Jess Tried Yoni Steaming… and Things Got Weird

A listener production.

Only do what we wanna. No rules. Yeah, we're gonna gonna stay ish. Where do you wanna go? Where do you wanna go?

Hey, babe. Hey. How are you? So good. How was your weekend? Busy? Yeah. So busy. Just with kids. I had training, basketball games, finals, dance concerts. How was your weekend? Uh, crazy. Absolutely crazy. So maybe three cricket games, athletics, three parties. Then we went up to Arthur's Seat, which is little. Little country property. And, you know, I've got the biggest fear of spiders, right? Like, I actually got myself kicked off The Amazing Race TV show last year because I

Oh, God. I could just only imagine. Yeah, a huntsman or even just the tiniest spider. You would freak.

It was a huntsman. I died, I said, Chris, sell the house. If no one wants it, burn it down. I am never coming back here.

Oh, my God.

I just can't. If it was a snake, I'd be fine. I would have got the broom and I would have pushed it out. I'm fine with bugs. I'm fine with snakes. But a spider? Nah.

But other than that, was it a good weekend?

I just think four kids is a lot. You've got three, right? Yeah. Anything over two I think is like too many.

Yeah. You know what? You do have a lot of kids. It's a lot of chaos. And just to spread yourself. Yeah. Between the four of them.

And the house and the.

Work. Yeah, yeah. I don't know how you do it. I struggle with three.

Yeah, Three's a lot. I think with two, you can divide and conquer. And then anything after that is is absolute chaos. Uh, so even my kids, like, will be in the car and I'll be screaming at one of them. I'm threatening one to walk out, like to get kicked out of the car and walk home. One's always injured or has some medical issue or the school's calling about something.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I would not trade any of my kids in, but man, I would not recommend four.

It is a different level. I have to agree. I have seen it firsthand with your children, especially with Tom and Darcy licking the window, the window of the car as the window goes down. Yeah, I just I don't know how you do it, but you know what? What? You've had four come out of you. Yeah. I'm going to talk about what went at me this week.

I love.

It. It was definitely not a child.

What was.

It? So this week I got my fanny steamed.

Also known as the yoni. The yoni, yoni steam.

So yeah. Had that done this week. Very interesting.

That's the thing. On this podcast, we're going to bring you all the wellness and beauty treatments. You are the wanted to try or you didn't know you needed to try. And we thought Yoni, assuming we'd always kind of like, talked about it and wondered about it and you.

Like I committed.

You committed. You took one for the team.

I did, I took one.

We had a yoni steam party.

We did.

So picture this, guys, there's a throne. You sit on the throne, it's got a hole cut out. And that's where you steam the tea leaves that go up into your vulva area. We steam the tea, and then you sat on the throne, and then you thought it's not really doing enough. So we steamed it and then popped it under. And I think the risk is like, when you do this for the first time, you think it's going to burn you and you don't want to fire Fanny, right?

Yep. So you go by.

You haven't had a fire Fanny before?

No, no. So I just kind of thought, like we went with the instructions. It said boil for 15 minutes on in a pot and then leave it for five to rest and cool down and then put it under your throne. So we did that. But then I didn't feel the heat. So we went back to the stove and we prepared it again, and at full boil we put it under the the throne at full boil. But I still had to really think about the steam going up there. But then also I felt like my legs weren't spread enough.

Mate, your legs were spread so much by the end it was like you were doing the splits. Yeah. And I actually said to Jesse, like, I can't feel it, it's not going up. I'm like, oh, that's oh, she's so cute as a button down there. I said, babe, get the fingers in, spread the flies. I literally had.

To I had to like, spread my flaps to like, get the tea up there. And it just I still kind of didn't feel much.

But you know what? I think that the whole point of it is, upon reflection, it is supposed to be a slow Low steam. It's not meant to be hot. It's not meant to set you on fire. Yeah, that's why they say you're meant to sit on it for 45 minutes.

