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How do you stay fresh?
I know, I know. It's cliché to ask but how do I stay fresh "down there"? I am a 26 year old female, skinny, great hygiene and attractive but I have had problems for years on how to stay smelling good. Its not just my private parts, its also my armpits and the entire rest of my body... except my feet and breath. I just don't have a very good natural scent. :'(
I take a shower in the morning and night, I wash and wash with soaps, body wash, body scrubs and vaginal soaps, I use deodorant (currently using secret brand with a scent to it but I have also used scentless, different brands and the liquid/gel kind), I have used all over deodorant spray with heavy scents and of course I lather myself up with lotion and body spray or perfume. None of this seems to last long. Even my very expensive and strong perfumes like Jadore and Euphoria don't last very long. I know I'm supposed to get used to the smell after so long but I can still smell myself just fine for hours and hours, all day and its not good.
If I keep my legs closed while sitting I sweat almost immediately and it reacts with either my panties, jeans, leggings and if I'm on my period then its WAY worse and it stinks again. I can not wear any shirt without it smelling bad regardless of what kind of deodorant I'm using. I even have a prescription for an all over deodorant that stops sweating, and it works for sure but if I wear a tshirt or anything that's up against the armpit, it doesn't matter, it will start to stink. I feel like I have to keep my legs closed tight and my arms against my sides 24/7 so that no one will notice. I even bring wipes with my when I use the bathroom so as not to add any stink. but I can't always do that.
My bf doesn't seem to notice much but I DO go out of my way to try to make sure he doesn't. It sucks having to have an excuse to take a shower or use the bathroom anytime before having sex. I feel like I cant just have random, spontaneous or in the moment sex. Other people like family and close friends have made comments before but not often and not in a rude way but still... and like I said before, I go out of my way to hide this... HOW IS IT SOME PEOPLE CAN WALK BY AND YOU CAN SMELL HOW GOOD THEY SMELL??? Do they spray too much or overuse their lotion? Isn't that supposed to make you just as stinky, but in a different way?
It's terribly embarrassing and I am about to move in with my boyfriend so it will be a million times harder to hide this. Ive been with him for a long time btw. I did just have a baby 3 months ago... and this is my 2nd baby, my other is 8 years old. I also just got a Mirena IUD... could any of this be the reason and why? How long will that last or what can I do?
SO MY QUESTIONS ARE (and please answer any that you can)...
what can I do?
How can I change my natural scent?
How can I make perfumes or lotions last longer on my body?
How can stay fresh down there?
Which deodorants have worked wonders for you?
Are there any medications in pill form or any other form that can help me?
PLEASE HELP!!!! 5. If you know of ANYTHING, please help me! :( I'm really self conscious and my self esteem really drops because of this. :(
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Maybe give some free advice about: Health?
When you got your Mirena did you mention this to the GYN. You need to make an appointment just for this issue. When you go in DO NOT use anything to try to cover up the scent . Let him/her smell what you are smelling so they can form an opinion. I tend to agree with one of the others who first gave you advice that diet could be a key factor. If the GYN doesn't come up with a reason or a solution I would try completely changing your diet. Constipation is one of the leading causes of what you are describing. Since I don't know your diet I am going to suggest a diet with lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. You might also want to add some psyllium husk or other natural fiber that will keep you regular and not let all of those toxins build up in your system.Drink plenty of water! Being constipated is one of the leading causes of bad breath as well. Some people can be constipated and not even realize it because they are still having bowel movements, but not evacuating the stool completely. You know what rotted meat smells like, well if you have the equivalent inside your body for days that smell has to come to the surface sooner or later! Write down everything you eat for a week and keep track of your bowel movements. I honestly think you will find this is the root of your problem but get checked out by the docs anyway just to be sure!
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How can I change my natural scent?
Some things can be changed by diet like the taste of your or his fluids or the smell of a personals natural body odor and sweat. Here's links to articles on it to understand how it works.
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Now based on what you just read, you can see that use of regular antiperspirants -deodorants is part of the problem, but diet is biggest. There is a natural product you can use that does not stop the perspiring part that is essential for your body to be healthy. Getting wet is something you'll have to put up with but it doesnt have to be offensive. I have found the 'Crystal" product to work well for hubby and I. I have found it in regular supermarkets and pharmacies and it can be gotten on line if your local stores don't carry it.
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You did say the boyfriend doesn't notice much. It could be that your bodies natural odor, is much the same like his. There's pheremones and other things that make a person either attractive or repulsive to us, no matter how beautiful or handsome they appear. When my husband sweats, the smell is not foul to me. But I've been seated next to people whose scent was so pungent it that it stung the nose and gave me trouble breathing. If you find the smell of the boyfriends breath, taste of saliva, armpit scent, crotch musk smell that all tolerable or actually somewhat nice, then you both are likely very similar.
Next question--How can I make perfumes or lotions last longer on my body?
When you seem to think the scent of your perfumes or lotions is wearing off later in the day, it isn't. What is actually happening is that your nose becomes so used to the scent it can no longer detect it. I looked up the explanation online. The olfactory bulb enhances discrimination between odors.
enhancing sensitivity of odor detection.
filtering out many background odors to enhance the transmission of a few select odors.
permitting higher brain areas involved in arousal and attention to modify the detection or the discrimination of odors.
