then the idea of probably he's watching porn and he's watching women with no hair down there. Exactly. And that's what he wants

for his 18-year-old girlfriend. I mean, there's just, what? Huge, huge misinformation. And then she's got warts down there. It's like, it's making it worse you'd think the fucking guy would be like you know what babe

let's chill out sort that out for a bit and then we can come back on like yeah do you have any advice for people who think they might have BV

yeah but they can't it doesn't smell that strongly to them like how do you do you ask a friend? so not everyone can smell but mainly by tracking your discharge. So throughout your month, your discharge will change.

Like when you're ovulating, it might be a bit more stringy and sticky. Later on, it might be a little bit more like runny. So if you notice a change, every woman's discharge is going to be completely different. You need to basically track your own discharge and know what's different and what's normal for you. So that's the first thing. You can ask your doctor. we don't typically check for it

all the time but if you're someone that's getting reoccurring every few days treatment comes back get treated comes back then we can um we can put you basically on something that prevents it long term but it's antibiotic so you're still going to have that risk of thrush um so it basically comes down to good vaginal health and just being aware of the symptoms, checking out early, not washing too much. Can I come back to something you were saying earlier, but like some of the myths, some of the things that you see as a doctor, like you said in women over 30, no problems. Here's my Fangita. Let's talk about it. But Fanny Health with women under 30.

Why do you think that women aren't talking about it enough? And what could we do to remedy that? Yeah, I think a lot of young people are relying on their main source of information from TikTok. Right, really? Yeah, yeah. And actually, most of my DMs are either from TikTok or Instagram, and they are questions that I, in my head, I think,

I'm sorry you don't know this information because no one's taught you. And it's information, really basic information about sex. So one of the top myths that I get asked, I think at least once a week, at least, it would be, can I get pregnant with semen on my finger and then that being inserted into my vagina? Oh, wow. And it's like a lot to... Is that like a kinky? Are you into that? That's where my mind was going. It's very specific.

It's very specific. It's very specific. Semen on their finger and then they finger themselves. No, the guy probably is fingering themselves. I don't know whose finger. It's never that specific. But there's basically a semen on a finger and the semen finger is going inside.

Going in, yeah. So sometimes it's like, can I get pregnant from fingering? Which is like, I thought people would know that. But sometimes a bit more detail, like, okay, the semen around in the area. Could it go, could it swim further than that? I don't want to sound like that tiktoker but can they get pregnant

exactly this is so it's a good question and it's actually a super no surely not spam dies in the air technically absolutely technically it's not impossible you can you could but realistically so so small chance yeah the reason why is because as soon as the sperm's out, it dries. And then once it dries, most of the sperm's dead. When you get it, when it comes into the vagina, you need a good gush of semen to get into the vagina. But by that point, if you've just got a few stragglers on the finger, it's not quite going to...

Survival of the fittest. The swimmers have got to make it. They've got to be strong swimmers. However, if it's wet if it's like fresh semen yeah then me possibly

but that's when it comes to you do actually need to have good sex to get pregnant you can't just have a fingering you need to actually have

you need to have an orgasm unless your fingers are made of dicks sorry I'm getting a really weird visual so fingering is not going to get you pregnant semen on the finger

highly unlikely. However, you do need to actually orgasm as a woman and as a man. And it's important to orgasm during sex because, one, most importantly for female pleasure and for male pleasure. But secondly, there is a biochemical and mechanical process that's going on here. There is some pelvic thrusting that is pushing that semen towards the egg yeah and your your womb has like loads of blood vessels and it's getting nice and juicy you know your vagina is getting juicy to accept that sperm so you need to be hungry it's making me horny actually oh sorry this is a different podcast i'm actually learning i'm genuinely i mean i'm horny, but I'm learning.

Good, yeah. So the egg is like, yeah, what you were saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You need to orgasm because your body needs to accept the sperm to get pregnant. You need the juicy blood vessels to keep you nice and wet and lubricated. So you need to actually have good sex to get pregnant. You're not just going to put a finger in. It's not really going to do the job.

No. So what other myths do you get? What other things do people DM you? I get a lot about, does your vagina get loose if you have lots of sex? And I think that's sort of like a widespread thing because you're like, oh, she's a bit loose. Or there's been a lot of derogatory terms towards women because, you know. Misogyny.