Which we did. And then about 20 minutes in, I did feel something. I had to think about it, but then I it felt like spicy, as if, like I just wiped myself subtly with toothpaste. Like it felt minty fresh.

Minty. In a good way.

In a good way. Yeah. So yeah.

In three words, describe the experience of your yoni steam.

So I would describe it as spicy. Ooh, yeah. Yeah. Spicy. Interesting. And also like underwhelming. A little bit.

Underwhelming. Like, what were you expecting to happen?

I think I was expecting to sit on this magical throne and this, like, heat of steam of all these amazing smells. We're just going to go up my hoo ha. And it was just going to be like, orgasmic. Yeah. Like I was going to have an orgasm on the on my throne. Like, I.

Didn't.

Know, and I didn't.

Know you were going to getting an orgasm right in front of me.

Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't.

Have cared. And your dogs. And my dog. Your little puppies were sitting there watching you the whole time, just going, what the hell is she doing? And then they were trying to eat me. Eat the tea.

Quite a lot of things went down after it.

The next week. Drama.

Drama. It's not even drama. It was trauma. So I'm really excited to have a professional on today. Who we got on.

We've got Doctor Christy Costello's coming on. She is a doctor who specialises in faces and fannies. She's excellent. She's perfect to answer all of your questions.

The name is doctor Christy.

Costello's doctor. Christy, how are you?

I am really well. Thank you so much for having me.

Oh, thank you so much for coming on. Little backstory. So you and I met very recently at a conference, and you were there with your, your faces hat on because it because it was like a cosmetics conference. And then you started talking about women's health. I was like, this is perfect because we need someone who knows about cosmetics, but also can help with women's health. And you said, yeah, pretty much. I'm known as the faces and fannies expert.

All the orifices.

All the lips.

So welcome, Doctor Christie. I would love to know your qualifications around faces and fannies.

I've got a Bachelor of medical science. I also have a and I majored in immunology in that. And then I've got a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery with an honours component to that. I have a master's in women's reproductive medicine. I have a diploma of child Health. I also have a master's in forensic medicine, and I'm also a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of General Practice. So I'm a fellow GP.

A round of applause. Are you still studying? You know what, babe? You're never going to pay that debt off.

Ever.

So, Doctor Christie, tell us, what is Yoni steaming?

So Yoni steaming is it's actually a traditional practice that's been around for millennia, I think. Um, but it is effectively vaginal steaming. So it's a practice where a human being sits over a bowl of steaming, herbally infused water and allows the steam to sort of, like, come up and reach the vaginal and perineal system. And it's it's believed to have some therapeutic and cleansing benefits.

Is there any evidence to say that yoni steaming has any health benefits?

Not really. Not that I could find or no. What have we done to you?

Steaming.

You know, like dedicated people, but I looked, I really looked.

What is it used for?

So it's a traditional practice. I think it started in Korea a very, very long time ago. So it does come from those really long standing roots. But you basically sit over a bowl. Um, and there's normally some steam that's infused with all kinds of things, like herbal, mostly. And you allow the steam to give you a facial in your other face?

Well, I had the very crazy experience doing it. It was very underwhelming when I actually did it, but.

She couldn't get the steam in. And she she's sitting on the throne. Doctor Christie, which we built was from Amazon. And it had a little it's like a little wooden toilet seat that's not connected to any plumbing. And then you steam the tea. The tea had camomile, lavender.

Dandelion.

Wood. Woodworm, woodworm.

Yeah. Something woodworm which is known for. It's good for parasites. It's good for detoxing, all that sort of stuff. So that's what I was looking at. A lot of the teas and a lot of teas had that particular, um, herb in it anyway.

You weren't really getting it up there, right? So I said split them. Spread them.

Yeah.

Do it all. And you sat for about 45 minutes, and then at the end you stood up and you went, oh, there's a little bit of air bubble. And we're feeling a little bit spicy.

Yeah. Minty spicy kind of feeling. I actually was due for my period and that day. That day.

And she's never late, doctor Christie. Jess is never, ever, ever late.

Never late.

Never late. Only when you're pregnant.

