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00:00The questions that I got that you guys, you know, that you need to answer are ones that are, I'm sure, plaguing a lot of people out there because we just don't really know. And it's something that we don't really talk about. And as a man, I'm like, I don't know the answers to these questions. I want to know. Right? So the first thing is, the organization's called Hunting Pot. Right?
00:24So the, the, I introduced each one of you. Can you introduce yourself so everybody can know exactly what your representation is and how you are with Hunting Pot?
00:34Yes. So I'm Beatrice Dixon. I'm the co-founder, CEO, Chief Innovation Officer here at the Hunting Pot.
00:41Okay. The Hunting Pot.
00:42The Hunting Pot.
00:43Okay. All right.
00:43You can say Hunting Pot. That's okay.
00:45All right. Okay.
00:45And I'm, and you know, I'm, and I'm sure all of us can agree. It's really nice that we're being, that you're moderating for us being a human without a vagina.
00:56Thank you. I appreciate that.
00:58I'm grateful for you feeling confident and comfortable to be able to do that because all the humans in here came from a vagina.
01:06Exactly.
01:07Right?
01:07And, and, and, and, and, and as an, as an aside to that, I mean, I'm vaguely challenged, right? You know, but however, every man in this room was a woman at first.
01:17Yeah, it's true.
01:18Every man was masculinized after the conception to be a man with testosterone. So we were all women at first. So we can pass. You're going to say what you, what, what you present and represent with the Hunting Pot?
01:31Yeah. So I'm AJ, and I'm actually the founder of Sula Labs, which is an R and D lab that develops products for black owned brands and retailers like Target, Sephora, and Unilever.
01:42And with the Hunting Pot, I am a chemist that is also here to discuss some of everything that would be involved around the vagina to give some of that chemistry perspective, especially as it pertains to darker skin tones.
01:54Beautiful. Nice.
01:55Hello. My name is A-Leon Treadwell, and I am the owner and founder of Relevant Laboratories. It is an R and D lab that creates products for vaginas.
02:06Okay.
02:07Cosmetic products, but I'm here teamed up with Honey Pot Call as a chemist.
02:11Okay.
02:13My name is Dr. Wendy Goodall-McDonald. I'm actually a board certified obstetrician gynecologist, and with the Honey Pot, I also help to just lend some expertise
02:21and understand how these products interact with the vagina and their safety.
02:25Okay. Thank you very much.
02:27I'm going to hand it back over to you.
02:29And so the first thing that I think people need to recognize is, and I've always taught this to my patients, the vagina is a self-cleaning organ.
02:39It is.
02:40Okay. Go into that.
02:41But the vulva isn't.
02:42Exactly. Go into that. Because I think people are like, what's the difference between the vulva and the vagina?
02:49People don't even recognize the difference.
02:51Because I tell them, take a mirror, put it down there, and look.
02:54Exactly.
02:55Know what you look like.
02:57Exactly.
02:58So the vulva is essentially the external part of your vagina.
03:03Your vagina is inside your body.
03:07So, yes, the vagina is a self-cleaning oven.
03:11If you were to clean the vagina, you would be using something like a douche or something like that.
03:16Or, you know, some people, when they wash up, they put their finger inside a little and clean.
03:21Right?
03:22It's a thing.
03:22People do it.
03:23Right?
03:24And so when you do hear the words, the vagina is a self-cleaning oven, it actually is.
03:30When the pH is balanced, the way that it's supposed to be, which Dr. Wendy and these beautiful humans can talk to as well,
03:40then it's operating the way that it's supposed to.
03:43It has to have a balance of good bacteria and bad bacteria.
03:46You don't want too much of the bad.
03:48You need it to be kind of a yin and a yang.
03:50Right?
03:50And when you try to introduce cleaning products, you're probably going to wash out the good and the bad.
03:57And then that just leaves you unprotected.
04:01Right?
04:02And so, yes, the vagina is a self-cleaning oven, but your vulva is not.
04:06It would be like saying whatever's happening under the skin under your arm is self-cleaning.
04:11Right?
04:12But your underarms will be stanky if you don't clean them.
04:16Exactly.
04:17So I want to just jump right in.
04:18You can use my mic.
04:19So we talked about balance.
04:23Everybody out here has had some situation where they had some bacterial vaginosis.
04:28Things are out of balance because you have antibiotics and all these things that you have to take.
04:33Tell us about that balance.
04:35I think we'll come to you and talk about how you, chemistry-wise, can relate to make that balance better.
04:42So to kind of piggyback on what V was just saying, the self-cleaning component, the balance,
04:47I like to liken it to a rainforest, okay?
04:50So a rainforest is supposed to have certain types of animals, certain types of plants, certain types of organisms.
04:55You would not take a water hose, a fire hose to, you know, the ecosystem of a rainforest.
05:03And so in the vagina, you have the good bacteria, the lactobacillus acidophilus, that release the acid that allends to that acidic environment that the vagina is supposed to have.
05:13But if you have too much, say, Gardnerella or Motopobium, which are the bacteria that cause bacterial vaginosis, or candida, albicans, and there's all other kinds of candida, that's what's going to give you a yeast infection.
05:25But if you have enough of the lactobacillus in place, that will help to prevent that.
05:30So if you find yourself washing or pushing things in the vagina, you will take out that lactobacillus and leave room for the bad bacteria to come in there,
05:39like if the rainforest were to be able to have an overgrowth of certain types of frogs or something like that.
05:44Not that we have frogs in our vagina, you know, I'm not saying that.
05:46But I'm just saying, you hear me, you feel me.
05:49I got it.
