If you've ever wondered if you're actually doing skincare right or just throwing money at pretty jars, this episode is for you. Starting with a viral TikTok trend that encourages women to use their own period blood as a facial mask (spoiler: dermatologically, it's a hard no!), Lisa and Heather delve into their own skincare routines and talk about what dermatologists say actually works. We tell you the three products skin doctors say you truly need and explain why the "clean" and "organic" labels on expensive products often mean less than you'd think. We also get real about lasers, Botox, fillers, and hereditary features that no amount of skincare will change, before taking a deep dive into how skipping moisturizer might raise your risk for dementia and vascular disease. Packed with myth-busters, this is the skincare conversation you'll want to send to every woman in your group chat.

Products Mentioned:

Lisa's Picks:

Now that the "one glass of red wine is good for you" advice has been officially retired, is any amount of alcohol safe or is it essentially just poison on the rocks?

Show Notes

Alcohol use: Weighing risks and benefits, Mayo Clinic, 2024

Quitting alcohol for your health, Mayo Clinic, 2026

The IARC Perspective on Alcohol Reduction or Cessation and Cancer Risk, New England Journal of Medicine, 2023

Is Any Alcohol Good for You? New Health Risks, US News & World Report, 2026

From razor ads that invented a "problem" in 1915 to the J Sisters' salon that made the Brazilian a household word, Heather and Lisa trace the strange, sometimes prickly history of female hair removal — and why, a century later, the bush is having a comeback moment. We dig into how advertising, the bikini, Playboy, and enthusiastic celebrities shaped what women do (and don't do) below the belt, what OB-GYNs actually recommend, and why Gen Z is putting down the wax strips. Plus: the triumphant high-fashion return of the merkin.

History of removal of leg and underarm hair in the United States Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_removal_of_leg_and_underarm_hair_in_the_United_States

Hair or Bare?: The History of American Women and Hair Removal, 1914–1934 Barnard College (Hansen, thesis PDF) https://history.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Hansen_HairOrBare_2007.pdf

The History of Female Hair Removal Women's Museum of California https://womensmuseum.wordpress.com/2017/11/22/the-history-of-female-hair-removal/

How Gwyneth Paltrow's "Life-Changing" Brazilian Bikini Wax Helped Dominate U.S. Beauty Trends WWD https://wwd.com/pop-culture/culture-news/brazilian-wax-j-sisters-trend-gwyneth-paltrow-celebrities-1235594910/

The Women Behind Brazilian Wax New Rain Eyebrow Threading (BBC-sourced account of the J Sisters) https://newraineyebrowthreading.com/the-women-behind-brazilian-wax/

The Brazilian Wax: A History & Culture The Yoni Temple https://www.theyonitemple.com/post/the-brazilian-wax-a-history-culture

The History of the Brazilian Wax Sweet Pea Waxing https://sweetpeawaxing.com/history-of-the-brazilian-wax/

Pubic Hair Removal among Women in the United States: Prevalence, Methods, and Characteristics (Herbenick et al.) ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1743609515327326

Pubic Hair Removal among Women in the United States (PubMed listing of the Herbenick et al. study) PubMed https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20646183/

Historical and Social Contextualization of Female Pubic Hair Removal ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287329005_Historical_and_social_contextualization_of_female_pubic_hair_removal

To Shave or Not to Shave: An OB-GYN's Guide to Pubic Hair Care American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) https://www.acog.org/womens-health/experts-and-stories/the-latest/to-shave-or-not-to-shave-an-ob-gyns-guide-to-pubic-hair-care

The Bush Is Back in 2025 — Just Ask Skims Vogue, 2025 https://www.vogue.com/article/full-bush-in-a-bikini-trend

Pubic Hair Removal Practices among Women, 2024 Women's Health (PMC) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11558735/#section24-17455057241296982

Pubic Hair Grooming Trends: 2016 vs. 2024 Prevalence Data PMC / National Library of Medicine https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10926629/

Another Bloody Podcast is hosted by Heather O'Neill and Lisa Pierce Flores. Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, X, and YouTube.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10542509/

• Reinventing the Vaginal Speculum: Women’s Health, University of California, Irvine, 2023

• Screening for Cervical Cancer, Obstetrics & Gynocology, 2026

• Wellcome Collection's history of the speculum, including the Pompeii find and the Sims/Graves lineage


• The controversial Dr. J. Marion Sims, International Urogynecology Journal, 2020

• Statue celebrates 'Mothers of Gynecology' at Black women's birthing conference, NPR, 2022

New speculum designs:

When YouTube creator Jesse Ridgway (McJuggerNuggets) and his wife Audrey announced on X that they'd terminated a pregnancy after a Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) diagnosis, millions saw it — and the backlash was immediate. Death threats. Viral condemnation. Coverage in People.