Only when I'm pregnant. And I was nine days late. Nine.

Oh, God. I'm pregnant.

I had five pregnancy tests I was sitting there doing. I've been all week sitting on tests every morning, doing a test, doing a test, doing. And it's all negative.

And I've been stressed that she's going to be pregnant and wreck summer.

Yeah, yeah. Yes.

We go to Dom Dolla this weekend. Don't you wreck our raise the baby. Yes, yes.

And it does say do not steam if you are pregnant. So I was sitting there going, oh God, I've done all this damage already.

You were nine days late. And then that night.

Yeah. So that night I actually went to bed and I woke up in a pool of sweat. I was full night sweats. Full night sweats. I had to change the sheets because I was so sweaty.

Do you think this is related to the yoni steam?

Do you know? Do you know what I've noticed? In fact, they've got like, a Latin saying for it because a lot of medicine has like a Latin background. If you're like British trained, Australian trained. I've noticed this a lot in medicine. And there's a Latin saying for it, and I'm probably going to butcher it, but it's like post hoc ergo propter hoc, right? And really what it means is A happened and then B happened. So we think

So coincidental.

Maybe it could be I would. I mean, it's a little bit interesting that you're so regular with your period and then really randomly, you aren't.

Are you thinking.

What I'm thinking? The answer she wants.

I'm 34. Okay.

Say it. Say the p word.

Can come really early for some women.

Oh.

How old are you? 34.

34.

That's what I was when you said night sweats. Period's late. And then when it's come and you've hemorrhaged so much.

It was, like.

Irregular. Babe, I think you're in, Perry. And tell Doctor Christie about grandma.

My grandmother was 32 when she went through menopause.

That is not fun for you.

No, that's why I had babies at 21. So, Perry.

Maybe. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Who knows?

I mean, the science would tell you it'd be a little bit weird, cause obviously I'm a science based human, so I'm always going to try and bring it back to. How can these things logically or pragmatically be explained by the science? And I my brain can't get around how esteem which maybe didn't go all the way up, because that that seems like that would be quite hard to get up all the way up there. How would that then get through your cervix, which is that little thing

Okay.

I'm going with Perry.

Oh, yeah.

She just she just so wants me to be Perry.

Come and join the Perry Club, babe. It's fine. We'll get you some gel.

Yes.

Some oestrogen.

Gets rid of wrinkles.

So I guess this is something yoni steaming you probably wouldn't recommend as a medical professional.

No, I mean, I think I think there's some risks, right? I'd be really interested, actually. Did you feel like it's steam? Right. Which is really hot and you know, you can burn that skin down there. I would be worried that maybe you're at risk of getting a perineal burn.

I barely felt.

It, and we really boiled it. Yeah, yeah, because.

I wanted to feel something.

You've had all your children cesarean sections, so it's not like you've got any thing down there that would stop feeling. Stop you from feeling.

No, no. Yeah, but I also haven't had a baby. Kind of a hoo ha. So it's like.

Everything. Now that's a real fire, Fanny.

Yeah.

I mean, some of the claims on that you see online or that that come with the tea, say, you know, it helps with.

Fertility.

Fertility or menstrual cramps or, you know, post-natal cleansing. I mean, there's a lot of claims. And like Doctor Christie said, there's there's no medical evidence for it.

The other reason I really wanted to try it was because I don't sleep well. And then there was like, there was a lot of women that were saying that they sleep better when they had a yoni steam. Parasites and hemorrhoids, which most women have after childbirth. So I thought, okay, I'm going to give this a go. And I'm so YOLO. Like.

Yeah, you will try anything?

I'll try anything once to say I've done it and tick the box and.

Then it's a good story to tell.

Yeah, yeah, I'm full of stories.

That's that's Jess's superpower is telling a story. Adding a little bit of mayo and entertaining the room. Yeah, yeah. Now you can tell everyone you steamed your fanny. Yes. And then it got spicy. Then you had night sweats and you thought you were pregnant.

And had to do my pregnancy.

Test story.

