Personal Care Hacks for Women

Trying to make feminine products look glamorous.

When I started this blog, I promised myself no click-bait-y titles like “Four Simple Tricks to Become a Millionaire”. So I suppose I could’ve called this post “Tips for Women”, but “Hacks” did sound more exciting, so you’ll have to live with the click-bait-y-ness 🙂 Anyway, what I wanted to write about might be a little personal, and it only applies to the female half of the population: My top four women’s personal care tips. They’re all changes that I’ve made in my life, and would never go back. YMMV.

Cleaning up

I recently purchased and installed this bidet as an add-on to my toilet. A bidet is basically a toilet extension that shoots a stream of water at your nether regions. It has both a regular mode and a women’s wash mode that angles the water stream at the right place and the right width. And I’m telling you, I’m NEVER GOING BACK. I’ll spare you from further details… but it feels clean 🙂

Bidets are easy to install – all you need is a flat-head screwdriver. They’re removable and don’t require access to the main water (at least for the model I used), so you can install them even if you live in a rental. Bidets are useful for men, too. They’re common in my partner’s home country, and he’s really enjoyed our new “luxury” toilet in the regular mode as well.

There are different models with all kinds of fancy features like heated toilet sets, remote controls, etc., but we went for the basic model, which has already been a game-changer.

Shaving with Castile soap

I don’t know about you, but I used to have endless bottles of shaving cream lying around. Dual-use products are one of my favorite travel items, and I try to use dual-use products in the bathroom, too. Castile soap make great soap and shaving cream. No need to clutter up your shower with extra products – I use Castile soap as body wash and shaving cream at the same time. I usually lather my legs to wash and then shave to rinse.

I also use the Castile soap as hand soap, by diluting it with water and adding a few drops of tea tree oil for its (supposedly) disinfectant properties. One drawback of using it as hand soap is that it doesn’t foam up that much, which my partner hates, tbh. But overall, I love Castile soap because it’s multi-purpose and reduces the number of personal care products you need to buy.

Menstrual cup

I’ve used pads (and sometimes tampons) for most of my life. Menstrual cups looked icky at first, but I decided to give it a try. It did take a bit of practice to get the hang of putting it in, and to find the right cup with the right shape to prevent leaks (see comparison). Once that got sorted out, it’s been great.

First of all, it feels cleaner during use, similar to a tampon. Second, you don’t have to remember to bring tampons/pads around with you. No more sneaking off to the bathroom while trying hide the pad in your hand, or hobbling to the pharmacy in a panic in the middle of the workday. Third, it is environmentally friendly. When I made the final decision to switch, I donated all of my pads to a friend. (Is that creepy?) No more female diapers for me, please. Fourth, menstrual cups are cost-effective, since the silicone cups last forever. (Unless you accidentally melt yours while boiling it clean: true story.)

Switching to the ring

For years, I used the pill. This involves the daily routine of setting an alarm, rooting around for the pack of pills, finding a glass of water, and taking the pill. There’s the annoyance of counting the days to make sure you didn’t accidentally miss any of the previous pills and need to catch up. And it’s all over if you forget the pills while traveling on an overnight trip.

When I mentioned these annoyances to my gynecologist, he suggested changing to the ring. And I’ve found it so much better! Instead of setting an alarm every single day, you set a calendar event twice a month. It’s set and forget. In terms of cost, it should be covered by your healthcare insurance, the same as the pill. In my opinion, if it’s the same cost, why not choose the more time-efficient option? (Note: Please consult your healthcare provider.)

Final thoughts

So those are my tips! As you can see, they’re mostly geared towards time and cost efficiency. I hope they are helpful, without being too “hippy-ish”. Women have additional personal care needs, so my goal is to simplify that part of my life as much as possible.

Do you have any personal care simplifications to your daily routine?