Hey guys, here's a statistical riddle for you and you might want to get your pin and
paper out because I'm about to throw a number of numbers your way. What do 20-40% of women
ages 15 to 44 have in common? Probably a lot of things. The answer I'm looking for is douching.
And I think we can all agree that that's a lot of douche.
Now before we get into why women douche today let's go back in history to the olden days
of douching in the 1920s and 1950s when women were not douching to keep their vaginas smelling
like ocean breezes, spring meadows, baby powder. Douching was first used by women as the primary
form of birth control before the birth control pill existed. Women were not able to go to
the drug store and pick up something like a disposable douche. They had to make do with
what they had in the house: Lysol, Lysol's main competitor at the time Zonite, Coca Cola
classic--it was before diet Coke--water, vinegar, homemade douche recipes that moms might pass
down to their daughters once they came of age and have that special talk that went something
like this: Hey honey? Yeah Mom? Do you douche? Do I what? Douche? Here's a recipe. Being
a girl's the best. The idea of these early douches which were incredibly caustic and
certainly not good for the vaginal canal at all was that they would clean out any remaining
sperm thus not allowing women to get pregnant. Thankfully though for vaginas everywhere in
1972 the FDA approved the birth control pill for all women. The emphasis on douching shifted
away from birth control even though that is still around today to more of a deodorizing
thing because how terrifying would it be for our genitals which have a smell to actually
smell like they should smell. And so today as I said at the beginning of this video,
20 to 40 percent of women are still douching. But listen: Just because douching is still
around and just because a lot of people still do it does not mean that it is a good thing
to do. The vagina has been described as a self-cleaning oven. It takes care of it's
own messes y'all. If we're talking about douching today, what is inside of a douche? Well, we
have purified water, Octoxynol-9, citric acid, oooh, sodium benzoate, disodium EDTA and fragrance.
Would you drink that? You want your vagina to drink it? I don't think so. Let's see what's
inside this douche because I've been curious I've never bought a douche before. It is uh,
little bit nerve-wracking to buy one. There are instructions here. When to douche: After
your menstrual period, after using contraceptive jellies and creams and to clear our vaginal
secretions. What do we have--oh. Ugh. I can smell the ocean breeze from here. I feel a
little bit PG-13 showing this on camera. It's not that it smells bad. It just smells so
strongly. And that is a lot of liquid. This is a douchebag. And it smells of an ocean
breeze. Remove over-wrap--done it--hold the cap of the bottle in one hand and the nozzle
in the other hand, pull the nozzle upward, it will click when engaged correctly, the
douche is not ready for use until it clicks. Gently insert nozzle into your vagina no more
than three inches and slowly squeeze the bottle until the liquid is dispensed. Douching solution
should flow freely out of the vagina. Use while sitting on the toilet, in the tub or
while standing in the shower. Great time for someone to come to the door. Now the three
main reasons why women douche are all bogus. To clean out the vagina, prevent pregnancy,
prevent the spread of STIs and STDs. Guess what folks? Douching actually does none of
that. It does not protect you from STIs or STDs. It does not prevent pregnancy. There
was one study which found that douching can reduce your risk of pregnancy by 30%. Horrible
odds. And the whole thing about cleaning the vagina is total and complete false marketing
because the vagina is like it's own ecosystem okay, it is a very PH balanced place in there.
Healthy bacteria that fight off bad bacteria, and if you put something in there that is
not supposed to go in there like this, it can throw that balance off. That is not to
say that if you are experiencing some kind of odor in the vagina that you don't need
to go to the doctor because you might have something like bacterial vaginosis or an STD
or an STI but most of the time your vagina will clean itself out. In terms of the whole
thing about cleaning out menstrual fluids, cleaning out vaginal secretions, take a shower,
drink lots of water, be healthy. Douching increases your risk of developing vaginal
infections. So you really really really really don't want to be a part of that 20 to 40 percent.
Let's make the 60 percent the 100 percent. Yes the female body has certain smells, just
like the male body. Everyone's afraid of the vagina. Don't be afraid of your vagina. If
something's funky, go to the doctor. Don't go to the douche. And guys, I hope this has
answered all of your questions about douching. And I don't mean to get so worked up about
douching but, let's take care of our bodies. You know what the vagina is not supposed to
smell like? Whatever is inside of this? Funeral home potpourri. Do you want your underpants
to smell like a casket? I didn't think so.