I know.

Have you heard any horror, Yoni? Steaming horror stories, Doctor Christie, in your research?

Actually, I have, um, but I think anything that you look into enough you can find, like the good and the bad. Mhm. Um, so the stories I read about, uh, were burns so literally burning their perineum or their vulva with the hot steam, so maybe too close to it or, you know, not the right things. Maybe in it. I mean that would be that's not an area we want

To find out. Hey, make me a participant in your really robust scientific study and let's find some more participants. Oh, really?

Yeah, for some of the other things that I read about were like the vagina. It's meant to be self cleansing. Like it does have all of these bacteria in it. That's really novel. That's it's that's a healthy state for the vagina to exist in. And we get it into unhealthy states. If we get overgrowth of some bacteria, even if they're meant to be there, they're meant to be there in just the right amount. So people can develop

Totally.

So those are the main things, like.

Cause then some people say, oh, no, you read on a forum, it cured my bacterial vaginosis. But then, yes, it. Yeah. I guess when there's no there's no research, there's probably like if you're going to say a yay or an A, it's probably a nay. But but gee, we had fun doing it.

No, I was just going to say sometimes in medicine, like, we know we're very Western trained and I think that there's a lot of good stuff that comes out of that traditional eastern medicine. I think we're a little bit inclined to, you know, in Western medicine, sometimes just throw the baby out with the bathwater. So I'm very mindful for my patients, especially in general practice, that if they come to me with something that's a little bit out of the box or a little bit, you know, not

Like it's like a placebo.

Yeah. And that's the other thing they do say it is empowering. You have more of a connection to down there. And I guess if it's if it makes you feel more zen and more relaxed and it's like therapy for you then And and you're not harming yourself, then if you want to give it a go, maybe give it a go.

Do you know what I'm going to give it again? Yeah, I'm going to do it again just to see. I'll have me if you are perimenopausal. Yeah, I reckon I'll let my I'll see what happens next month. And if that's, if it comes at the right time, I'm like cool. And then the month after it, I'll do it again and see if there's a change in my cycle. Because again, it could be, you know, mind over matter because I

Because this is the thing. We had the yoni steam booked in and she's like, I'm due for my period that day. And I'm like, I just hold it in. Hold it in. We can't do the yoni steam. If you're bleeding. Hold it in, hold it in. You have oh my God, you're actually magic. You've managed to delay my mind over matter. I literally was.

Wishing my period away. I'm like, I just need 24 hours to do this on steam. I can't get my period because I can't then do the yoni steam. And I literally said to Becca, I'm like, I'm closing. She's like, how are you feeling? I'm like, I'm closing my legs in. Like I'm literally holding my uterus tight so I don't bleed just to do this yoni steam. And I literally, I think, wished away my period for nine days and then. So be.

Careful what you wish for.

Babe. Exactly. So I think.

Power of the mind.

Yeah, yeah, mind over matter. So I think I will wait for my next cycle and then.

Maybe try it.

Again and then try again.

We've got lots of country left.

We do, we've.

Got, we've got oh, we've got an egg too. Have you seen those. How do you say tourmaline. Tourmaline. The tourmaline. Little eggs.

It looks like an anal bead. Yes.

I have actually seen those.

Because they said you need to pop that up beforehand for an hour to feel the connection and then take it out and do the steam. Yes. Have you ever heard of any medical benefits of the tourmaline egg stone. It's got a little rope, like a tampon string. So you, like, pop it up and then you pull it out.

Not that specific thing I've heard of, but I think we're putting a weight in. And I think for women's health in particular, we turn off our pelvic floors, particularly after we have children, we change the way that we stand, even the way that we use our hips. And there's a lot of subconscious turning off of a lot of the support of a pelvic floor for women. And unless you're doing a specific program under a really good physio or OT to bring that back online, those muscle fibers,

The egg and keep it in.

Because you'd be so scared you're going to lose it up there?

So it's just gonna play?

Yeah.

For kids in. I'm taking the egg. I'm gonna disinfect it. I've got the icicle. I walk around with that.