Yeah, sleeping around. But so what? Do what you want. No, the answer's no. It doesn't get loose. What the vagina is, is's an organ but you have muscles in it so just like any muscle you stretch it it gets stronger um it becomes a bit more elastic so yes it's easier to have sex a tenth of the time than it is the first time the first time it is painful because you've never used this muscle it's like going to the gym and like never

doing squats and then you do it after like five years you're like oh my god you've got doms for three days it will hurt for a bit because it's a muscle um so you don't get looser you don't however post-pregnancy if you've had vaginal delivery um if you haven't been doing pelvic floor exercises which you are not taught at school how to do are like the most important things what is it i don't even know what it is all right we're going to talk through this oh my god let me tell you two vaginal baths wow yeah super woman super i mean i do my pelvic floor is quite quite regularly but there's two pelvic floors like maybe there's two muscles and one of them's the one that like basically helps you keep all of your insides in yeah and like just stays tight yeah i mean it's the one that you notice when

you do trampolining with your child. And it's maybe not working as well as you thought it was. My organs are falling out of my arsehole. Absolutely. There is a risk that people are like, oh, you'll get loose. But actually, the risk is your vagina might fall out. Prolapse. Yeah.

For every girl listening to this podcast, if they aren't doing pelvic floor exercises, they need to start today. Start today. Like at age 20. Really? You should be doing it pre your health. You have to do 30 a day. What? This is all new information. How am I finding this out today?

Series 6 deep. Have you ever done this before? I don't know what we're about to do. Oh my god. You're going to get a vaginal prolapse. Don't say that. We're doing it. Imagine you're sitting on the toilet and you're doing a really strong wee.

Okay. Right? You're weeing. So I'm pushing it all out. You're pushing it out. Mid-flow, you want to stop it. Stop it. And you're going to hold it for five seconds

and then you're going to relax. And then you're going to hold it again for five seconds and you're going to relax. Okay, let's do it. Only while I'm weeing? No, but this is a sensation. Oh, sorry, got it, got it, got it. You have to pretend like you're on the toilet. This is going to be really long. Don't piss'm weeing? No, but this is a sensation. Oh, sorry, got it, got it, got it. You have to pretend like you're on the toilet.

This is going to be really long. Don't piss yourself, right? No, no, no. Like, wherever you are, whether you're on the train or at work, you're sitting down and we're going to do it together. Okay, fine. Okay, you ready? Mm-hmm.

One, two, three, squeeze. Five, four, three, two, one, relax. And again. Five, four, three, two, one. Relax. Okay, so you need to do those five times a day, then 10 times, then 15, morning and night. And you need to be doing this from age 20 up until postnatal.

Oh my. In fact, even until menopause. Yeah, because when would you stop? You never stop. You never stop. I'm sorry, what we just did 10 times in the morning, 10 times at night. Yes, yes. It's actually really fun when you do the lie down one,

then you like lift up your hips and you like crunch your like anus and your vagina really, really, really tight. And then you're like, oh, I'm so tight, I can't get away. And then it's... Yeah. Those are different ways to do it. Like you could do it like as a hip thrust, as a bridge. I know a hip thrust, I do that.

But basically you need to make sure it's really like in the pelvic area, not your thighs, not your quads, not your abs it's really has to be even women locating their pelvic floor yeah is like the hard bit it's really hard because you get to that but you're like is it that or is that is that is that what is it and it's actually i don't even know right now but i'm just doing the weaving but the weaving is really helpful because that's like very direct you like know exactly where you know how to do that. Or a poo. Either way, it's all one big muscle. And by doing it before you have children or before you get pregnant

or before you go into the menopause if you don't choose to have children, it keeps it nice and strong. It's like contracting a muscle. So when you lose your oestrogen, so when you go through menopause, that makes all your muscles super weak. But you've built it up. I'm scared about the menopause now, by the way. Are you scared about the menopause?

No, I mean, you just... You're a doctor. You age gracefully. You'll take the drugs, won't you? Well, it's a pros and cons for everything. Some women have no symptoms when they go through menopause. They just, you know, they're absolutely just chilling. But of course, there's some women that actually have the worst time ever.

They go through the worst years of their life. And life and you know if we can support women with medication or non-hormonal medication we will and I absolutely advocate for women to just take what they need to because like everything their whole body changes their brain their breasts their skin their vagina they get dry vagina they hate sex they lose the drive to have sex so much changes so um i don't think we should fear it i think we should just embrace it and take it as it comes yeah exactly i think that's what it is i need to like learn more about it it's it's so funny because i think people don't care about the thing unless they're in the thing like there's no way we would have done an episode about bacterial vaginosis if poppy hadn't got bb yeah we'd like we just don't care because you're not in it i think

the same thing about like having a baby doing pelvic floor exercises like i only know that because i'm in the thing because i did i just did the thing you don't care because you're not in it. I think the same thing about like having a baby, doing pelvic floor exercises. Like, I only know that because I'm in the thing. Because I just did the thing. You don't care if you're not doing the thing, but you should care because the thing is fast coming to you. Yeah, yeah. When we started this podcast in 2019, I probably wouldn't have come on the podcast and say I've got BV.

