What It Means When Your Vagina Smells Fishy, Metallic, or Just Plain Funky After Your Period

When it comes to talking about vaginal smells of any sort, I’m firmly on “Team Normalize That Vaginas and Vulvas Aren’t Supposed to Smell Like Fruit or Flowers” because, well, that’s not what they are. In fact, a perfectly healthy vagina can smell sour, bittersweet, or metallic due to normal variations in vaginal flora (aka the mix of yeast and bacteria within the vagina) caused by anything from changes in your diet or your sweat levels to hormonal shifts, and yes, your period. But what does it mean when a vaginal smell lingers post-period or