When it comes to clothing, shoes and other apparel, allergic people are better off with natural fibres and materials than with synthetics. Cotton is about the best all-around fabric -affordable, durable and attractive. Watch out for permanent-press, wash-and-wear or other types of wrinkle proofing – they usually contain formaldehyde, a common cause of grief for people with sensitive skin. Same for cotton that’s been sized – coated with starch, glues, vegetable gums and (would you believe it?) shellac to give fabric a stiff, polished or glazed finish. Cotton clothes that are usually sized are organdy, pique, costume fabric, some sheets and mosquito netting. Sanforizing and mercerizing do not leave any chemical residue on cloth and are usually safe.

Linen and silk are rarely allergenic – and not necessarily too costly, if you shop carefully.

Nothing beats wool for warmth and good looks. Allergy to natural, unprocessed wool is extremely rare. Itching from wool is caused more by mechanical irritation than allergy. Layering wool clothes over cotton undergarments or a scarf can reduce itching.

If you react to wool no matter how soft or fluffy it is, chances are you’re actually allergic to either the dye or shrink-proof chemicals in the fabric, or to its dry-cleaning treatment. If you are truly allergic to wool or can’t find untreated wool, substitute thick cotton sweaters, all-cotton corduroy pants, chamois cloth or suede. Try to wear those fabrics in layers. Mohair is also relatively non-allergenic.

For some reason, truly wool-sensitive people seem to tolerate coats made of Persian lamb, a great find at thrift shops. (By the way, people allergic to cat hair may not tolerate fur coats made of wildcat, ocelot or leopard – even if they can afford them.)

Synthetic cloth and apparel should not be part of your wardrobe if you have temperamental skin. They’re treated with all manner of chemicals. And synthetics may be doubly irritating since they do not ‘breathe’ or absorb perspiration. The most familiar synthetic fibres are polyester, acetate, acrylic, nylon, rayon, rubber, spandex, triacetate and metallic’s, although they go by various trade names. Stick to the natural fibres mentioned earlier. They are available in most larger department stores and specialty boutiques.

Dyes, contrary to popular belief, are not a common cause of clothing allergy. The problem is more likely to be with one of the finishes we mentioned earlier, or with a laundry additive. But when dyes are in fact the problem, it’s the darker, more concentrated colors (notably black and dark blue) that contain allergenic chemicals. Some people who react to dark-toned stockings, for example, find they can wear lighter shades with no difficulty. And the dyes that are used in synthetics tend to cause allergy more than the dyes used in natural fibres, cotton, linen or wool. So you see, allergy to one dye does not imply allergy to all dyes. And that variation also explains why so many people can comfortably wear natural fibres but not synthetics.

Although modern dyes are considerably colorfast, clothing dyes can be loosened by perspiration. You may find you can wear that bright pink T-shirt around the house with no reaction, but you itch like crazy if you wear it while playing golf in 90-degree heat.

Dry cleaning processes use any of various potent solvents – alcohol, petrol, kerosene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, acetone, benzene, naphtha, turpentine or ether. Air out dry-cleaned clothing and blankets thoroughly before wearing them. Sensitive people may have to wait up to three weeks to give fumes plenty of time to dissipate. If you still react, buy only clothing and blankets that are washable, laundering them yourself with Woolite or some other mild, fine-fabric detergent.

When the culprit is formaldehyde, no amount of washing will get rid of the problem. Sometimes you can actually smell the formaldehyde (sometimes called formalin) when ironing a garment or pulling clothes from storage. We spoke to one woman in Dallas who was so sensitive to formaldehyde that she couldn’t take more than a few minutes to shop for apparel -rummaging through racks of formaldehyde-laced garments and trying on one dress after another triggered her symptoms. Because formaldehyde is used chiefly in synthetics or to make cottons wrinkle resistant, you can avoid the chemical by sticking to untreated, all-cotton fabrics.

Don’t forget that shoes and accessories could be allergenic, too. If your feet give you trouble, they’ll heal faster – and stay healed – if you wear all-cotton socks and change them at least once during the day, especially in warm weather. (If possible, change your shoes, too.) By all means, change your running shoes or sneakers after working out or participating in sports. And never wear tight boots, especially for long periods.