05:51And so, so, so, so.
05:53Okay.
05:54Sorry, I'm sorry.
05:55So, you're a chemist.
05:58Yes.
05:59And so what you are trying to do is say, what kind of products can I make so that it would be advantageous to balance the vagina amongst all the stuff that the vagina has to go through every day?
06:14Absolutely.
06:15Okay.
06:15So that is not only a, and just to kind of speak to what Dr. Goodall and what,
06:19he was saying, there is a lot of variation in that area, especially in regards to pH, in regards to moistness, in regards to even the bacterial composition.
06:28And a challenge that chemists have not only in the vagina, but around the whole body is that there's a natural environment that we need to be able to complement, right?
06:36When we develop a cleanser, we need to develop cleansers that won't, like, essentially interfere with the natural environment that our bodies are.
06:43So when I develop products, I want to be able to complement it, especially in regards to our physiological differences as black people, as darker skinned people, in regards to other products as well.
06:55What are those differences?
06:56Yeah.
06:57Do you want to speak to something?
06:58Yeah.
06:59Some of those differences is, um, our genes.
07:03So, like, how white people would respond to parabens is not the same as how we would.
07:08So, parabens, we talked to you guys, which is parabens?
07:10It's a preservative.
07:11Explain that.
07:12Yeah, explain what we mean.
07:12So, the preservative is, um, it's a synthetic preservative.
07:16It can be naturally derived, but majority of the time it is synthetic.
07:19And that can have issues with our genes, and we're just finding out now that women are, black women, are developing more breast cancers because of parabens.
07:29Where they wasn't seeing that in research with white women, they're starting to find that in black women.
07:33So, to, um, AJ's point, we try to make products that are naturally based or naturally derived, and we also want to complement the, um, the pH balance of the body so that, um, it won't throw anything off.
07:47So, so, what are the things, what are the ways that the black women are getting the parabens, and explain to them what pH is?
07:57Because people say pH all the time, pH balance, pH balance, what is pH?
08:00Yeah, that is a great question.
08:02So, the pH scale is a scale that was developed by Linus Pauling that shows how hydrogen ions and how alkaline ions react in any given solution.
08:13So, for example, we have water right here.
08:15The natural pH of water is around 7.
08:18That's with no additives, no minerals, no nothing.
08:21The pH scale goes from 0 to 14, where 0 is the most acidic that you can get, and 14 is the most basic or alkaline that you can get.
08:29So, your vagina's pH is actually acidic in that it's between 3.5 and 4.5.
08:35Your skin's natural pH on your body, on your face, etc., is between 4.5 and 5.5.
08:40So, as chemists, we actually need to be able to develop products that can complement all of that, right?
08:46All of that variation.
08:47And to the point that y'all were talking about, about black women, there's a McKinsey & Co report that shows that black women contribute the most dollars to the beauty industry, right?
08:56And, you know, when people develop products for our hair, it needs to be different.
09:00And we've seen that in the way that innovation works in the skincare industry, they're not extending that to the rest of the body the way that they should, especially given our buying power to the industry, especially given our cultural practices into the industry, right?
09:13Like how black people are less likely to wear things like sunscreen because they're just not developed correctly for us.
09:19And so that's why things like the honeypot, and B, if you want to speak to a little bit more about the genesis of the company as well, is super important because for us, by us, it's more than just a slogan.
09:28That's why we have black doctors, black chemists, black entrepreneurs.
09:34And another piece that, to her point, to add to that, black women are not included in research.
09:40So we are, we don't know what affects us and how it affects us until we actually use the product.
09:46So when you ask, like, how can we get in contact with hair events, it's through our hair products, it's through our skin products.
09:54And most of the time when products are developed in major labs with major corporations, and AJ and I have talked about this, where there are conversations in rooms with chemists saying, oh, black people don't care.
10:05They don't care what goes in that product.
10:07They'll buy anything.
10:08And so they'll find the cheapest ways to source raw material, the cheapest ways to manufacture products for us, where, with the honeypot cold,
10:16they've done a lot of research to find out what actually interacts with us and what works for us and what doesn't.
10:23So a couple of things.
10:25So I'm a physician.
10:26I have a clinical trial facility.
10:28We mentioned this earlier with the breast cancer situation.
10:31You must become a member of clinical trials.
10:34You are a superwoman if you are in a clinical trial.
10:38And the reason why is because in the final analysis, if you want to know what's going to work well for us, we have to have people in the clinical trial.
10:46And I think it's so important because as we move forward, we can't think about Tuskegee anymore.
10:52Tuskegee happened.
10:53It was an egregious thing.
10:54But we should know from COVID-19 that if we are not in the clinical trials, these women will not be able to get the data that they need to make things best for you.
11:04So with that being said, how did you come up with the idea, or who did, of Honeypot?
11:10I did.
11:10And where is it based?
11:13What products do you make?
11:14So the way that the idea came about with the Honeypot company is I had bacterial vaginosis for almost a year.
11:23Literally, it would go away and come back every single month right after I got my period.
11:28Why did that happen?
11:29Because when your period comes, your pH raises.
11:33And wherever your pH was before it raised, it's going to go back there.
11:39And so it's almost like your pH raised, I always liken it to a bill.
11:47Your account was already at $0, and then a bill came through, and then it took you down to being negative.
11:54And so it's very similar.
11:56So every month, because my pH was already off, I would get back to your vaginosis because when it tried to go back down,
12:03it could have been too acidic or it could have been too alkaline.
12:07And it was probably going more towards being neutral or, you know, more towards the alkaline part of the scale.
12:13And the blood is 7.4 pH.
