Hold on, that doesn't sound pleasant at all.
There is a Korean procedure known as chai-yok, and it's all about slowly steaming the vagina with boiling herbal water. Basically, you squat on a bottomless chair and some herbalist steams your fun parts with a scalding concoction that has wormwood and mugwort and turducken and other things with Harry Potter names in it. You do this for up to 45 minutes at a time, but it's OK because chai-yok is said to help with menstrual cramps, stress, fertility issues, and hemorrhoids. Wait, did I say hemorrhoids and stress? Looks like the thing can be used by men, too! Hooray!
photonewman/iStock/Getty Images
I'll just leave this here.
The data and professional opinions on the subject of chai-yok's effectiveness are divided at best. People who have tried it describe it as terrifying heat hell on your nether regions. Still, it wouldn't cross my mind to claim that it's a hokey treatment. That's not my place, any more than that goddamn steam chair is. I'm just saying that if you choose to buy one of the many, many DIY vagina-steaming kits out there, be damn sure your knowledge of herbs is up to the task. Although my personal experience on the subject of genital steaming is limited to that one time I'm not legally allowed to discuss until 2027, I feel that when you find out the $20 bag of "relaxing herbs" you bought online and liberally administered to your hot water is actually ground naga morichi chilies and dried ferret poop, teetering at the brink of first-degree burns is going to be the least of your vaginal worries.
Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images
"WHO KNEW A BEAUTY PROCEDURE THAT INVOLVES THE WORDS 'GENITAL' AND 'BOILING' COULD GO WRONG SOMEHOW?"
452 Comments