This article was originally published on Teen Vogue as a part of their weekly series called “Loving Your Ladyparts,” where they discuss everything you need to know about what’s going on below your belt. 

Chances are you have a pretty decent idea what is happening when you get your period: Your uterine lining builds up, hopes that a sperm meets your egg, gets its hopes dashed when there’s no baby, then sloughs it all off. Cue the pads and tampons. But as we all know, there’s a lot going on in — and coming out of — the vagina the other three weeks of the month. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]What exactly is all that gooey stuff?[/inlinetweet]

Dr. Judith Hersh, MD, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who specializes in pediatric and adolescent gynecology at Central Jersey Women’s Health Associates, has the answers. “It depends on where you are in your cycle and what hormones are dominant,” she explains. So how your vaginal secretions look will change week by week.

Pre-period: Before you get your first-ever period, you may notice that you have a lot of white/grey sticky discharge that can be irritating to your vulva. “It’s a warning that you’re going to get your period in the next 6 months,” Dr. Hersh says. “When you look under the microscope, what you see are mature vaginal cells that are sloughing off. It’s really just the lining of the vagina ramping up and the cells are going from immature to mature.” Dr. Hersh notes that sometimes girls and their moms assume it’s a yeast infection and treat it with over-the-counter medicine, which can just cause more irritation. “The best way to address it is with water to keep the area as clean as you can and add a protective barrier like A&D ointment or coconut oil — something to protect the vulva, but nothing medicated,” Dr. Hersh recommends.

Your period (week 1): Your period can start out red or brown, and usually lasts 4 to 7 days. According to Dr. Hersh, it takes up to two years for the “brain and ovaries to get their communication mature enough that a girl gets a regular cycle.” Having shorter or longer periods is normal during that time. Seeing clots is also normal, but if you’re soaking through your clothes or pads, or becoming anemic, see a doctor.

Week 2: Right after your period, you get a short break where there’s little to no discharge. As the week progresses and your estrogen rises, it will get whiter and creamier, and may look yellowish on your undies. According to Dr. Hersh, this is because it changes color when air hits it. It’s completely normal and expected.

Week 3: Around day 14, more or less, your body is at its most fertile and your secretions reflect this. “For the 24 hours that you are most fertile, what you get is this discharge that looks just like egg white. It suddenly goes from being white to clear and very stretchy,” says Dr. Hersh. Yep. Egg whites. There’s even a name for the stretchiness of the secretion, which doctors use to predict fertility: spinnbarkeit. Hersh cautions that it can be very “goopy” and you may need a panty liner.

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Week 4: After the egg whites go away, progesterone takes over and the secretions becomes thicker and white, though Dr. Hersh notes that it will likely be thinner than the secretions you saw during Week 2. It should have no odor, and isn’t very irritating. It will start to thin out, and then you get your period, and the cycle starts all over.

When you are sexually excited: As you get excited, blood flow increases to the vagina, and causes a clear fluid called transudate to seep through the walls. The fluid is a lubrication to make sex comfortable and to help sperm get to their ultimate destination.

In addition to all the normal stuff coming out of you, here’s a quickie primer on abnormal secretions — what causes them and what they look and feel like. As always, if you are worried, seek out medical help:

Yeast: It will look thick, white, and clumpy, and is often compared to cottage cheese. Your vulva may look really red and raw.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV): Dr. Hersh calls the vagina a “beautifully integrated neighborhood,” with a lot of friendly bacteria and yeast living in harmony. BV occurs when one of the bacteria takes over — it’s not a sexually transmitted infection. The discharge will be a grayish color, feel irritating, and smell like fish.

Gonorrhea: It doesn’t always produce a discharge, but when it does, Dr. Hersh says, it will be heavy and grey, yellow, or green, and “gross.”

Trichomoniasis: It will show up as a heavy, grey, sometimes frothy, irritating discharge.

The best way to not get too freaked out about all this is to make yourself acquainted with…yourself… so that you know what “normal” looks like for you.

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Image Credits – Fabiola Lara

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