Yes.

I love the smell of icicle. Do you use that in your practice, Doctor Christie, as your disinfectant?

I'm using more of an ethanol based disinfectant. But icicle is very strong.

I love it. All right. The eggs are coming home with me.

Oh. The eggs. I reckon everyone needs an egg. Yes, that's a new pelvic floor.

Turn that pelvic floor on.

Yeah, maybe they like pelvic floor weights. And your women's health physio can prescribe pelvic floor weights, can't they?

They can. So I can see how they've connected the two together.

The other thing with black tourmaline tourmaline, tourmaline, it's actually a stone that a lot of kumbaya people use. And actually my husband wears it a lot to work. He wears it around his neck.

It's oh my God, my son sleeps with a stone under his bed.

Yes. And it'll be it'll be a tourmaline. So what it is, it actually is a energy blocker. So any negative energy, what it does, it blocks it out. So I reckon that's why they've chose that particular stone to go up to. So any bad energy.

Yeah. Negative thoughts and bad spirits.

Or big energy? Bad big dick. It keeps them away. If you're a single woman, put that good dick.

Only.

Only good dick only. So, I mean, who doesn't.

Need something that's keeping your bad juju away?

No. Exactly. If we ever do a product line through Vonage, we know what we're doing first. Yeah.

We'll call it BD.

Yeah, BD. Yeah, literally.

Na na na na.

Na.

This is another quick question talking about vaginas. What can we do that's beneficial and healthy to maintain that area. Is there anything that you can particularly.

Leave it alone.

Yeah.

Yeah. Like, to be fair, it's mostly leave it alone. I do see all of these really expensive, sort of like specific feminine hygiene washes and things that really kind of don't want any chemicals down there.

Because it's self-cleaning. Right?

It's self-cleaning. And you can get some very sensitive, you know, vaginas where the exposure to even soap will kick off, you know, an.

Infection.

Or.

Is that when Christie is that when the balance is just completely off? Is that what happens and how what would you like? What do you recommend to get that balance right? If it's not a yoni steam, it's not a tourmaline bead. Yeah. Is there is it like probiotics or.

I do think that probiotics are actually really good. I think it's so individual. Right. Because I think I think we like to make out like we're all just the same with the same processes. But I feel like women's health is so much more complicated than that. Yeah. And what works for one person might not work for the next person. Like I've definitely had patients where which this makes no scientific sense. I'm just I'm mindful of that. We pulled them off all yeast based products and their

I just. Oh.

UTIs and thrush.

Yeah, I don't get. Yeah, I don't get thrush much, but I. UTIs are like my. Always, always get them.

And this is not a solution. I'm saying for you in case your husband listens to this later. But this particular patient. I want to tell you, I went through this really exhaustive process with her to try and find out what was triggering this imbalance. And I tried all the things we did antibiotics, which I normally hate. We did lots of things. Anyway, one day she comes back probably about six months later, and that's the longest time

Yes.

And it was the old boyfriend. There was something about his particular Flora and her particular flora floor that did not work, wasn't working. Oh, and the minute.

She.

Ditched.

We can't tell.

Val. No, this is why I was like, with this particular patient, the change of partner fixed everything.

After a while, what I actually did in the end was I worked out my trigger through Covid lockdown. I always have a glass of wine before. You know, when I was cooking dinner, I stopped doing that for six weeks and I didn't get a UTI. So I know my trigger is wine, so if I have a wine and then I go, ooh, hey! Then I usually wake up with a UTI the next day.

So it's so bizarre.

Mine's wine. Depressing I know, I know.

Especially in Covid, that's like the only thing that was getting us through, let's.

Be honest. Yeah, exactly. So it was like mine was wine.

So maybe just.

Be taking the all prim like it's a trimethoprim is the first line of antibiotic for you guys. I've just been taking the time with them and the wine together.

And the wine at the same time.

I'm like.

It is what it is.

Yeah.

Is that like, maybe you could try a condom?

