Four Things I Wish We Talked About Sooner…

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Always Discreet. The opinions and text are all mine.

Can we talk for a minute? I mean, like really talk. Like, with no judgement, shame, or assumption? Remember when we used to spend our days and nights hanging out and gossiping with our friends? We spend hours talking about the latest fashions, our crushes, work, family, you name it, we talk about it.

Well… not everything.

It’s not until we got older and realized that certain parts of being a woman aren’t openly discussed. You know what I mean… those conversations that leave you running to google to try to understand or learn more about? Those conversations we shy away from, either because there was just NO conversation or space to talk about these things, or your friends and family were just as embarrassed to broach the conversation…

Now as an adult, you’re experiencing these interesting and colorful life situations and wonder why you’ve felt like you couldn’t talk about it. This is where I am, especially as I am taking more time to nurture, love, and pour into myself… Remember that whole Walk In It journey? Well, self-care is a huge part of this for me and as I take you on this journey with me and with the help of Always Discreet, I thought I would share with you five topics that I wish we talked about sooner- you ready?

Tampons vs Pads vs Cups

How did you learn about tampons or Cups? Think about it…

For me? In school, from my teammates- both in high school and college. And only in learning about these options, was I embarrassed, because in my head, I should have already known about these options- but I never had THAT conversation growing up.

And girl, Menstrual cups? Yeah, a cup that you wear in the place of pads and tampons during your period. I think I stumbled upon this in the past 10 years when my bestie gushed to me about how they have changed her life… I was curious about these and found out that menstrual cups were something more commonly used than I’d previously thought. HA! Not only menstrual cups, but now menstrual panties?!

Girl. Talk about innovation!

A Little Sneeze or Cough and Oops

How many times have we sneezed, laughed so hard, were startled only to realize a little tinkle happened? Please do not side eye me… For the longest time, I thought something was wrong with me… that I had issues for having a weak bladder. Did you know that 1-in-3 women experience bladder leaks? And 1-in-2 African-American women experience bladder leaks, but only 1-in-9 use incontinence products…

I mean, listen, I can vividly remember always being told not to hold it when you have to go because “holding it in weakens your bladder.” So, naturally, I thought this was an issue I had to live with, in silence. This silence, was enough for me to do some research. I was relieved to know that incontinence was a common thing, but even more relieved to know that friends of mine experience this. And guess what? It can happen when running, coughing, laughing, or just from drinking a ton of water.

So what do you do when regular panty liners aren’t enough and Depends are too much? Luckily, Always recently released their Always Discreet products. Talk about perfect timing! Innovation, options, and solutions… YES!

What the Facial Hair?

Soooo do you remember that fun little video I did about trying to get rid of my facial hair? The struggle is ohhhh so real. My mom? Hardly has any hair. Like BARELY has to shave. No nair, nothing. Skin just smooth. But me? I have been a hairy beast since I think, 11. To the point, I came home one day, shook after being teased for my body hair, to steal a razor from my mom, to shave my legs… only to be told by my mother, “Now you are going to have to do that for the rest of your life.” Mortification.

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Now? Not only do I stress over my legs, underarms, and bikini area, now, I have to worry about chin hair?! Girl, nah. But the options for removal? I never thought about or had even tried waxing until college, and was scarred for life… or for a decade or so! So I tried cream hair removers… until my favorite option was discontinued!

What was I to do? This is when I decided to open up about this a bit and share with you my journey, only to realize I am soooooooo not alone here! I mean, just in talking with you, it affirmed me and my challenge! How about that, for conversation helping a sister out!

Sensitivity To Products Down There

As if facial hair weren’t enough, I found out the hard way that I could only use certain detergents for my clothes. Hello unexpected sensitive skin, and I have neeeeeever had an allergy. And this conversation? I had to have with my completely unbothered mother… Trying to figure out what in the world was happening to me!

Through various and extremely random conversations over the years, my girlfriends and I learned different tips and tricks to keep “her” healthy and in check. Things like drinking more water, watching what you eat, feminine care wipes, how keep your pH levels balanced and better products to use during our periods. Girl. It is amazing what you can learn when we talk about it!

I challenge you to talking about these things and any other “embarrassing” mishap that’s happened to you, with your friends, mother, daughters, nieces, or sisters and see what they’ve experienced. You’ll be surprised and realize the crazy things that we experience and often have no clue about, are not isolated to YOU. It’s having these feminine health conversations that’ll make the experience less embarrassing.

Let’s open the floor here. Let me know something you’ve experienced similarly to me or not. Let’s get the conversation going so that we don’t feel alone or embarrassed when these things happen to us.

Until next time, see you in the comments!