Occasionally, a person who is allergic to the chemicals used to tan leather will have to invest in custom-made vegetable-dyed shoes. The problem can be partially avoided, however, by wearing canvas shoes in the summertime.

Watch out for synthetic belts, hats, gloves, handbags, watch-bands, suspenders, bras, girdles and garter belts. Rubber-sensitive individuals may have no choice but to wear spandex, a non-rubber stretchable fibre, in bras, girdles and support hose. Look for chemical-free brands such as Lycra, by DuPont (sold by Warner, among others).

Suspenders, zips and other fasteners usually contain nickel, a very common cause of skin allergy. That problem can be remedied by coating fasteners with clear nail lacquer or placing cloth between the thigh and garter.

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Play activities

Childhood play activities have been regarded as indicative of the type of sexual orientation a girl is likely to develop. If homosexuality grows out of a female’s rejection of her femininity, as psychoanalytic theory suggests, then this rejection may be expected to become manifest not only in a girl’s gender identity and personal traits but also in the play activities she chooses or avoids. Thus, it has been thought that extended tomboyishness or lack of interest in typical girls’ activities may reflect a deeper rejection of feminine roles and a tendency to adopt masculine roles instead. Moreover, it has also been suggested that typical girls’ play activities provide a sort of “training ground” for feminine roles in later life. Activities such as playing house, playing with dolls, or dressing up in their mothers’ clothing, for example, have been seen as providing girls with an opportunity to “rehearse” adult feminine roles and to develop the types of interpersonal skills that go along with such roles. Again, psychoanalytic theory would suggest that girls with little experience in typical girls’ play activities might be less able to accept their own femininity or feminine roles later on.

Research in this area has consistently found homosexual women to have been less attracted to typical girls’ activities and more attracted to boys’ activities during childhood than were their heterosexual counterparts. It has been reported, for example, that homosexual women were more likely to have been tomboys in childhood and to have continued their tomboyishness into adolescence. Other investigators, comparing homosexual with heterosexual psychiatric patients, reported that while they were growing up the lesbians were more likely than the heterosexual women to have disliked dolls and girls’ games and to have been tomboys who preferred boys’ games. According to another investigation, homosexual women were less likely than heterosexual women to report that as children they had played “grown-up lady” games, pretended to have a baby, “mothered” a doll, or played house with themselves as mother.

Gender traits

Many theorists believe that the development of sexual orientation in women is related to the degree to which they define themselves as “feminine” and embrace popular expectations of the way women should behave. Thus, heterosexuality would be expected to develop most frequently among girls who have strong feminine identities and feminine interests. They include a tendency to be accommodating toward males, to seek personal fulfillment through the roles of wife and mother, and to anticipate “completion” through a physical and emotional union with a man.

The development of a homosexual life-style in females, it has been suggested, is related to a more “masculine” orientation. According to psychodynamic theory, for example, homosexuality may represent a woman’s rebellion against her place in the world and a desire, conscious or unconscious, to attain the privileges and status that men enjoy. Whereas for men marriage is seldom an overriding concern, for women marriage—and thus heterosexuality—is supposedly definitive of their lives, e.g., their principal investment is in homemaking and motherhood. Homosexual women, it has been proposed, reject this life-style and seek instead a relationship with another woman in which neither partner rigidly adheres to a conventional sex role.

The investigations that have addressed the question whether homosexual and heterosexual women differ with regard to their gender traits give mixed results. One study found that homosexual women, compared with their heterosexual counterparts, described themselves as having been more masculine during childhood. Another study, however, compared homosexual and heterosexual females on projective tests and found no evidence that the homosexual women were more rejecting of the female role.

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Marital relationships

The relationship between a girl’s parents has been thought to influence her sexual orientation, primarily because of its effect on her attitudes toward heterosexual relationships in general and, specifically, toward the traditional female roles of wife and mother. It has been hypothesized that a home situation in which parents are openly affectionate with each other and the mother, in particular, seems fulfilled by her role in the family leads girls to anticipate similar satisfactions in their own relationships with males. Family disharmony, on the other hand, has been thought to hinder the development of heterosexuality in females. The girl whose parents are obviously unhappy with each other and whose mother appears to derive little satisfaction from her marriage might well conclude that marriage is an uncertain road to happiness and that any kind of relationship with a man will prove to be unrewarding.