But now I'm like, ah, now I'm like, I don't give a fuck. B, I don't think, and your 18 year old is a good example. And me getting to be 40 this year is a good example. I didn't think and your 18 year old is a good example and me gonna be 40 this year is a good example I didn't even know that we had to do a pelvic fucking thrust how many times a day we just do you find that when the things that we need to talk about we're not talking about enough I think you have some people that uh are spreading false information and I get a lot of women that come to me and they're saying oh I've done my own research but I know they've either spoken to Dr Google or they've just looked at TikTok um but I think there's just not enough

good information out there and women and women aren't taught at school it's not their fault that they don't know our mothers perhaps didn't know so that therefore that information's not imparted on school doesn't teach us sex ed is a joke it is yeah it's still a joke it's really interesting though the internet quackery because like all of us have googled is this normal yeah totally and I read somewhere that like 70%

of the is this normal questions all were women's health questions so is this normal and it's all about women because women don't fucking know anything

and nobody tells us anything and we're all so reliant on the internet but like I really urge listeners as well to be like really vigilant on TikTok because we're just consuming this shit,

thinking we're like learning stuff about our bodies. Yeah. We're now, I think a lot of the younger generation idolising people that have like loads of followers or getting big brand clubs. So they'll take that advice, but they won't perhaps take a professional's advice. But I think when I see patients,

I expect them to have looked at Google. I want them to come to me and say, look, I've read this online and I'm really worried. Can you just tell me, like, you know, have I got cancer or am I going to die? I want you to ask me the questions because I'll separate the truth from the myth. We need to have like a frank conversation. And one of the reasons why I wanted to do this episode, actually, is because I know the old version of me would have been so embarrassed to say this. And I know so many other brown girls or just girls listening to this episode might be like, I'm ashamed and we're embarrassed to talk about.

And I think like a lot of what we do on Brown Girls Do It Too, it's just like normalizing things that we should just not be embarrassed about. This is our fucking vagina. It's an important just because it's not here. I know I've like put makeup on this. I need to take care of down below. Look after the shit down below. You know, it's like a good sign of a good, what's good healthy vaginal health? What does that look like to you?

Yeah, that's a good question. So some women ask me, how do I clean down below? And I find that an interesting question because we, women think that down below needs to be cleaned in a different way because it's thought to be dirty. And I don't, I don't think people have been, people have been taught that their vagina's dirty. Perhaps historically, like from cultures and religions, you're thought to be, if you're in your period, you're dirty. You should be ostracised, you should sit alone, you should eat from a different kitchen,

you're not allowed to swim or go to a place of worship. I understand that, and I think that's trickled through down generations where women now think, I am dirty, so I need to clean extra. I need to do things extra because something's happening to me on those five days ten days but also normal vagina smells different right so it's not going to smell like our perfume right so there's this idea that it smells a bit different down there and it's smelly but that's just not true so a good good vaginal discharge will smell earthy and musky okay it shouldn't be smelling musky it shouldn't't really be smelling like... It changes every day.

Yeah, yeah, mine changes every day. Exactly, it does change every day. So when you're on your period, it's going to smell completely different because it's mixed up more with blood and debris. When you're just about to ovulate, it's going to feel and smell different because it's trying to attract the semen

and your pheromones are trying to attract the men. I did not know that. I used to get quite acidic, maybe acidic discharge because I used to bleach knickers. Yes, that's a good sign. Like tie dye. It's a good sign. It's a good sign.

So that's a good sign because the pH in your vagina should actually be more acidic. So it's like, as you mentioned, lemon juice, that's slightly a bit too far. But we want the vaginal pH to be acidic. So naturally, if you put acid on anything, when you tie dye it's uh it changes color so that's a good time be interested in buying my discharge tie-dyed knickers that i'm selling no thanks for that no that's me you never know i'm liking um i think in terms of looking after down below your good fabrics are your cottons and your bamboo these like natural fibers made from natural materials and they're breathable so it means that your vagina is just feeling a bit more free.

You're not going to have all this bacteria just lingering there, especially when you're on your period. So even not wearing any knickers at all. Whoa. So not when you're not on your period. Yeah, commando is actually very good because you're breathing out your vulva, which is already a hairy, sweaty area.

