Feminine hygiene is essential to women’s overall health and well-being. It involves both washing and using products designed to keep the vulva clean.
The vulva is the external part of the genitalia, including pubic mount, inner and outer labia and clitoris. While external cleaning of the vulva is important, its interior does not need cleaning nor douching is recommended.
Menstrual hygiene
As consumers, we don’t often give much thought to running out of soap or toilet paper; yet many women in need struggle to access menstrual hygiene products. Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH), in its fullest sense, requires access to clean water, toilets, private facilities for changing out and disposing of sanitary materials as well as waste disposal systems; along with regular usage of hygienic methods that protect against infection during periods and reduce leakage.
Social norms, cultural taboos and lack of information surrounding menstruation can create unsafe practices during menstruation – such as using old, dirty pads or forgoing showering altogether – which expose girls and women to reproductive tract infections, including bacterial vaginosis.
International Medical Corps partners with community leaders to promote hygiene practices for safe menstruation through training and the distribution of dignity kits that contain reusable menstrual pads, pantyliners and handwashing buckets – designed specifically to make menstrual hygiene management accessible for girls in crisis settings and break silence around menstruation.
Hand hygiene
Hand hygiene is the single most essential step to combating infections. Hands should be washed regularly with soap and water – especially before handling food or going into the bathroom.
Clinical settings where hands are only minimally dirty can benefit from an alcohol-based hand rub containing ethanol, isopropanol or n-propanol for cleaning purposes. Proper application involves vigorous rubbing of palms and backs of hands, interlacing fingers under fingernails/cuticles/wrists for at least 15 seconds prior to rinsing thoroughly with running water and drying using disposable towels.
Proper hand hygiene is key to minimizing hospital-acquired infections, and the CDC advises healthcare workers to use alcohol-based hand sanitizer prior to and following every patient interaction. Artificial nails should also be kept short according to facility-specific recommendations in order to limit microorganism transmission through subungual spaces.
Bathing
Women walking down drugstore aisles are met with pretty pink packaging, intoxicating floral scents and promises that these products can stop body odor. Unfortunately, however, some products may irritate sensitive vulvar skin or disrupt vaginal pH balance, potentially increasing risk for bacterial vaginosis (BV) and related complications like vulvodynia.
Intimate hygiene is vital to women’s daily lives, comfort levels and self-esteem; yet there is limited research on best practices when it comes to intimate hygiene. Articles reviewed focused on topics related to washing habits, feminine intimate hygiene products, underwear and panty liners as part of intimate hygiene regimen. Washing was the primary focus in five (24% of) studies, while three (14%). Bathing or showering and its effect on BV development was examined in three (14%). Douching frequency was addressed by four (21%), while pubic hair grooming was addressed by two (18%) studies. All these habits have an enormous effect on women, from cultural norms and preferences, through incorrect hygiene regimens that may lead to microbiome imbalance, pathogen proliferation and abnormal vaginal pH levels – potentially leading to serious health outcomes such as microbiome disbalance.