Several studies appear to support such contentions. Among those who grew up in intact families, for example, several studies have found heterosexual females to be more likely than homosexual females to describe their parents’ marriages as happy or harmonious. In another investigation (which did not involve a heterosexual comparison group), all the homosexual females reported that their parents showed little affection toward each other. In addition, it has been thought that homosexual females are more likely than heterosexual females to have divorced or separated parents or to come from unstable homes marked by significant discord between the parents. A number of empirical investigations have supported such a notion. Several studies, for example, reported more broken homes among homosexual than heterosexual women. In another study it was reported that half the lesbian subjects had come from broken homes. (It should be noted, however, that the homosexual female subjects were not compared with a heterosexual control group.) Finally, additional evidence of familial instability on the part of homosexual females has been provided by one investigator who found that more homosexual than heterosexual women’s mothers had died, while another researcher found that homosexual women were more likely than heterosexual controls to report having a stepfather. In another study most of the homosexual women were reported to have grown up without a firmly established nuclear family or with one or both parents absent (again, however, no heterosexual control group was involved).

Marital dominance

In keeping with the general view that the parents of homosexual females are likely to have experienced considerable strain within their marital relationships, some theorists have supposed that this distress is the result of a mother’s insistence that she “wear the pants” in the family and of the father’s resentment over her usurpation of his special prerogatives. Indeed, one empirical study did find that the homosexual women in the sample were more likely than heterosexual women to describe their mothers as the dominant parent.

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Over-the-counter methods for women are reversible barrier methods of birth control. They include:

• contraceptive foams

• contraceptive creams

• contraceptive jellies

• contraceptive films

• contraceptive suppository capsules

• vaginal pouches (female condoms)

If you choose one of the over-the-counter methods for women, you will insert it deep into the vagina before intercourse. Foams, creams, jellies, films, and suppositories are liquids or solids that melt after they are inserted. They contain chemicals that immobilize sperm (spermicide).

Vaginal pouches are polyurethane sheaths with flexible rings at each end. The pouch is inserted deep into the vagina like a diaphragm. The ring at the closed end holds the pouch in the vagina. The ring at the open end stays outside the vaginal opening.

How Over-the-Counter Methods for Women Work

Contraceptive foams block the entrance to the uterus with bubbles and contain a spermicide that immobilizes sperm, preventing it from joining with the egg.

Contraceptive creams, jellies, films, and suppositories melt into a thick liquid throughout the vagina. They block the entrance to the uterus and contain spermicide that immobilizes sperm.

Vaginal pouches collect semen before, during, and after ejaculation and keep sperm from entering the vagina.

Effectiveness of Over-the-Counter Methods for Women

Of 100 women who use contraceptive foams, creams, jellies, films, or suppositories, 21 will become pregnant during the first year of typical use. Five will become pregnant with perfect use. Using a condom increases effectiveness.

These over-the-counter methods may provide some protection against certain sexually transmitted infections, including chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Of 100 women who use vaginal pouches, 24 will become pregnant during the first year of typical use. Ten will become pregnant with perfect use.

The pouch provides some protection against many sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

Advantages of Over-the-Counter Methods for Women

• All are easy to buy in drugstores and some supermarkets.

• Prescriptions or fittings are unnecessary.

• Once learned, insertion is easy and may be done by your partner as part of sex play.

Vaginal pouches allow women to take responsibility for protection against sexually transmitted infections.

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Diaphragms and cervical caps are reversible barrier methods of birth control that are available only by prescription. Both are soft rubber barriers that are intended to fit securely over the cervix. Both are used with a contraceptive cream or jelly.

The diaphragm is a shallow, dome-shaped cup with a flexible rim that fits securely in the vagina to cover the cervix.

The cervical cap is thimble-shaped, smaller than the diaphragm, and fits snugly over the cervix itself.

How Diaphragms and Cervical Caps Work

If you choose the diaphragm or cervical cap, you must coat it with spermicide and insert it deep into the vagina before intercourse. Each blocks the entrance to the uterus, and the jelly or cream immobilizes sperm, preventing it from joining the egg.

The diaphragm can be inserted up to six hours before intercourse and may be left in place for 24 hours. Each time sex is repeated, more jelly or cream must be inserted in the vagina (without removing the diaphragm).The cervical cap may be left in place for up to 48 hours. Using additional spermicide with the cap is optional.