12:17Yes, yes.
12:17Okay, it's very different than the skin or in the vagina.
12:20So these things are very, it's a very delicate balance.
12:23It's a very delicate balance.
12:25And so I would go to the doctor.
12:27I would take clindamycin and Flagyl and, you know, everything that you can imagine.
12:34I lived on medicine every single month.
12:36It would go away and come back.
12:39And then one morning I had a very vivid dream with my grandmother who transitioned when my mother was very young.
12:46And she told me that she was following me and she had seen me struggling and that she knew how to fix it.
12:52And she gave me a piece of paper in the dream.
12:55We were just sitting at a white, everything in the room was white.
12:58The table was white.
12:59We were wearing white.
13:00Everything was white.
13:01And she handed me a piece of paper and it had a list of ingredients on it.
13:05And she just told me, repeat, remember these ingredients.
13:09Because I was trying to talk to her because I've never seen my grandmother.
13:13I wasn't even thought of when my grandmother died, right?
13:16And she's like, that's really not why I'm here.
13:19I can't be here long.
13:20And so I literally just repeated those ingredients over and over and over again.
13:26And it felt like I repeated them like a hundred times.
13:29And finally she told me, wake up.
13:31And I woke up.
13:33And I have chills because she's here right now.
13:36And thank you.
13:38I know that's right.
13:39And I'm just really grateful.
13:44I really, really am.
13:49Sorry.
13:51It's okay.
13:52Give us some applause.
13:53Let's go.
13:53Come on.
13:54Give us some applause.
13:54If you think as a black person that your Madea doesn't come to you at night, you crazy.
14:02Yeah.
14:03We all have that.
14:05Some of us can see it better than others.
14:06But when she gave you, when she gave you that ingredient list and you came up with this
14:12and said, I'm going to do it.
14:13But here's the thing.
14:14I didn't come up with it.
14:15She did.
14:15But that's what I mean.
14:16I mean, you keep touching your mind.
14:17Yeah.
14:17And so literally I woke up and I kept a pen and paper by my bed and I wrote it down.
14:24And I worked at Whole Foods at the time.
14:27So I went to work.
14:28I compiled all the ingredients.
14:30And then I made myself a formula.
14:31And the crazy thing is that I used to be a pharmacy technician for like 10 years.
14:37I'm so grateful because everything that I have ever done in my freaking life has prepared
14:43me for this moment.
14:44Everything.
14:45Every job I've had.
14:47Every person I've run into.
14:50I mean, I worked in every type of pharmacy.
14:52I worked in compounding labs.
14:54I worked in IV rooms.
14:55I worked in chemo labs.
14:56I was like, so I knew, my grandmother knew that if she gave me those ingredients that
15:01I could figure out how to do the math to create myself a formula.
15:05And I did.
15:06And that is what is now our normal feminine wash.
15:09And so I used that wash because I had bacterial vaginosis at the time.
15:14And it was awful.
15:16It was shitty.
15:17I mean, can you imagine?
15:18Every single month.
15:19And I'd only went through it for a year.
15:22I received love notes from customers who've been going through it for like 10 years.
15:27Right?
15:28And more.
15:28And so I started using it right away.
15:32And then literally four to five days later, I realized, because every time I would go to
15:37the bathroom, I would smell myself.
15:39Every single time.
15:40And I still do it.
15:42Because the PTSD is real.
15:43Right?
15:44Because it makes you uncomfortable.
15:47It makes you not have confidence.
15:48You don't want to have sex.
15:50You don't want, you know, you want to make sure when you get in the car.
15:54I remember one time I got in the car and everybody in the car could smell me.
16:01This is a real thing.
16:04We got to bring it out in the forefront.
16:05And I felt so ashamed.
16:08And, you know, and so at this point, my whole lot in life, my life's work is helping people
16:15to not feel ashamed about whatever they got going on with their body.
16:19No illness under the sun is new.
16:22Not even COVID.
16:25You know what?
16:25Let me throw this at you.
16:27It's really important.
16:29When we start thinking about the loss of our culture through the middle passage, we talked
16:36about it earlier.
16:37Why does everybody in here think you put butter on a bird?
16:40Because that's what we were taught.
16:42It was just the worst thing you could ever put on a bird.
16:45But you put, from Africa, you put, and I don't like to say Africa, it's countries.
16:50We know that, but, but let's just say from Ghana, you put cocoa butter on a scar from a
16:57bird.
16:58Right.
16:58So you can see how through the middle passage, we lose these things and then we try to recreate
17:03them and mess things up.
17:05Which is what?
17:05And they're oral.
17:07You know, African traditions are oral.
17:09They're orally passed down.
17:10They're not, and they're practiced, right?
17:13And so, you know, so the way that this company got started is my grandmother came to me in
17:19a dream, told me what to do.
17:20It worked.
17:21And then when I was sitting on that toilet going pee and I smelled myself and I realized
17:26that whatever I had going on was gone, literally in that moment, I was like, this is what I
17:31do now.
17:32Here you go.
17:33Yeah.
17:33I'd love to add something because earlier you touched on the fact that the inside is
17:38a self-cleaning organ, but the outside is not.
17:41But what we put on the outside can affect the inside.
17:44Because it's all one thing.
17:46Because it's all one thing.
17:47It's not that we are not talking about washing the inside of the vagina to stop your BV, but
17:53what you put on the outside affects everything.
17:55And my daughter told me right before we left for this trip, Mommy, we're almost out of
17:59the sensitive wash because she's six and that's what she uses on her vulva.
18:04Literally, she knows I don't put anything else there but the honeypot sensitive wash.