The response from abortion opponents was predictable. But the disability community also pushed back, challenging how Ridgway characterized Down syndrome and what life with an intellectually disabled loved one actually looks like. Lisa, the mother of a child with autism, watched this scandal erupt in real time — scrolling between posts while her son competed at the Special Olympics Summer Games. 

This week, we unpack what happened, what it reveals about the abortion debate, and what the disability community wants you to understand.

Sources & Further Reading

Jesse Ridgway's X Announcement

"Jesse Ridgway speaks out on death threats after ending pregnancy due to Down syndrome"

"Mom of Son with Down Syndrome 'Vehemently Disagrees' with View It 'Isn't a Blessing'"

Living With Down Syndrome

"Abortion Experiences, Knowledge, and Attitudes Among Women in the U.S."

Family & Individual Needs for Disability Supports (FINDS) Survey

"Down Syndrome Births Rise Unexpectedly"

"Study: Down Syndrome Births Up"

“Abortion Experiences, Knowledge, and Attitudes Among Women in the U.S.”

Inspired by Jen Hatmaker’s 2025 memoir Awake, Lisa and Heather take a deep dive into the hellscape that is evangelical Christian purity culture.

A generation ago, purity culture was having a moment. Some of Hollywood’s most popular young actors and teen pop stars were publicly declaring their intention to abstain from sex until marriage. The media responded with a creepy level of curiosity about the sex lives of famous teens. And the buzz all this anti-sex talk created helped grow a movement that affected millions of teens, tweens, and young adult.

Now many of these now-adults are renouncing so-called purity culture and talking about the dark side of the movement. Purity culture survivors say the movement pressured young people to embrace an extreme definition of abstinence, made those who failed to do so feel unlovable and unclean, and created an atmosphere that fostered sexual abuse, blaming victims and protecting abusers.

We talk about the origins of the movement, why it’s losing steam, and how survivors are creating safe spaces for those seeking help and healing.

Trigger warning: In this episode we talk about rape, sexual coercion, and other forms of sexual and emotional abuse.

If you’re a survivor of religious trauma, please consider reaching out to:

The Reclamation Collective

Sources:

Awake, by Jen Hatmaker, 2025

“Evangelical Purity Culture and Its Discontents,” by Kathryn House and Sara Moslener, Theology & Sexuality, 2023

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13558358.2024.2332976

“How an Abstinence Pledge in the ’90s Shamed a Generation of Evangelicals” by Clyde Haberman, New York Times, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/us/abstinence-pledge-evangelicals.html

“Findings from the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study,” Pew Research Center

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/decline-of-christianity-in-the-us-has-slowed-may-have-leveled-off/

Ganster Capitalism, Season 3

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/introducing-season-3-gangster-capitalism-jerry-falwell/id1460320573

“Liberty University Fined $14 Million for Mishandling Sex Assaults and Other Crimes,” by Zack Montague, New York Times, 2024

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/us/politics/liberty-university-fine-crime-sexual-assaults.html

““The Liberty Way”: How Liberty University Discourages and Dismisses Students’ Reports of Sexual Assaults,” ProPublica, 2021

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-liberty-way-how-liberty-university-discourages-and-dismisses-students-reports-of-sexual-assaults

“Abuse of Faith,” Houston Chronicle, 2019

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/abuse-of-faith/

“Josh Duggar Sentenced to More Than 12 Years in Prison in Child Sex Abuse Image Case,” NBC News, 2022

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/josh-duggar-sentenced-12-years-prison-child-sex-abuse-image-case-rcna30577

If you've ever been caught without a pad or tampon and felt that flash of panic, you already understand a small piece of what millions of people navigate every single day: period poverty.

In this episode, Heather and Lisa sit down with period equity advocate Rakisha Kearns-White, who has spent the past seven years working to end menstrual stigma and provide accurate sexual health information in public spaces. With 37% of U.S. adults and 25% of students reporting that they've struggled to afford menstrual products, the numbers are striking. And as wages stagnate, social safety nets erode, and the cost of living climbs, it's getting even harder for people to afford the products they need so that they can access employment, education, and get on with their lives.

