At what age should you start doing this?!


Question: At what age should you start doing this?
At what age should you start washing under the foreskin of the penis?

Answers:

If you mean washing with soap, NEVER!

If you mean rinsing it with water, you start doing that as soon as your foreskin is retractable - that can be anywhere from age 4 to age 18.

Now to address some of the many falsehoods that are asserted so confidently by the uninformed whenever this subject comes up...

As for those who say you wouldn't have to worry if you'd been mutilated, that's nonsense. It's not like mutilated guys don't have to clean their penises - or if they don't bother, then EWWW! Talk about disgusting - a scarred, deformed, dysfunctional AND unclean penis.

Also, many circumcised guys have no idea that a normal foreskin may be attached to the glans well into the teenage years. So you'll get some bad advice from these folks. You cannot clean under a foreskin that is still fully attached to the glans, and as I said, the foreskin can remain fully attached (meaning attached like a fingernail is attached to a finger - not just at the base) until age 18. So, to the folks who say that you should start at birth - erm, no. It is physically impossible to clean under the foreskin of a newborn without seriously damaging the penis.

As for the idea that smegma causes infection, as ignorant folks often confidently assert, wrong again! The beneficial bacteria found in smegma actually prevent infection. Yes, smegma can smell, as any guy who has smelled a woman's vagina before she takes a shower can attest (women have far more smegma than men), but if you retract and rinse your penis occasionally, it won't be an issue - smegma really doesn't build up that quickly.

As Mithras says, you're lucky to have your foreskin. As he says, the mucosae of the foreskin and glans contain Langerhans cells that produce langerin. This protein actually attaches to viruses and causes them to be encapsulated by the Birbeck granules inside the Langerhans cells, leading to the safe degradation of the viruses. Without the foreskin you'd have fewer Langerhans cells and consequently less langerin to fight viral infection. This may be one reason why STDs such as HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) and the human papillomavirus (the virus that causes genital warts and cervical cancer in women) are much more prevalent in countries where circumcision is common.



Parents should teach their sons to wash under the foreskin before they cease supervising their baths.

Your foreskin should be fully, freely and painlessly retractable from the age of about 8 and you should be washing under it daily from then onwards.

It is absolutely vital to wash under the foreskin at least once a day (and preferably both morning and evening) from the onset of puberty as a waste product called smegma starts to collect there and needs to be removed to prevent infection and bad smells.

When washing under the foreskin you need to use soap as with the rest of your body. Smegma is based on stale body oils and hence will not wash away with water alone. However, you should rinse off the soap well before returning the foreskin to cover the glans.



It depends on how old you are, but if you have an account on here you should be old enough to start now.
When you were born your foreskin was fused to your glans, and you would not be able to retract it. At that time you just wash the penis like you would a finger, you don't force the foreskin back.
At some point, usually before the onset of puberty, the foreskin will detach from the glans, and you will then be able to retract it. From that stage, you should retract the foreskin and wash underneath it with clean water, just do it every day in the shower, and you'll be fine.

The age that you are able to do this varies, it could be as young as 8, or it could be the mid teens. Basically, if you can retract it without any pain, you should be cleaning under it.

A word of advice, if you do need to use soap, only use a mild one, and make sure you rinse it off fully, as any remaining soap may cause the skin to dry out.

Personal experience, and basic human biology.



Ignore the comment about circumcision. If you were circumcised, you would not have all that nerve rich tissue that the cut guys are missing out on.
Often, circumcised men promote circumcision to validate their own sorry state.
You are very fortunate to still have your foreskin,....as I pointed out in an earlier response to another question you had.
Do not worry about washing under the foreskin untill you can comfortably retract the foreskin.
Don't listen to anyone who claims you need to force the skin back to clean under there. Nature has this well in hand.
The foreskin/glans combination produce a powerful anti microbial compound called Langerin. Langerin wards off bacteria and keeps this area clean, and disease free,.....just like you are now. So you know it works.
Just retract gently now, and let the warm shower water flush away any excess accummulation of secretions and you will be fine.
As you progess with the retraction, you can rinse more of the glans each day until you can fully retract,.
After that, it is a simple rinse with clear, clean shower water and no soap each day.
There is no set age,....just clean what you can comfortably expose,
Mithras



If you havent already, start now. I only realised I was suppost to wash their till like I was 14. Im 14 3 months later now lol. Stupid parents not telling me anything....



Long before now! Smegma buildup can smell like dead fish - and can also cause infection.



Birth.



You wouldn't have to worry about it if you were circumsized.




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