18:09And when we got here and she was in the shower, I said, don't put it there.
18:13Don't put it there.
18:14Wash the rest of your body and only use water on the outside because we're not putting any
18:18old thing on our vulva.
18:20But we do need to clean it because otherwise your chair air, I heard that when I was younger,
18:24your chair air, when you get up and you're like, ooh, who is that?
18:28That chair air will tell the story if you don't end right.
18:30It will.
18:31It totally will.
18:33But it's, yeah.
18:35I agree.
18:36And I know that this is a vaginal wellness panel, but what B was saying really, really
18:41spoke to me personally because I can, I mean, I don't want to speak for all four of us here,
18:46but I know for me personally, that is also exactly how my company started as well, where I was
18:52essentially forced out.
18:54I, my background is in clinical research and I would go to work every day throwing up.
18:59My boyfriend is in the audience.
19:00He can attest to this.
19:01I would be throwing up.
19:03I wouldn't want to go to work.
19:04I hated it because I go in every day and I see clinical research for skin being done on
19:10people that don't look like us.
19:12And I thought that I had to keep going in order to be in this industry.
19:16And my, my parents are from Ghana.
19:19I'm from Ghana.
19:20And I thought they were going to keep telling me to work and work and work, but they said,
19:23no, like leave, start something for us.
19:27And that's an oral tradition.
19:29That's exactly how all of this has continued.
19:31That's exactly how we're building these empires.
19:33And I look around and I see us at things on panels and I, I'm using the honey pot, which
19:39I started using when I was 19, when I was in college.
19:42And it's crazy how all of these things come full circle from just passing down these sentiments
19:47that are so important to us.
19:49It made me realize that it's not skincare that I'm passionate about.
19:52It's skincare for dark skin.
19:54It's not just vaginas that I want to help with, you know, alleviating ailments.
19:58It's vaginas for black people because we've always been left out of the conversation.
20:04And we've been talking about this all day.
20:06We've been talking about this all day.
20:08Black people are often left out of the conversation.
20:10And that's what makes the honey pot very unique because they added us to the conversation and
20:16conversations that we were not even considered in.
20:19As a physician, I know that you know, and Dr. Wendy, you know that the mortality rate for
20:23black women given birth in America is extremely high to the point that a lot of black women
20:28are afraid to have children.
20:30And so now that we have companies in place that's helping us take care of ourselves,
20:35making us more aware, you know, to your, you know, to credit the honey pot, women are coming
20:40to say like, because I'm taking care of my vulva, I'm starting to check my breasts.
20:45And I'm starting to find, you know, to see if I had a lymph node.
20:48Like a lady told me at the stand the other day, she found a node just because she was taking
20:52care of herself.
20:53That's why she's a loyalist to the Honey Pot Code.
20:56So we need to support and continue to build these brands, but also to support your black
21:01chemists, you know, support us.
21:03And like, you see a black chemist somewhere, give her a high five because you don't know
21:07what room she's sitting in and how she's advocating for us.
21:11And you know, whether like with AJ and I, we both have to take our own path with building
21:15our own labs because we were excluded out of conversations to be able to make products
21:19for us that really actually work for us.
21:22It's almost like it's come full circle because we started out talking about, you know, early
21:28this morning about getting your preventive health screening, what tests you need for
21:33your preventive health screening.
21:35What as an OBGYN do you think women out here need to hear so that when they come to you,
21:42they don't have these types of things.
21:44It's obviously used the Honey Pot, but what other things, things that you could eat, things,
21:49you know, is there anything else that they need to know about keeping this balance and
21:54keeping it appropriate?
21:55So that's such a great question.
21:58And it's going to come, it's going to have such a simple answer, which is really to live
22:02our healthiest lives.
22:03To know that the way this country is designed, it is actually not designed for us to be healthy.
22:09It's not designed for us to be healthy.
22:10And that goes down to even our foods, even what's available in the local corner store.
22:15It's easy to grab, it's easy to eat, but it's not good for us.
22:19And it actually, the things that we eat are the things that some of the developers of these
22:24foods would not feed to their kids or their dog.
22:26You know what I mean?
22:27So we have to be really mindful of the fact that there is a force at work to keep us at
22:33the bottom.
22:34Do you see what I'm saying?
22:35Like, and I sound so conspiracy theories, I know I do, but it's true.
22:38Like, it's literally true.
22:39That's what Essence is about.
22:40It's literally true.
22:41It's literally the playing field of this.
22:43So water, it's fruits and vegetables.
22:47It's not relying on the quick fix, the quick supplement, although some supplements are great
22:52and I do support, you know, things like boric acid to like reset the pH and probiotics.
22:57Okay, I don't mean to interrupt, but I guess I do mean to interrupt.
23:01I hear people say that I don't mean to interrupt.
23:02I'm sorry.
23:03I'm sorry for interrupting.
23:05Boric acid.
23:06Yes.
23:07Now, women, when you hear boric acid, when I was growing up, even my mother would say
23:13you kill ants with boric acid.
23:15So what is the deal?
23:17What is the deal with the pH, the BV, the boric acid?
23:21Because people need to know that.
23:23I'll speak to it if anybody else has to add to it.
23:25You know, boric acid is my go-to as a gynecologist, which says a lot because douche and things,
23:31like, that's like a four-letter word to a gynecologist.
23:33Like, do not wash away the good things in your vagina.
23:36But the pH of the vagina thrives when it's more acidic and boric acid resets that pH.
23:42So I think of things I travel with, my own soap, my boric acid.
23:47Like, I keep, it's in my bag right now.
23:49You think I'm playing.