So it's actually good to give it a little bit of a break. Tiffany's not getting anything today. Tiffany is strapped in today. I've got a three-year-old and he's just been potty trained and you send them in commando, you send them into nursery commando so that while they're learning before you give them pants. But I got it wrong and I dropped him at nursery the other day

and I was like, I brought him in incognito today. I just said it wrong and they were like, what? He's right there. you were supposed to say commando I meant to say commando but yeah I think going commando is something I would like to try

because I don't wear thongs I'm not really into thongs right they look like they're going to be a bit uncomfortable but you can get cotton it goes right up there

that's probably got BB you know what I'm wearing I'm wearing one of those onesie tops you know that onesie oh yeah the thing is they're not the most comfortable

because they're a bit itchy down below and they really make you like kind of give you a they cut into the camel toe that you didn't know yeah yeah you didn't really want that but hey you do it for fashion however the bad things the bad fabrics that um we commonly see are lacy knickers they are really sexy and we all love wearing them but it's the synthetic polyesters they're the bad things um they they basically trap a lot of dirt and bacteria in it um it doesn't allow it to breathe and it is uncomfortable when you thongs are fine you can wear whatever sexy knickers you want it's just the fabric that's really important is a healthy vagina a hairy vagina because hair can prevent some stuff going in yes good question yeah

so naturally when she said earlier i was like i gotta go point i got a point so having cubic hair in our vagina or even some people have it on their nipples it all serves a function down below it helps to prevent things from entering the vagina. It's like another skin barrier. So do you need to remove it? So this is a completely, it's a personal choice if you want to remove it. Does it mean you're going to get more infections? Not necessarily. Does it mean sex will be better?

It depends on what you fancy. I would say if you are going to remove hair, just be really careful with what you're using. Is it safe and how often you're doing it? So if you're shaving every day hair just be really careful with what you're using is it safe and how often you're doing it so if you're shaving every day i don't recommend it's such delicate skin down there it's like paper thin your vulva so you don't want to keep causing micro abrasions but you can trim trim is good the problem but you have to just be careful because you have an increased risk of ingrown hair so if you imagine like your hair's growing and it's super sharp and then it

curves back into your skin causes a cut then that's a that can cause bacteria and an infection and then it's itchy and it causes an infection like folliculitis i would usually recommend um waxing is fine you're not doing it too often maybe every three months or something and you're not causing too much trauma and the other good option i'd say is laser if you want to remove it because you're not doing too much damage and it makes the hair thinner. So you've been myth-busting here on My Well-Do Too. I have been, yeah. Can you tell us the things that we should be doing

to keep our fannies squeaky clean? First of all, they're not dirty, so you don't have to do anything. You don't have to do anything more than you do to anywhere else in your body. If you wish to, I would say, first, wash it once a day. Nothing more than once a day. With just water? With just water. No soap?

But if you want soap, you can, but I'd say strip it down to the most simple, basic thing you can find. No fragrances no added added ingredients nothing that's too perfumed it shouldn't be smelling like flowers down below no douching no over washing some women like to wash every time they change their pad or change their tampon i wouldn't recommend this okay once a day second thing i would say is avoid all the products there's so it's a big market it's a big industry you know all these vaginal products there's wipes there's so it's a big market it's a big industry you know all these vaginal products there's wipes there's deodorants there's gels and shampoos you don't actually need them yeah you don't in terms of looking after your vagina i'd say uh after you have sex we that reduces your chance of uti and also always uh wipe from front to back. So vulva to anus.

If you are getting lots of bacteria, bacterial vaginosis, a lot of infections down below, you can, there is some research on this, but there's still up and coming data on the benefit of probiotics and prebiotics. So these are basically, you're feeding your body good bacteria to increase the good bacteria in your vulva, but also in your gut um so if you are having lots of infections there is some research to say it can help dr ravina it has been wonderful having you here i've actually learned so much i've been learning so much today yeah pelvic floor pelvic floor exercises

just thrusting your pelvis which is not what this is. I don't know if I would have a cat like that because I don't know anything. I would have just gone home and just be like thrusting it. Thrusting into the mirror. Yeah, I'm just doing my pelvic floors. And good,

I knew that about underwear, but thank you very much. Really, really helpful. And ironically, the way to keep your vagina quote unquote clean is actually to do nothing and just leave it be.

Yes. That's all for now. Thank you so much for listening and so many thanks to Dr. Raveena. Like, what a legend. And if you have any thoughts, questions, conundrums, be it about your fanny

or your boyfriend, we are here for you. The Shagney aunties are here for you. You can email us at browngirlsdoittoo at bbc.co.uk. Or you can send us a WhatsApp

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