Vagina Guide: Everything You Need to Know
As proponents of mindful dating, the Once team is sure – you need to understand your body and the body of your partners better to build long-lasting healthy relationships. And with today’s vagina guide, we will bring you one step closer to this goal.
What is the vagina and where to find it
The vagina is a part of the female genitals that plays a critical role in any woman's life. It’s through the vagina that women menstruate and give birth to children, and it’s a source of wonderful vaginal orgasms.
If you imagine female genital organs, the vagina sits right in the middle between the vulva (external part of the genitals) and cervix.
The role of the vagina in sex
Vagina plays an important role in sex. If we’re talking penetration, the vaginal canal is right where the penis goes. You’d also send your fingers or sex toys right there. Vaginal orgasm is one of the most common female orgasms, along with clitoral, and it’s achieved through extended stimulation of the vaginal canal.
Needless to say, the vagina is inseparable from many sex practices and is highly important for achieving both partners’ pleasure in the bedroom.
Vagina and childbirth
When a child is born naturally, they go through the vaginal canal which forces the latter to stretch to allow the baby to pass through. Obviously, this is a serious process that takes a toll on the body and the vagina. Women who birth through the vagina will have it feel looser and wider, and it’s also possible to feel extra dryness, pain, and discomfort right after birth. However, most of those changes will dissolve into thin air about six months after the big event. You can’t expect the vagina to be 100% the same as pre-birth, but it will be pretty close to that. So no, if you or your partner give birth, it doesn’t mean that the V-zone as you knew it will be gone forever.
If one of you gave birth recently (congrats!), it's a common practice to take the slow dating route in terms of your sex life. Even if your doctor gives a green light, you can choose to slow down and have sex less often and more gently to give the vagina grace and enough time to fully recover. It’s up to you though, some people have lots of sex once the doctor clears them, so it’s not a one-size-fits-all.
How deep is a vagina?
The depth of a vagina would vary from woman to woman, but the average is 7-8 to 17 cm. The vaginal canal is not static, and its depth will change depending on external circumstances, such as sexual arousal or childbirth. It’s adaptive and can expand or contract when needed.
Ps – as you see, there’s a limit to where the penis or sex toys can go. So next time someone decides to boast about their “size” in the dating chat or the dating profile bio, tell them there’s no need or use for that!
Are all vaginas the same?
Nope. Just like every man’s penis is unique, every woman has a vagina that’s not like the vaginas of other girls. All women share the same anatomy with certain exceptions, but some vagina parts will variate in:
- Color
- Depth and length
- Moisture levels
- Elasticity
- Sensitivity
- Aroma
Both outie and innie parts of vaginas will vary from woman to woman. Remember that episode in Sex And The City where Charlotte invited a hit painter to exhibit in her gallery, and in return, he asked her to pose for her, with the painting’s subject being her vagina (and vulva)? Towards the end of the episode, we find out whether Charlotte agreed to the deal, and we get a glimpse of many paintings hanging on the walls. This was a perfect demonstration of the fact that no woman is the same, and, similarly, every vagina is unique.
Why does the vagina smell?
The vagina is a part of the human body, and it’s also hidden inside, so it’s only natural for it to have an odor. There are different types of smells that vaginas have, some of them are perfectly normal and in line with a healthy vagina, while others can be a symptom of a Ph imbalance or another health issue. You can learn more about that by talking to your ob-gyn.
Here are a few things that can influence the vagina’s smell and its intensity:
- Natural flora (bacteria)
- Menstrual cycle
- Diet
- Hygiene
- Sex
- Infections
- Imbalances
Myths about vagina
Before we sign off, let’s go over some of the common vagina myths. Some of them are hilarious, and some are just weird.
- Vagina can be stretched out once and for all. Obviously, it’s not true. The muscles inside the vagina can loosen up and weaken, but you can manage it to a degree by doing kegel exercises. Some women resort to plastic surgery to tighten their vaginas after birth or past a certain age, but usually, there is no need for that.
- If there is a smell, there is an issue. As we’ve established above, having a smell is a normal part of the vagina experience. It’s true that some smells, paired with feelings of discomfort (itching or swelling) can indicate that something isn’t right. Yet, you shouldn’t expect that a vagina will not smell like anything.
- You need to douche and clean the vagina with special products. Surprisingly to many, the vagina actually cleans itself. Pretty neat! And if you double down on cleansing products, you can mess up the natural balance of microbes and cause the symptoms you’ve been trying to get rid of.
Bottom line
Vaginas come in all shapes and forms, and just like humans, they change as years go by. If you found your perfect match, you’ll love their vagina too, no matter what it looks and how it feels. And if there’s something seriously concerning on your end, such as tightness, the smell, or the shape, try to bring this up in a gentle and careful manner.
If you’re casually dating different people, once your dating online phase transforms into real dates with physical contact, make sure to pay your partner’s vagina all the attention, love, and care it deserves. Play with it, stimulate it, watch out for your lover’s reactions to what you’re doing, and your sex life will get so much better, we can guarantee that.