So in essense, because the scent was applied to your body and is constantly with you, the glands in your nose begin to think of this as a general background odor so you can no longer smell it, and that makes you able to detect any new scents you come across. Try an experiment. If you have 2 or 3 different scents you wear. Apply it in the morning and at the point you can no longer detect it, ask the boyfriend or even a female friend to take a sniff and tell you if they can detect you wearing any perfume or not. Trust me, they'll smell it, not weakly but strong enough to be pleasant. My ex wore cologne often. He'd apply before going to work. He came home thinking it had worn off but it was now at a pleasant, not overpowering level of strength.
How can stay fresh down there?
First of all, stop using douches and sprays and things that are meant to clean or deodorize your private parts. They do more harm than help. In fact, they are a leading cause for re occuring bacterial vaginitis. You may have a case of this, if you detect a really rotten like dead fish odor from your private area all the time. It may be good to see a Dr. and get checked out if this is the case. Anti biotics will get rid of. But cleansing practices can bring it back. Your vaginal area is a very balanced ecosystem with its own way of cleansing itself, that clear to yellow discharge between periods that ends up on your panties is your body naturally cleansing itself. The good bacteria in there keeps things in balance but these washing products or bar soap or bubble bath, can upset the balance and wash away the good bacteria. Once gone the bad bacteria runs rampant, and out of control, it smells really bad.
What I do is clean my self once in a while in the shower using nothing but my fingers which I have cleansed thoroughly and have no soap on them. I lift one leg, swish my fingers around and if there is any residue, rinse the fingers and repeat until there is nothing and no smell.
Other than the vaginitis I had when I was younger and didnt know about this, I have not had any more problems the rest of my life and I am in my 50's now. Your may use a mild soap to cleanse your labia or the leg area near there but don't part the lips or get soap near the vaginal entrance.
So as for deodorants, use none vaginally and only a product like Crystal under the arms.
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First I want to say something that many people might. The reason I say this however is because I believe it to be true. Everyone is more critical of themselves than they are with others and thus they judge themselves harsher than they would someone else. Honestly it seems to me that you're doing everything possible to keep yourself clean and fresh. I think you just get so used to how you smell (like how clean you are) that whenever you sweat or anything you notice right away. Think of it like this. People who have pets in their house get used to how their animal smells. So, they might not even notice that their house smells bad because they are used to it. If they were to go some where with no pets and return to their house, they might notice the different . Similarly, I feel that you are so used to smelling nice and clean all the time that you don't notice anymore. So anything different that happens to your body is stark in comparison. I think you are doing more than enough to stay clean. Really. I think you should try to do less in fact. A shower once a day is great. using deodorant is awesome and wearing perfume is nice. They more you do the more stressful it will be for you and you'll start having the opposite happen. If you're constantly worried about sweating and nervous all the time well guess what...you'll sweat more. I think you should realize that you...REALLY are doing more than enough. Your kids have your genes, do they also need two baths a day? I'm sure that they smell great after you give them one bath...the same goes for you. You really do smell fine. Your boyfriend isn't lying... If he loves you then he's telling the truth. And since you've been with him so long then you should trust that he's telling you the truth. If it really doesn't bother him then you shouldn't worry so much. Of course it's great to be clean and you should be clean, but obsessing about it will be harmful to you as well. Yes, you will always smell worse to yourself. When I get my periods I feel like everyone can smell it. But I know for a fact they can't because I'm close to a lot of friends and they don't notice. I stay clean, but during my periods I just smell so dirty. Still, I know that it's because it's something I'm aware of and so I notice it. It was something I had to get used to. And sweating? yeah...I can smell that too. But I know I wear deodorant and sometimes I wear a spray of perfume. Of course it bothers me, but the thing is, i know that I do enough to stay clean and I know that I'm being paranoid. It's tough to get yourself to know that if you can smell it a little it's ok. Sure if someone bathed only once a week and had a job where they were in dirt and grime and they could smell themselves, then yeah...they need a bath. But that's where you are different. You are doing everything so you need to understand that no one will smell it. They way to make lotions and perfumes last longer for me, is to spray a little on my clothes. So if you want to smell fresh down there you can spray a little on your panties or bra. Staying fresh down there is simply a matter of washing after using the bathroom if you can help it and making sure your clothes are clean. If clothes smell bad and are dirty then no matter how clean you are, you will smell dirty. I don't have too much luck with deodorants. i mean they smell nice, but I still end up sweating. I've found that looser clothes help me because they allow my body to breathe. If I have a tight shirt on they it would absorb sweat from my armpits faster than if I wore a looser shirt. Talk to your OBGYN about the birth control side effects.
You're doing enough. Trust me. Trust your boyfriend. No one thinks you are dirty or smell bad. Only you do. That will be the only thing that needs to change. You smell other people when they pass by because they simply smell different than you, that's all. I'm sure you smell great to them too. Use a moderate amount of perfume and other fragrances and also be careful wearing too much around your kids, especially the new baby. Your baby learns your scent when it's born and loves it. Try to stay more natural for your baby because s/he relies on it to identify you :) If your baby loves how you smell as is, then you should too.
Feel free to ask anymore questions. i hope I helped.
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