23:50So because I don't want to, I want to be able to keep myself healthy and balanced.
23:54And it is safe.
23:55And it's one of the few things that is safe for the vagina.
23:59So that's one, and that vagina is the inside.
24:01Remember, that's not the outside.
24:02That's the inside.
24:03Boric acid is great.
24:05Good to know.
24:06Boric acid is a safe acid to use in that particular place.
24:10It's been found universal.
24:12So it's safer than a low dosage of, like, you know, sulfuric acid or hydrofluoric acid.
24:18So that's all something that keeps your body balanced and safe.
24:21It also is easy to formulate with as well.
24:23It's not like a side, like a side, a random piece of raw material, but it's actually a really good piece of quality material.
24:31I've had patients to tell me, I don't know what to take because my doctor told them to take this boric acid, and I'm not doing that.
24:38And they don't, yeah, right, right, don't take it.
24:41Don't eat it.
24:42Don't eat it.
24:43Don't eat it.
24:44It goes in the vagina.
24:45But they would not use it because they thought that it was bad, that the white doctor was telling them something bad.
24:51So I think this is something.
24:53Yeah.
24:53And I wanted to say, too, as it relates to taking care of yourself.
24:59Sorry.
25:01Look, everything will be fine as long as you don't say cash money for the $9,900 to $2,000.
25:06If you say that, it's over.
25:07So I'm just saying, just be careful.
25:09No, but make sure that you look getting your hormones checked.
25:14Make sure that if you can that you're eating organic, right?
25:19If you're going to eat chicken, get pasture-raised chicken.
25:22Because if it's not pasture-raised and it's too big, it probably ate soy and corn.
25:27And that's not what chickens eat, you know?
25:29It's better to eat well so that you don't have to pay for it later, right?
25:35And maybe going the extra mile, if you can, talk to a functional doctor, right?
25:42That can actually partner with your normal medical doctor because they kind of look at you as a soul in a way.
25:49They're not necessarily just measuring you based on what the typical, you know, yeah.
25:54And the functional doctors, functional medicine doctors are MDs.
25:58They are.
25:59They're MDs that just decided that they wanted to look at the entire body and mind and spirit as a balance.
26:05So, if you have a functional medicine doctor, that is a good place to go.
26:09Yeah, because it encompasses naturopathic medicine, eastern medicine, western medicine.
26:16And these aren't necessarily things that black people know about.
26:20We weren't necessarily privy to this, right?
26:23Things like acupuncture.
26:24I know, you know, I know that all these things are, you know, can be looked at as esoteric, but they work, right?
26:30Making sure you're getting your spine checked out, you know?
26:33And making sure, like I said, that your hormones are in balance because if your hormones aren't in balance,
26:39then that can just make for anxiety, depression, weight gain, and everything else.
26:45And sugar retention.
26:46Exactly.
26:47And one thing I want everybody, every woman in this room, every woman in this room,
26:52if you are having hair loss, constipation, feeling crazy in the head, which everybody feels crazy at some point,
27:01but the constipation, weight loss, and feeling cold, okay?
27:05Please get your thyroid checked.
27:07That hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's thyroidism, is one of the biggest things that makes African American women
27:14and all women feel crazy in the head.
27:18And it's such an easy fix if you fix it.
27:21Sometimes it's not such an easy fix, but most of the time it's easy.
27:24But if you have those symptoms that I mentioned, weight gain, constipation, hair loss, feeling cloudy in the head,
27:32and feeling cold, go get your hormones checked in daily.
27:35And the last thing that I'd like to say, and this is not cheap to do, but it is something worth saving up for,
27:42understand what you're allergic to.
27:46I have a gluten allergy, a soy allergy, a dairy allergy.
27:50Doesn't mean if I'm on a trip like this, I may not, I'm going to eat something I'm not supposed to eat.
27:55But in my normal life, I need to be conscious and aware of that.
27:59A lot of times, if you have food allergies and don't even know it, your body is out of balance.
28:05And you're probably eating it all the time, and it's messing you up.
28:09So, you know.
28:10So, we got one minute left.
28:14Okay, no, no.
28:14But I want each one of you to tell the take home, and then we'll take a couple of questions.
28:19But I want each one of you to have a sec.
28:21So, my take home is, if you can, educate yourself on ingredients.
28:26On your labels, on your skincare products, whatever you put in or on or around your body.
28:32Educate yourself on ingredients.
28:33My Instagram for Sula is at Sula.Labs, and we talk about ingredient breakdowns for things that are beloved products in the community.
28:42It is super important to know that and to trust the source that you educate yourself from.
28:47So, definitely make sure that you're doing that.
28:49That is my 100% take home.
28:51And also, you know, just love yourself.
28:54Like, that's what this is all about.
28:57Love yourself.
28:57So, my take home is make sure you support brands that support you, that brand owners that look like you, that are for you, because they are developing and designing products for you.
29:11This is not just for us, black, for us, by us, just because we're black, but because these brand owners are really taking things serious, and they're passionate about our health and what goes into our products and what goes into our bodies.
29:24So, make sure you take care of yourself by taking care of your community.
29:29It'd be too, like, apropos for me to say, go see your gynecologist, but go see your gynecologist.
29:35Well, thank you, girl.
29:36Thank you, girl.
29:37Go see your gynecologist, because we also can help to evaluate.
29:40Make sure that you are safe and you are healthy and that the things that you may presume are going on are actually what's happening versus maybe something else altogether.
29:47And decrease your sugar intake, because that will also help your vagina.
29:50Decrease your...
29:51We've said that a million times in a day.
29:53The white powder that's killing America is sugar, not cocaine.
