A Girl's Guide To The First Menstruation

The first menstruation is a huge milestone in most girls' lives, and you know it will happen sooner or later. You may have heard about getting your period from your mom, older sister, from friends, or at school, but you are probably still curious about what to expect from your first mentrual peruid — and about when to expect it.

Here, we answer the questions girls usually have about getting their first period, from what menstruation really is to how to use tampons and pads, and what to do about the weird symptoms that many girls experience before and during their very first periods. 

What Is Menstruation? 

Most girls get their first period between the ages of 11 and 14, but you can start menstruating when you are as young as nine, or you may not start your periods until you are 15. The first period a girl has marks menarche, the start of her reproductive stage of life.

What exactly is menstruation? You already know that you bleed from your vagina when you menstruate, usually between three and six days, and that it happens in monthly cycles.

The start of a period marks the beginning of the menstrual cycle — the time from one period to the next. The first half of the menstrual cycle is called the follicular phase, and it gets your body ready for ovulation or the release of an egg cell from one of your ovaries. If an egg is fertilized, it implants into the uterus (womb), where it needs a cushy place to implant so it can grow. So during the follicular phase of your menstrual cycle, the lining of your womb gets thick with tissue and blood. 

When you don't get pregnant, your body cleans the womb out again to prepare for the next menstrual cycle. Some of the blood and tissue is reabsorbed by the body, but some is expelled through the vagina. That's menstruation. 

People often say that a girl becomes a woman when she gets her first period, and that's because she can get pregnant if she has sex from that point.

Young girls often have irregular periods the first few years after menarche, meaning their menstrual cycles don't always last the same number of days. You probably won't ovulate (release an egg) every month either yet. Your periods will normally become more regular later on, but you don't need to panic if your periods are quite unpredictable in the beginning. Regular menstrual cycles can last between 21 and 35 days, with an average of 28 days. 

Read More: Signs And Symptoms Of Menstruation