Knowing about vagina hygiene helps keep your genitals clean and your reproductive tract healthy.

There is a way to care for your underwear when you have a toilet or yeast infection. No matter what age you are, there are few basic vaginal hygiene rules every woman should know about.

• Change panties as often as you can

It is important to change panties as often as possible. In addition, you should avoid sitting too long in a damp pair on a sweaty afternoon or worse, after a workout, if you’re very prone to yeast/ vaginal infections.

Underwear can trap moisture and bacteria and yeast love to multiple in a warm and wet environment.

• Limit wearing of thongs and g-strings

Due to the nature of the design, thongs can potentially promote the transmission of colon bacteria towards and into the vagina. This potentially will disrupt the normal bacterial antenna and increase the risk of vaginal and urinary infections.

A good general rule of wearing thongs: limit your thong use to when you really need to wear your bodycon dresses or pants.

• Pay attention to how you dry your underwear.

Underwear is sensitive because you wear them on perhaps the most sensitive part of your body. When you have an infection, be conscious about where you leave your underwear to air dry. You do not want to go about carrying more unnecessary infections, you know.

It is best you dry it under the sun so that all the germs will be totally eradicated, it will also do you good to iron them before wearing.

• Avoid using soap while washing your vagina

Avoid using harsh soaps or scented soaps to clean the vagina. The use of soaps laden with harmful chemicals such as glycerol, perfumes and antiseptics can affect the healthy balance of the bacteria in the vagina.

Moreover, it can also change the pH in the vaginal region, which can cause irritation and lead to the growth of unhealthy bacteria. Instead use plain soap and water, preferably lukewarm water to wash the area around the vagina.