29:57Sugar, salt.
29:59And if you think you're not addicted to sugar and salt, just try to quit.
30:03You'll be like Gator on Jungle Fever looking for a damn...
30:07Go ahead.
30:07I'm sorry.
30:08Go ahead.
30:09My ending point is, look, we at the Honey Pot, we are for real.
30:16We do this for real.
30:19We are committed for real.
30:21This is not a game, right?
30:24Money and the fame and all the things that happen, that shit is just a byproduct of success.
30:32We do this because we love humanity, we love society, we are absolutely insane about vaginas and we love them and it is the root of your body.
30:44It is how humans come into the planet.
30:45It is how humans come into the planet.
30:47It is how humans are made.
30:49We are radically, radically committed to that, right?
30:53And so, what I want you to leave today is to say, be radically committed to your health and wellness.
31:01If we can't say one thing that we learned today.
31:02Doc in the back.
31:03Doc in the back.
31:04Look.
31:05Look.
31:06Be radically committed to your health.
31:07Just like you're radically committed to everything.
31:08If we can't say one thing that we learned today.
31:09If we can't say one thing that we learned today.
31:10Doc in the back.
31:11Look.
31:12Be radically committed to your health.
31:13Just like you're radically committed to everything else you like.
31:14Because you have one body.
31:15Now, let me answer some questions.
31:16I know y'all might have a few questions.
31:17Uh-oh.
31:18Look.
31:19Look.
31:20Look.
31:21Look.
31:22Look.
31:23Look.
31:24Look.
31:25Look.
31:26Look.
31:27Look.
31:28Look.
31:29Look.
31:30Look.
31:31Look.
31:32Look.
31:33Look.
31:34Look.
31:35Look.
31:36Look.
31:37Look.
31:38Look.
31:39Look.
31:40Look.
31:41I know y'all might have a few questions.
31:42Uh-oh.
31:43Look.
31:44I got a lot of questions.
31:45Oh.
31:46All right.
31:47Do you want your question, babe?
31:48You good?
31:49Oh, come on.
31:50Don't be scared.
31:51Don't be scared.
31:52Hi.
31:53So, my name is Kareem.
31:54I am a New Woman's Health Board Certified Nurse Practitioner.
31:57Congratulations.
31:59So, I have a question.
32:00That's hard.
32:01Yeah.
32:02So, I have a question for Dr. Wendy.
32:06Yes.
32:07So, how do you kind of tie in what Western medicine is so strongly emphasized to your practice
32:16and give, I guess, good advice to black women?
32:20Because a lot of patients have tried everything, including black-owned feminine products, and
32:25just nothing works for them.
32:26So, how do you deal with giving those patients advice?
32:30Well, I'll say that I try to listen to all of my patients, right?
32:38And hear exactly what they've been through and what they're experiencing.
32:41And I try to broaden testing.
32:43I mean, there's not just one kind of bacteria that causes bacterial vaginosis.
32:47There's actually like five.
32:48And not every antibiotic or antifungal or, you know, certain types of treatment will work
32:54for every individual.
32:55And so, there are, there, sometimes a person is like, oh, I've gotten this five times.
32:59Well, why would somebody, what's the definition of insanity?
33:01Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?
33:04Sometimes you need to try something different.
33:05So, I do get creative and I do tell my patients about boric acid and I do test them for the
33:10multitude of bacteria and antibiotic resistance to those bacteria.
33:15So, it's important to just be broad with your testing and treatment.
33:18Can I say something, too?
33:20You guys, if you are susceptible to yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis, you need to shower a couple
33:27times a day.
33:28You need to keep wipes with you so that if you, I'm going to say it, this is TMI, but if you
33:33go poo throughout the day, toilet paper is not enough.
33:37If you have, if you are susceptible to infections, you need to clean yourself up with a wipe or you
33:43need to be able to use some soap and water because that kind of bacteria can contribute.
33:50Right?
33:51And you've got to keep yourself together.
33:53And the other thing, do not use a wash cloth when you're cleaning the front and the back.
33:58All you need is your hands.
34:00Clean hands because wash cloths carry bacteria.
34:04So, those are some other things to consider because, because sometimes it's, it's, it's, it's,
34:11it could be what that human is doing on a daily basis.
34:14Okay.
34:15So, as a, as a person who is vaginally challenged, they have some brothers in the room.
34:21What does the intercourse, sexual intercourse, have to do in relation to the bacteria?
34:30Oh, man.
34:31So.
34:32We should have answered that.
34:33We should have asked that first.
34:34So, I'll let these humans talk to it as well.
34:38Semen is actually alkaline.
34:40You know why?
34:41Yeah.
34:42Because it, right.
34:43Because it carries a human being.
34:46It couldn't be acidic or, or, or, or nothing, nothing could live in there.
34:53If, if your vagina is, is, is, has a pH imbalance, and then your partner releases inside of you, that just threw you off even more than what you were already off.
35:06Right?
35:07And so, it's very important to understand what's happening with your body.
35:11Bacterial vaginosis has ruined relationships.
35:14And it doesn't have to.
35:16It's literally just a chemistry thing.
35:18Right?
35:19Exactly, exactly what you just said.
35:22It's completely a chemistry thing.
35:24Because, like we said earlier, the pH of your vagina is between 3.5 and 4.5.
35:30The pH of semen, as we tested at the station, is around 7 to 8.
35:35That is a huge, huge, huge jump.
35:38So, you need to make sure that you're addressing all of your daily sort of practices.
35:43Make sure that you're having those conversations with your partner in regards to what that needs to look like in order for both of you to improve it.