Effectiveness of Diaphragms and Cervical Caps

Of 100 women who use diaphragms, 18 will become pregnant during the first year of typical use. Six will become pregnant with perfect use. Of 100 women who have not given birth and who use the cervical cap, 18 will become pregnant during the first year of typical use. Nine will become pregnant with perfect use. Of 100 women who have given birth and who use the cervical cap, 36 will become pregnant during the first year of typical use. Twenty-six will become pregnant with perfect use. You may increase protection by checking that the cervix is covered every time you have intercourse.

Diaphragms and cervical caps may provide some protection against certain sexually transmitted infections, including chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Advantages of the Diaphragm and Cervical Cap

• Once learned, insertion is easy. Insertion can be part of bedtime routine, or it can be shared by both partners during sex play.

• If properly placed, the devices are generally not felt by either partner during intercourse.

• These barrier methods may reduce the risk of developing cervical cancer.

Who Can Use Diaphragms and Cervical Caps

Diaphragms can be worn by most women when they are not menstruating. They are not recommended for women who have:

• poor muscle tone of the vagina or a sagging uterus

• a history of toxic shock syndrome

• recurrent urinary tract infections

Cervical caps can be worn by most women when they are not menstruating. They can be used by women whose pelvic muscles are too relaxed to hold a diaphragm in place. Some women cannot be fitted with existing sizes.

Compared to the diaphragm, the cervical cap may be more difficult and time-consuming for a professional to fit and for a woman to learn to insert and remove.

Women who are not comfortable touching their genitals will probably not like the diaphragm or cervical cap.

It is not wise to use a diaphragm or cervical cap during any kind of vaginal bleeding, including menstruation. Infection may result.

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Genital Hygiene for Women

In our society, it is common to talk with children and adults about cleanliness. But because we are uncomfortable with sexual communication, we often avoid talking about sexual hygiene. It is important to learn that sexual cleanliness does not mean elimination of all natural odors. In fact, some natural odors can have erotic effects. However, cleanliness does mean the elimination of odors caused by bacteria and other microorganisms that can grow on the body.

Washing very gently between the folds of the vulva with warm water and a mild soap is all women need to do to keep their genitals clean. If you are sensitive or allergic to even mild soaps, a soft rubbing around the folds of your labia while sitting in a tub of warm water should do the trick. All you really want to do is remove sweat and bacteria from around the vulva outside your vagina.

The inside of the vagina cleans itself-—mucus, semen, menstrual blood, and discarded cells from the walls of the vagina flow out. The vaginal walls and the cervix also produce fluids that are white or yellowish in color. These secretions are normal and healthy. The smell, taste, and thickness of the fluid changes with your cycle. They also change when something is wrong, so it’s a good idea to know how your vagina usually smells. You won’t know how your healthy vagina smells if you cover it up with perfumes and deodorants or wash your smell away with douches. These products are unnecessary. If you are healthy and wash regularly, you will simply smell like a woman with a healthy vagina.

Many different bacteria and organisms live in a healthy vagina, including some that can cause vaginitis. They don’t usually cause any problems because there are not too many of any one kind. Regular douching or irritating perfumes can upset this balance and cause vaginal infections. Vaginitis is an inflammation of the vagina that is caused by a change in the normal balance of vaginal bacteria. A common symptom is heavy and unusual vaginal discharge that is often grayish and frothy and may have an unpleasant odor. Having vaginitis can actually cause the bad odor you may be trying to avoid with douches and sprays. If you have any of these symptoms, don’t hesitate to contact your health care provider.

Some healthful vaginal hygiene tips

• Bathe regularly with mild soap and rinse well with clean water.

• Bathe before, and especially after, sex.

• Wash your hands before touching your vagina.

• Always wipe from front to back, vulva to anus, after bowel movements or urinating. Wiping

the other way could spread fecal bacteria to your vagina.

• Wear clean underwear with a cotton crotch. Other materials like nylon hold in heat and

moisture—great for bacteria, bad for a healthy vagina.

• Avoid using feminine hygiene sprays and deodorants, douches, bubble bath products, colored

toilet paper, and other people’s washcloths or towels on your genitals.

• If you really want to douche, use plain water.

• Ask your partner to practice good hygiene.

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