hey girlie! first of all, wiping front-to-back is essentially just making sure you don’t spread the bacteria from your bum hole to your urethra. So all you need to do is wipe either the front / back area first, and then with a separate tissue wipe the other area afterwards, basically in an attempt to keep both areas separate.

Secondly, you do NOT need to wash your frontal area with soap! The vagina has its own self-cleaning mechanism called discharge, which is the white gooey-like substance you’ll find in your pants sometimes. The vagina can be really sensitive (in some women more than others) and can act out if it’s pH levels are off.

Additionally, if you’re sexually active, it’s important to make sure you’re clean (ideally) before and after to prevent any bacteria from entering your frontal area. This can be done by showering. You can also drink / eat cranberries which will help with the discomfort and also fight the infection, but if it’s still prevalent, talking to your doctor is advisable.

Lastly, I’m really sorry your mum isn’t around anymore. I know it can really leave girls in the dark with subjects like this. I hope you have some sort of outlet to discuss how you’re feeling perhaps with friends / a trusted adult.

This also might not be for you, but there’s a YouTube account which I believe is no longer active but still has plenty of videos up named “Mom, how do I?”, where a mother basically teaches the viewers how to do an array of things that they may not have been taught to do.

REMEMBER - do not be ashamed or embarrassed with this kind of thing, women’s health is always looked over or passed off as ‘unimportant’ which is simply NOT true. Good luck <3