Depending on who you ask, vaginal steaming is either a necessary treatment for keeping a woman’s vagina healthy and functioning properly or the best way to get your vulva burned or mess up its delicate natural balance.
In recent years, vaginal steaming (also called a V-steam or Yoni Steam) has caused a buzz among celebrities like Chrissy Teigen and Gwyneth Paltrow that we’ve been able to pretty much ignore, but when we heard that our girls Tia and Tamera Mowry were fans of the treatment as far back as 2013, we thought perhaps we should look into this a little more.
So, what is vaginal steaming? Holistic health experts claim the treatment, which involves sitting for around 30-45 minutes, with your nether regions exposed over a steaming pot or bowl that’s infused with special herbs, has unquestionable benefits. Health experts at Casa Spa described some of these benefits for us.
“Yoni Steaming is about women taking back ownership of their personal health and wombs and utilizing intuition as well as herbs from the Earth, to support and nourish overall wellbeing. It is full vaginal empowerment.”
Support your menstrual system
A vaginal steam is an excellent way to help combat any issues during a menstrual cycle such as bloating, cramps, exhaustion, and heavy bleeding.
Cleanse after a heavy period, infection or surgery
It can help to clean out the inside of the vagina helping to leave it feeling fresh and clean.
Post childbirth
Having a vaginal steam is a great way to help ease any pain and soreness after giving birth as well as promoting healing.
Natural
Every vaginal steam is done with natural oils and herbs to ensure that the steam is fresh and can help you to feel your best afterwards
Fertility
Some believe that a vaginal steam can help increase fertility levels through flushing out any toxins making it a more conducive environment for a baby to grow.
After having her baby in November 2012, Tamera Mowry confirmed to a TMZ reporter that she had indeed had a V-Steam. She said: “After you have a baby you wanna makes sure that all the parts down there are good you know, and that you’re husband, spouse, or whatever, is taken care of, and that’s the best way to do it.”
Can the vaginal steam really do all of those things? In a recent interview with Shanay Smith, founder of EmpressBody, a pro-feminine holistic health brand, we learned that vaginal steaming is an ancient practice endorsed by holistic healers around the globe.
Speaking about the treatment, Shanay has no doubts about the benefits of Yoni Steaming. She said: “The treatment gently and effectively cleanses, tones and revitalizes a woman’s centre, providing myriad benefits from reduced menstrual cramps to increased fertility and more. Yoni steaming will support your natural feminine cycle, and help you to heal, relax, and detoxify both physically and emotionally. It has been proven to help with insomnia, heal from sexual trauma, and relieve anxiety and stress.”
Shanay also offered an interesting perspective of the practice of Yoni Steaming citing it as a way for women, particularly Black women to take back control of treating the many health issues that they face and often don’t get the right support for from mainstream medicine.
She said: “Yoni Steaming is about women taking back ownership of their personal health and wombs and utilizing intuition as well as herbs from the Earth, to support and nourish overall wellbeing. It is full vaginal empowerment.”
As positive a message as this is, we can’t help but notice all of the warnings about the dangers of Yoni Steaming, particularly from members of the medical profession.
The main concerns appear to be the potential risk of burning the vulva, and exposure to yeast or bacterial infections from unclean equipment. It’s also important that pregnant women avoid Yoni Steaming for the same reason that they should avoid hot tubs and saunas.
The fact is, the vagina goes through a lot. From menstruation, child birth, sexual intercourse, it’s natural to think that it could use a little help from time to time. Countless women across the globe agree. While the medical profession struggles to see the benefits of V-Steaming, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work, on some level. It looks like this ancient treatment for women has found a new generation of women who rely on its healing benefits.