Chrissy Teigen is doing whatever it takes to sneak in some self care. After welcoming baby No. 2, she’s been candid on social media about all things motherhood—from milky boobs to postpartum tears.
In her latest post, Teigen shared a photo of herself undergoing a three-in-one pampering treatment. “Face mask / heat pad / vagina steam … no I don’t know if any of this works but it can’t hurt right?”
Her star-studded follower list responded with laughs and approval. Khloe Kardashian replied, “Living your best life,” and Jenna Dewan wrote, “You kill me.”
”This is why we are friends,” commented Gabrielle Union, before Teigen came back with, “I can commission a tandem v steam?” (No word on whether Union is taking her up on this.)
Nothing beats a skin-reviving face mask, and heating pads are definitely comforting. But Teigen (and all women, actually) may want to steer clear of vaginal steaming. We started hearing about this self-care practice when Gwyneth Paltrow raved about the Tikkun Spa’s “Mugwort V-Steam.”
“You sit on what is essentially a mini-throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al,” Paltrow wrote on her wellness site Goop back in 2015. “It is an energetic release, not just a steam douche, that balances female hormone levels.”
We love Gwyneth, but she’s no doctor. So we asked an ob-gyn about vaginal steaming—and our doc wasn’t so sure the practice had any hormone-balancing or uterus-cleansing benefits.
“It probably feels good because the heat increases blood flow to the whole vaginal area, including the clitoris, which could turn some women on,” Hilda Hutcherson, MD, an ob-gyn at Columbia University Medical Center, previously told Health. “But if you got too close to the steam, you could end up with second degree burns down there.” Ouch.
Excess moisture from the steam in the vaginal area could also make you more susceptible to yeast and bacteria, added Taraneh Shirazian, MD, an ob-gyn at NYU Langone Health, potentially setting you up for an infection.
So while we’re all for Teigen taking some R&R, might we suggest something that has physician-approved benefits—like a full body massage?
Source: Read Full Article