35:50And some men, some men are more basic than others.
35:54Exactly.
35:55Not basic men.
35:56I'm saying, the semen is more basic.
35:58Exactly.
35:59I don't know what to do.
36:00Some men are basic.
36:01And basic meaning neutral, which is around a 6.
36:04Right?
36:05Yeah.
36:06And what they eat and all the things.
36:08Also, make sure everybody washes up before you get busy.
36:13That's not what I'm saying.
36:14Right?
36:15Wash your hands.
36:16Take a shower.
36:17Do not just come home and just get busy.
36:19No, that's not the vibe.
36:21That is not okay.
36:23And then when you're done, when you're done having sex, you need to get up.
36:27Do not lay in the wet spot.
36:29Do not be comfortable.
36:30Get up and get in the tub and wash up.
36:34Get in the shower and wash yourself off.
36:37Everybody needs to do that.
36:39It's a thing.
36:40It's commitment.
36:42I'm really passionate about this.
36:44Radically committed.
36:45Radical commitment to that.
36:47I have been told so many times, not so many times because I'm just not out here like that,
36:52but you know, that I have been picked on because of how committed I am to my vaginal wellness.
37:00Right?
37:01Yeah.
37:02I got to take a shower.
37:03I'll add one more thing to that as well.
37:08His diet will definitely affect your vagina.
37:12So even if you don't drink beer, if he drinks a beer that's full of yeast and he, you know, it releases in you.
37:21That's a good one.
37:22If he releases in you, guess what?
37:24The yeast that's in his sperm is now in your body and it's going to throw your pH off.
37:29So his diet matters to your body as well.
37:32Wait, I'm sorry.
37:33I saw her jump too.
37:34Okay.
37:35Really, really quick note.
37:37It's also not binary.
37:38So, you know, it's completely not based off of, you know, sex and gender.
37:43It's really important to know that this goes across the entire, entire spectrum.
37:47No matter what you identify as, it's not just by, it's completely a spectrum.
37:51I'll say one quick thing, which is that not only should he both, they, whoever it is shower,
37:57but also it's what they're showering with.
37:59Are we using Axe?
38:00Like super fragrance body stuff?
38:02Axe body spray.
38:03Axe body spray.
38:04It's going to be a problem.
38:06So just make that a problem.
38:07Washing hands.
38:08Washing hands.
38:09It's all of that matters.
38:10Washing out.
38:11Especially if you're susceptible.
38:12Like it's not, some people it might not matter.
38:14Y'all can just come in off the street and do what you got to do.
38:16But some people it's going to really matter.
38:18Well, I think what you have to know is yourself.
38:20If you know that you're having these issues, then you need to address the issues.
38:25Like with babies, we say don't use Johnson & Johnson baby lotion because it's going to break your baby out.
38:31Not all babies, but some.
38:33And if you need to do that, you should change.
38:35So we have a lot of questions.
38:38All right.
38:39Okay.
38:40Here we go.
38:41I'm coming.
38:42I'm coming.
38:43No, no.
38:44Good afternoon, everyone.
38:46I think this is a wonderful conversation that is very necessary.
38:51First thing, can we get all of your social media so that we can follow you?
38:56I missed yours, but I would have to have all of yours.
38:59But I want to touch on the bathing.
39:02Now, should we not use regular soap?
39:05Should we?
39:06Okay.
39:07It needs to be made.
39:08It needs to be.
39:09What are the ideal products to use?
39:13Listen, I am never going to just tell you to just use Honey Pot just because it's my brand.
39:19You use what works for you, right?
39:21But Honey Pot has literally been made to the same pH that your vagina lives in.
39:27So our products are always going to fall between a range of 3.5 and 4.5, right?
39:34Using something that's made primarily with water.
39:38Our products are made primarily with water.
39:40They have floral hydrosols.
39:42They're made with apple cider vinegar.
39:44We have garlic in them.
39:46We have marshmallow root.
39:47We have Shadavari root.
39:49Both of those are mucous membrane type of herbs, which essentially help your mucous membranes to help themselves, right?
39:56If you don't know what a mucous membrane is, your eyes, your mouth, your throat, anything that requires liquid to operate, the vagina is a mucous membrane, right?
40:07And so our products have garlic in them.
40:10They have everything.
40:11It's like food.
40:13It's really important to use plant-derived, naturally-derived skincare.
40:18Now that does not mean that there won't be a preservative, an emulsifier, a surfactant, because we're literally blending water and oil.
40:27And when you have a product that's made primarily with water, guess what can happen?
40:32Bacterial growth.
40:33So it has to be preserved properly.
40:35So don't be afraid.
40:37Don't have a chemophobia, you guys, of things like phenoxyethanol and things like, because there's nothing wrong with that.
40:44You need that.
40:46Exactly.
40:47And when products are made, it takes a long time to be ready for them to get on shelves, because there are so many testings that don't need to be done, especially in an industry like the vaginal health industry, in which it's so under-regulated.
41:00And so Honeypot actually goes the extra mile to do what chemists and researchers call a repeat insult patch test.
41:09That is what I would say I would watch out for, for anybody with sensitive skin.
41:13Look for products where the marketing materials say that they are RIPT tested.
41:18Everyone write that down if you have sensitive skin.
41:20Honeypot products are RIPT tested.
41:22And what that means is that they actually went through a clinical trial panel in which they can test on participants, and they can see, did you, they can assess for burning, itching, stinging, sensitivity, hypoallergenicity.
41:34That is the most important testing measure that I would say any product you would need to go to in order to render it safe for any sensitive skin.
