Brought to you by Canesten. Wondering how to keep your lady parts healthy? When we talk about taking care of our bodies, we don't always think about our vagina's but really we should. Keeping your vagina healthy and happy is just as important as keeping your body in shape. Here are our top tips: 1. Let her breathe Avoid wearing extremely tight underwear because it produces heat and causes you to sweat and smell. Wear underwear that is made of cotton as this will allow you to breathe, thus, helping you to help your vagina stay happy. 2. Sleep in your birthday suit Sleeping naked is good for your vagina. Regardless of what underwear you wear during the day, going without them overnight can help your vagina breathe. Some research even suggests that that cooler temperatures can be great for your health. The easiest way to cool down? Get naked. 3. Don’t douche Just, don’t do it ladies. It can create an imbalance of your body's natural bacteria and can end up causing an infection. When washing, all you need is good old soap and water, on the outside of your body only! Because your vagina is self cleansing, you don’t need to douche or use any scented products to interrupt your natural flow. 4. Eat healthy Eating fruits and vegetables helps to stabilise the PH in our vaginas. As vaginas are self-cleaning this is super important, so keep eating those alkaline foods. 5. Vaginal infection? We've all been there! Thrush and bacterial vaginosis (BV) is not the same thing. BV can occur when bad bacteria outnumber the good bacteria inside the vagina. Fishy odour or a thin grey discharge are two common signs that you are experiencing BV. It often occurs after using soaps and various products to 'clean' your vagina. Soap is a no no. Thrush on the other hand is caused by the fungus candida. If the natural pH of the vagina changes the level of yeast can increase and this can develop into a thrush infection. Common causes of infection are antibiotics, a weak immune system , hormonal imbalance and poor diet. If you are unsure what condition you are suffering from, Canesten have come up with a little something to help us out, with their self diagnosing Canestest. If you do have thrush it is important to treat both the  internal infection and the external itch with a treatment such as Canesten Combi. Remember your vagina is perfect. There is no such thing as the perfect vagina. All vaginas come in different shapes and sizes so we can assure you, if you think yours looks odd compared to the rest, it’s perfectly normal. The only thing that matters is your health and your vaginas health too. Brought to you by Canesten. For more information visit intimatehealth.ie. Canestest is unique and the first self test on the market that allows you self test for thrush and BV with the help of the symptom guide on pack. L.IE.MKT.09.2017.1478