Um, yeah. Oh, no. I'm. I'm allergic to them. I'd get thrashed from that. Yeah. Just. Yeah. Anyway, so anyway.

Anyway, Doctor Christie, last question. Why do you think Yoni Steaming has had a resurgence in popularity in recent years? Is it TikTok? Is it social media? Is it. People are just looking at natural therapies.

Is it Gwyneth Paltrow?

Yes, I think it is.

Yeah.

The Kardashians.

Did it. I think it's all of the above. What I probably I think it's just a sign in general because I see I've seen this a lot just in the last kind of like two decades, um, of my medicine is that I think women are really looking for how they can take charge of their female health, because I think that particularly in Western medicine, I think it's been really catered for and really poorly understood for a

Yeah. So, Doctor Christie, will you, um, after this podcast, go and steam your yoni?

Do you know what? I think we have a lot in common, because I will literally try everything again as well, and I this has been my theory in cosmetics as well. How can I recommend something to a patient if I haven't tried it myself or understood the process myself? So I think before I really said yay or nay, I probably would give it a crack. Yeah, I mean, 30 minutes of sitting somewhere is mindfulness. So if I was sitting there for 30 minutes, I'd probably feel better just from that.

Yeah. So true.

Thank you, Doctor Christie.

Yes, thank you so much for coming on. And, you know, opening up your world, but also giving us a little insight on actually what Yoni steaming is about. Um, even though we jumped the gun and we did it before, we actually really deep diving in and what we were actually.

Doing probably should have asked you first before we did it, but I've liked the the outcomes and the findings, and I think we've got to get Doctor Christie back on to talk us through perimenopause.

Yes.

Because I think that's where we could have potentially landed. Uh, yeah. So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me. I really appreciate.

It.

She's good.

Doctor Christie. Oh, my God, she's amazing. And wow. Like, just to know all about the yoni steaming and it's not really obviously it's not. There's no evidence that it's beneficial.

And we knew that going into it.

We did, we did.

But we knew it would do no harm.

Um, we took all the right steps and precautions to make sure that my fanny didn't burn. Um, but I am going to try it again. Yeah, I am going to do it again just to say I've done it twice. Yeah. And just to say, if the week that I had, would it replicate again.

There's been a lot of potential outcomes from this. There's more questions that need to be answered.

Yeah, exactly.

One just quick question before we sign off. When you're doing those pregnancy tests, were you a little bit excited or were you like trauma in your mind?

I think I was trauma, I think I was more trauma. I thought I actually would have been excited because I'm always like when I'm having a boring day at home and I'm not doing much because I'm always need to be stimulated. I'm like, I'll have a baby that will free up my time.

So you randomly come to me every so often and just, I think I'm gonna have a baby. I'm like, oh no, she just needs a dopamine hit. Go and buy something.

Yes, yes, yes.

Jump online or go down to Scanlon and buy something.

Buy something. And that for me, it's kind of get.

Your fix that way.

Yeah, get my fix. So I think I've always initially gone I want more babies. And then and you know, I'm never going to say never because I am 34 and I feel like that's the time people usually try to have babies and not at 21, but when I was doing the pregnancy test, I was like, I know, like I can't have a baby right now. Like I'm so busy.

So you were scared when you were waiting for the results? You were a little bit excited.

Yeah. No, like I usually like I was, I was a bit more scared. And then when you kind of dropped the whole maybe you're perimenopausal. I'm like, you better be positive.

You'd rather be pregnant than getting old. Yeah. IC it's an IC.

It's an.

IC. That's why we're doing this podcast. No we are. Aging is a.

Privilege. It is.

It is. We just don't want to look old. And that's.

Okay. We just want to look like Cher.

Winding back the.

Clock. Exactly. And that's all we're doing. We want to live forever.

Yeah, we want to feel good. Yeah, we want to look good. And I think just take the shame away from being a little bit vain.

Exactly. At the end of the day, we're just vain ish.

Yeah. Only do what we wanna know. Yeah. We're gonna go now if you want to go. Nah nah nah nah.