41:46And also, I'll add to that, preservative testing is a key factor because if the product is poorly preserved, that means that the product has bacteria in there.
41:55And that means that that's going to further throw off your pH because of the bacteria growth and it can also cause health issues as well.
42:02Just to tie in, the products for the vulva are so important to be, to have all of these attributes because our skin is very different than the mucous membranes.
42:12I can use the hospital body wash on my armpits.
42:15That's no problem because that skin is actually thicker, it's keratinized skin.
42:19Whereas the vulva and the vagina, the inside, does not have that keratin which is a barrier that will not allow those things to get deeper into our system.
42:28So that's why it's so important for products that are going into these areas.
42:31You've called the vagina a mouth before, it's like another mouth.
42:34And it does matter what we put on it or around it.
42:37Yeah.
42:38Oh, I was just going to ask if you can specify like what would you recommend for a daily regimen?
42:46Like besides, you know, washing with things that you've talked about.
42:49Some people have mentioned boric acid.
42:51Like what's an ideal regimen for your vaginal health?
42:55So an ideal regimen is think about what you just do in your normal life.
43:00You take a shower.
43:01Most people take a shower every day.
43:02I take a shower two or three times a day.
43:04So literally having the right vulva wash, you can use our wipes on the go.
43:10So they're really great for if you're on your cycle.
43:13If you go number two while you're out during the day, you know, healthy gut is important.
43:17Using, we also make probiotics.
43:21That's really great because they're actually lactobacillus acidophilus.
43:25So by taking that, they actually have a patented, it's a patented tablet so it can make it past your gut and get to where it needs to get to to release that acidophilus.
43:35If you, you know, some people use panty liners on a daily.
43:39If you have vaginal dryness, we make a vulva cream that's really, really beautiful.
43:45It's based with coconut oil and coconut cocoa butter and vitamin E and lavender and honey.
43:51It's gorgeous.
43:52So that can be a daily regimen.
43:53If you have vaginal dryness, you literally want to put that on your vulva, like on your labia minora, which is like when you open up your lips.
44:04Right.
44:05So on, on the inside of your lips, right.
44:07You would just put that on the same way you would put lotion on your skin.
44:11Um, you know, so, um, you know, if you're susceptible to UTIs, then we make a, we make a urinary support health product where it can be proactive for you.
44:22If you're susceptible to yeast infections, we have a yeast supplement called yeast support.
44:26Like we, so, you know, doing these things on a daily basis is really powerful because it keeps you, it keeps you well and making sure that you're clean and dry.
44:37If you, if you're a person who sweats a lot or, or who has a, or, or who has, um, a lot of discharge, which some people are just, some people just have a lot of discharge.
44:48There's nothing wrong with that, but you probably need to keep an extra pair of panties in your bag, right?
44:53Moisture, moisture can be a problem in any mucous membrane with a static fluid.
44:58So always remember that if you have a lot of moisture, you need to deal with that as well.
45:03And that's the third thing.
45:04I have one thing.
45:05Um, a young, young doctor here wants to say a few words and then I want everybody to know they're going to be here for a minute.
45:12So we'll have some more.
45:14You can go and ask them the questions, but we're going to have to probably move this thing.
45:17That's fine.
45:18Okay.
45:19So yes, ma'am.
45:20Hi, I'm Dr. Burks.
45:21I'm a doctor in public health.
45:23So I want to just thank Essence.
45:27Thank everyone for being here.
45:28And what I want to say is what's very important is I'm disappointed at the small room, right?
45:34But we have a small room, but we know that each one of us can tell somebody.
45:39We can't keep the information to ourselves.
45:42We have to tell somebody.
45:43I do a podcast called the rhythm notes of health podcast.
45:47And what we do is we strictly talk about what affects us, right?
45:53We ask questions.
45:54I don't allow the doctor to use big words.
45:56I say nobody knows what that means, right?
45:59Right.
46:00We make it fun.
46:01We have questions.
46:02I go out into the community.
46:03I literally got my doctoring not to work at the CDC, but to be out on the ground with us so I can know what our problems are.
46:13And I started with women's health.
46:15And then the men said, well, what about us?
46:17So now I do women's health and men's health.
46:20And so we have doctors on.
46:21We talk about prostate.
46:23We talk about colonoscopies.
46:25And we talk a lot about women's health.
46:27And I always feature Honeybot, African-American people who are doing things for us as well as independent artists.
46:36So make sure you tell somebody, right, what we're doing.
46:40Tell somebody about health.
46:42So the next year, it can be a lot of us in the room talking about health because health is wealth.
46:48And if we don't have our health, we're just getting old on walkers and wheelchairs.
46:53We're not being old and being healthy, right?
46:55So thank you, ladies, very much.
46:58So can I just say, I just want to piggyback on that.
47:03Health is wealth.
47:04That is the real wealth, you guys.
47:06Wealth is not money.
47:07Money is made up in our society.
47:09So we would stop killing each other for land, right?
47:12It's a social construct.
47:14Your health is your truest wealth.
47:17That allows you to be able to live your life, to have your big dreams, to do all the things you want to do, to make all the money, to do it.
47:24If you're not healthy, you can't enjoy that.
47:27So thank you guys so much.
47:29Well, ladies, I just want to thank you.
47:31I have a seven-year-old daughter, and so I'm going to be buying a lot of your stuff, all right?
47:36All right.
47:37So, but I will tell you, thank you so much.
47:39This is the kind of stuff that we don't talk about enough, but today I think we have talked about it.
47:44As a matter of fact, I got a lot of people that want to answer some questions.
47:46So give it up for the ladies on the Honeypot Code.
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