Confused about washing 'under' the foreskin or not. Naivety

Johnnyboy1989 · Newbie Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 2

I'm 17 and upon randomly surfing the web today (don't ask me what I was looking for as I have no idea), I discovered that it was the usual practice to wash under one's foreskin when bathing or showering. This worried me as I cannot ever remember retracting the foreskin of my penis so that the glans frenulum bit (is that what it's called?) has been exposed and washable, so to speak. It doesn't occur during masturbation or any other activity, so I'm really very confused. I got the impression that I have to retract the foreskin over the head of the penis to wash the area suitably but nobody has ever told me that this is what I have to do! I smell some faint odours emanating from that region from time to time but I just assume that this is normal, as I have never been told otherwise. In fact, I remember hearing somewhere that urine cleans 'under the foreskin' anyway..

I know of the phenomenon that is smegma, and upon pulling back my foreskin as far as I could until I started to feel some discomfort, I noticed that there were one or two small white-yellow spots, which I proceeded to clean to what thought was an adequate extent.

Was that where I needed to clean? Is that 'under the foreskin', or do I have to clean the exposed head of the penis, which I have never even previously contemplated doing before, indeed which I haven't even seen?!

I'm really quite concerned about this, as it is something that never even occurred to me before a few hours ago and has been portrayed by many an Internet article as the most natural thing in the world.

Is it what everyone has to do? It's never even crossed my mind before, and I'm worried about whether I've been incredibly naive for all these adolescent years. Embarassed

Thanks.

Guest · Guest

The head or 'glans' of the penis does need to be cleaned, preferably on a daily basis. The foreskin should be pulled back to expose the entire glans. If you have tried to do this and your foreskin is too tight then you need to stretch it carefully. The way to do this is, in the shower, pull back the foreskin as far as you can without causing discomfort. If you can see the lip of the glans and a little of the shaft then you are probably ok. If you cannot see the lip of the glans then you need to pull it back a little further being carefull not to cause too much discomfort. Do this a couple times a day being sure to clean the glans and foreskin every time and within a week or two you will notice that the foreskin will pull back to expose the entire glans.

Confused about washing 'under' the foreskin or not. Naivety

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