Vaginal Sensation: Tips, Practice & Categorization

[written by Megan McNamara ~ Certified Fertility Awareness Educator ~ @FAMtasticFertility]

IMPORTANT NOTE: These are GUIDELINES / TIPS *ONLY* and this information is NOT A SUBSTITUTE for a certified Fertility Awareness instructor or published book about the Fertility Awareness Method.

Who Cares About Vaginal Sensation? It’s a primary fertility sign, so it’s important! It gives you more information about your cycle and fertility.

Abbreviations: CF = cervical fluid or mucus | TP = toilet paper

External Checking

To determine vaginal sensation externally using toilet paper, wipe with toilet paper that’s folded flat into a rectangle from front to back – more specifically, downward from the clitoris, over the vaginal opening and “scooping in” a little bit, and continuing on to wipe over the perineum (the area of skin between the vagina and anus), stopping before the anus. You might also think of it as wiping from ‘top to bottom’. The point of this is that the toilet paper’s texture “grabs” cervical fluid (CF) at the vaginal opening and then by wiping it over the perineum, you can feel and determine the sensation. When learning, close your eyes and focus only on the sensation. Do not second-guess yourself about what you felt when you actually look at the toilet paper. Keep your eyes closed, decide on the sensation for sure, and then look. When in doubt or if you have not checked consistently throughout the day, assume you are at peak fertility with a lubricative sensation. Check during each bathroom visit before & after urinating or a bowel movement. Check before & after showering, bathing, swimming, and exercising. It may seem excessive at first but will quickly become second nature. Consistency is key and it only takes mere seconds out of your day.

  • DRY
    *Associated with the absence of CF.
    *Feels: halting, scratching, dry.
    *The TP may be wet from pee or sweat soaked into it, but there’s no actual CF sitting on top of the TP to lend another sensation.
  • SMOOTH
    *Associate with non-peak CF. CF may or may not be present. Sweat can also cause this sensation. It’s possible to have a dry day with a smooth sensation, due to sweat. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and assume you’re fertile.
    *Feels: smooth, gliding, lotion-like, very slightly grainy, like rubber cement, slightly tacky, but NOT outrightly slippery over the perineum.
  • LUBRICATIVE
    *Associated with peak-type CF.
    *Feels: super slippery, lubricative, slip-slide-y, wet, gushing, flowing, a quick slip when wiping, “Woah! Slippery!!”

 

Internal Checking

Conduct a proper internal check completely. Close your eyes and rub the CF between your finger and your thumb and focus only on the sensation (you can also do this after an external check, to get a sense for why different types of CF feel different). Instead of feeling the sensation with your perineum, you’re feeling it with your fingers. Keep in mind that the vagina is a mucus membrane and will always feel slightly damp no matter what (like your mouth – it sometimes feels dry or super wet with saliva, but no matter what it is always a little damp and never literally bone-dry). The CF should feel dry, smooth, or lubricative between your fingers, too. Some find that this way of checking takes longer to master, so perhaps try external checks first.

 

Bonus Points! Feeling & Noticing During Your Day

In addition to a proper external or internal check for CF and vaginal sensation, you can also pay attention to your sensation during the day – while walking around and living your life. Notice: Do I feel… dry/nothing? smooth? slide-y? gushing? wet? slippery? cold? These feelings all correlate to your CF. It’s similar to noticing how your mouth feels without having to check: Does your mouth/cheeks/tongue feel… dry? cottony? normal? damp? wet with saliva?

 

EXERCISES TO HELP YOU LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SENSATIONS

Take some TP and fold it into a square a few plys thick. You will wipe it across the inside of your wrist, which has a similar sensitivity as your perineum. CLOSE YOUR EYES and do this slowly, focusing only on the different sensations for as many times as needed, until you can tell the difference (even if you have to practice for a few solid minutes, or over the course of a few days, or on both wrists, etc. There’s nothing stopping you from becoming a pro at this!).

 

  • DRY:
    wipe the plain, completely dry TP against the inside of your wrist with moderate pressure. It should feel dry, halting, maybe even a tad rough and scratchy.
  • SMOOTH
    Put a pea or dime-sized amount of hand lotion on the toilet paper and gently rub it in for a couple of seconds – wipe that across the same spot on your wrist with eyes closed. It should feel smooth, lotion-y, gliding, maybe very slightly grainy, but NOT outrightly slippery. Dry off your wrist completely for the next trial.
  • LUBRICATIVE
    Take some melted coconut oil, lube, flaxseed gel or literal raw eggwhites from a chicken egg, and put a nickel-sized amount on the TP. DO NOT rub it in. Slide that over your wrist with eyes closed – it should feel SUPER slippery, way more than before – lubricative, the feeling of “oh wow, that really IS slippery!”
Sit down and practice these exercises a few times until you can tell the difference. You can also practice rubbing your fingers together too in a similar way… you may feel the sensation at the perineum, and then take any observable CF off of the TP and rub it between your fingers. Even though you’ve decided on the sensation for certain from the external check, it’s interesting to also feel it with your fingers and get a sense of why it feels a certain way throughout your cycle.

 

Remember & Last Tips!

    • CF checks & sensation checks are pretty much a combined, 2-for-1 situation. Check for sensation while conducting your routine CF checks, every time!
    • When in doubt or if you skipped ANY checks during your whole day, assume you’re fertile.
    • It takes practice! No one can master this new skill overnight. Be patient and practice this for a few cycles until you’ve mastered it.
    • CF and BBT (basal body temperature) are the top two primary fertility signs. Vaginal sensation is also a primary sign, because it is part of a cervical fluid observation routine. Sensation is the direct result of the presence or absence of CF. It’s really valuable to observe, especially if you’re newly off of hormonal birth control and awaiting the return of “proper” CF – feeling sensation in the meantime can be very telling while actual CF may be scant.
    • Is your charting app missing a spot for noting sensation? No problem – sensations can be added as custom data in Kindara (Dry, Smooth, Lubricative) and/or in the journal section of Kindara or many other apps