Now, who am I to interfere with a bunch of women looking for a good time? After my WCIU appearance discussing steaming and my Instagram post about the matter, I have been asked to elaborate on my stance against steaming. My research revealed a startling result. I am here to present my findings.

Vaginal Steaming may not be all that bad…

In this article, I plan to do the following.

1. Examine why people desire to steam their lady parts
2. Discuss some of the evidence for and against
3. Give some reasons that a woman may want to try vaginal steaming
4. Offer ways to steam safely and avoid harm.

Let’s start with the claims. Quoted from US Magazine:

Writing about a high-end Santa Monica retreat called Tikkun Holistic Spa, Paltrow spills, “The real golden ticket here is the Mugworth V-Steam: You sit on what is essentially a mini-throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al.”

Hmm. Continuing with the alleged health benefits:

The spa’s site provides a history of the steam, explaining that it has been utilized in Korea “for hundreds of years” and helps to “maintain internal health” and keeps “skin looking young and healthy. The procedure involves the placement of boiled leaves and flower buds on a “specific area of the body” for “detoxication.”

This is where the situation went left for me. (For my readers who were before 1995, “go left” is an expression that I have decided to adopt. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the full Urban Dictionary definition.)

I recently came across a scenario that made me think of claims like this.

I was at my momma’s house and was trying to show her my latest and greatest Live TV appearance on The Jam morning show.

One day I will know how to recognize when I am actually on camera and where to look when I’m talking. I’m so green.

Any who, my momma doesn’t have WiFi at her house. So here I am, relying on whatever internet connection my phone can scavenge from the Southside Chicago airways. Of course the video kept pausing and waiting for a connection. My momma is like, “I know why that keeps happening. It is because your phone battery is getting low. You only on about 20 percent.” I had to carefully school my mom that battery power, especially at 20%, is not related to my WiFi signal.

How is this related to vaginal steaming or detox claims like this?

It reminded me that people can make up whatever reasoning makes sense to them to explain what is happening and how to remedy the situation. That doesn’t make it accurate or correct. Here are the facts:

The uterus doesn’t need cleaning or detoxification as a regular maintenance.

It does NOT need to be cleaned like a car needs an oil change. At the risk of using possibly the worst analogy available to compare to female anatomy, there are fish tanks that do not need to be cleaned because of the fish and mollusks or crustations within. While check-ups are helpful to make sure problems have not arisen, CLEANING or DETOXIFYING the uterus is not necessary.

Even if the uterus did need cleaning, external steaming wouldn’t cut it.

If you have a cavity or need dental work done, you would NOT go get a facial as a treatment. Steaming and massaging your face has absolutely NO effect on your teeth. Likewise, external vaginal steaming has no practical way of making it to or having any effect on the inner workings of the uterus.

The vagina ALSO does not need to be cleansed.

If you think you have an infection, there are other way to manage that. We have countless posts here about ways to remedy and possible issues with the vagina, from itching to odor to natural remedies to testing options.

Whew. Now that I’ve gotten all of that off of my chest, let’s talk about when, why and how it may be okay to steam.

I loosen my stance on vaginal steaming after reading THIS article in Huffington post.

And I quote:

The tube doesn’t touch or go inside the vagina…

Within three minutes, the small room began to smell of citrus and fresh herbs…

As I started to drift into sleep, I noticed a pulsating sensation from my vagina. And the skin down there was more hydrated and felt slightly warm to the touch. DeLucia explained that the herbs used stimulate blood flow to my nether regions.

The technician made sure to adjust the steam so that it was far enough to not cause burns and the author of that article felt relaxed and rejuvenated at the end. It sounds like a mix between aroma therapy for your lady parts and a targeted steam room session.

As someone who enjoys sitting in a steam room and feels relaxed afterward, I am not mad at the prospect of doing this for the vulvar region. I just think that the rest of MY BODY would be jealous.

Why does my vagina get to have all of the fun?

LOL! That one made ME chuckle. Anyway, my biggest precautions if you decide to try vaginal steaming are to make sure that you do the following:

1. Make sure you are doing it just for relaxation.
2. Be sure to go to spa that makes safety and cleanliness a priority (I’m not trying to sit on a spa table with my business all out that has not been properly cleaned since the last bare bottom was there.)
3. If you feel uncomfortable in ANY WAY, you should stop immediately. I can ONLY imagine that burns down there would not be fun.
4. If you do it yourself, be SUPER CAREFUL with the temperature of the steam and whatever delivery device you have chosen.
5. Please send me a DM on IG, or Facebook afterward to tell me how it went. You can find me on Gyneco-(b)Logic social media and @dreverywoman.

ONE MORE THING

With my new-found B-list, well C-list, okay let’s call it V-list status, I have been getting a lot of DMs with personal health questions. I regret that I am unable to answer personal health questions or perform personal consultations outside of my professional office practice, but PLEASE FEEL FREE to DM me topics that you would like to see Dr. Shelly and I cover here on the blog or on social media. We want to be the Anti-Goop while providing legitimate, helpful and HOLISTIC health information to women and men of the world.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, follow and share us everywhere you see fit. I have learned that vagina-related posts are not as readily shared because people don’t want their business in the street. Know that many women’s business is just like your business, literally. Curiosities are very similar. Help ladies out and share away!

With Love,

Happy Steaming!

Last weeks IG post. I have since changed my stance, but this post is still hilarious to me!