Rakisha breaks down what period poverty and menstrual equity actually mean, how her advocacy grew out of a single moment at her library branch, why period stigma makes everything harder, and how anyone — regardless of gender — can get involved. 

To help address period poverty, contact:

• Rakisha Kearns-White at [email protected]

• Period, period.org, a national organization with school and college chapters across the US that hosts period packing parties and advocacy events

• Her Period Dignity, herperioddignity.co, working to end period poverty and provide dignified access to menstrual products

• Aunt Flow, goauntflow.com, Columbus, Ohio-based organization fighting period poverty and stigma by providing free period products in schools and workplaces

• Simply the Basics, simplythebasics.org, distributing menstrual products, diapers, and personal care items to people experiencing homelessness and low-income communities across the U.S.

To help locally

Your vagina is changing, and nobody warned you. Heather and Lisa are here to give you the 411 on this 911 situation.

In this episode, we're diving into vaginal atrophy — the condition affecting roughly 50% of perimenopausal and menopausal women, where tissues dry out, shrink, and generally stage a quiet revolt. Your clitoris can retract like a turtle. Your labia can disappear. Fun times!

Heather and Lisa break down the symptoms you might not realize are connected to your hormones (like recurring UTIs, a vanished sex drive and spontaneous pants-peeing), and walk through treatment options — from estrogen patches to a fancy box of dilators.

Listen up. Your vanishing vagina deserves better.

Show Notes

Last week, President Trump gathered RFK Jr., Dr. Mehmet Oz, and a room full of pronatalists to push his fertility and maternal healthcare agenda — and hosts Heather and Lisa had a lot of feelings about it. Sure, they had a field day with Dr. Oz's declaration that one in three Americans are "underbabied" and RFK Jr.'s, er, passionate interest in teen sperm counts. (Yes, really.) But once the laughing died down, things got a lot more serious. In this episode, Heather and Lisa dig into the policy proposals that came out of that press conference — ones that could have genuinely dangerous consequences for maternal healthcare — and unpack the complicated, often misunderstood research behind declining birth rates in the U.S. and around the world. 

Show Notes

The following sources were consulted in preparation for this discussion:

The Daily Show's segment on President Trump’s press conference on maternal healthcare:

Full Maternal Healthcare Press Conference

"Temporal Trends in Sperm Count," Levine et al., Human Reproductive Update, November 2022.

“710,000 Fewer Babies Were Born Last Year in U.S. Compared With Two Decades Ago” by Brian Mann, NPR

“A Dangerous Shift in Maternal Health Policy” by Stephanie Psaki, Dara Kass and Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler, Time

“No More Babies? Nobel Laureate’s Take On Fertility Decline” by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, Forbes

Babies and the Macroeconomy by Claudia Goldin

Why So Few Births? Hoover Institution

“Funding Cut for Landmark Study of Women's Health” by Rob Stein, NPR

“What Happens to Health Research When 'Women' and 'Diversity' Are Banned Words?” by Shefali Luthra and Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th/PBS

Documentary: “Liberty Lost” 

Documentary: “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever” 2025

These organizations are working to increase women’s healthcare access:

Women’s Healthcare Access Matters

The Guttmacher Institute

Center for Reproductive Rights

This week we discuss the medically unnecessary product women were taught they couldn’t live without: the douche. About 20% of U.S. women use disposable douche products for vaginal cleansing on a weekly basis. Far more have used them at least once. Yet medical experts say these "hygiene" products are unnecessary and can even be hazardous to your health. So why, despite decades of research linking douching to increased risk of vaginitis, UTI, and even cancer, do women continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on a product nearly every healthcare expert inists they don't need?

We dive into the convoluted history of the modern-day disposable douche and a century's worth of marketing strategies designed to convince women that they ought to be ashamed of their "down there."

Show Notes and Sources Consulted:

During the recording of this episode Heather asked Lisa if there are warnings about cancer and other serious health risks like vaginitis on the packaging or marketing materials for douching products from companies like Summer’s Eve do contain warnings, but they do not explicitly convey the possible health risks from use or overuse. Instead they caution against douching more than twice a week, during pregnancy, as a form of contraception, or to treat STDs.

Douching, Office of Women's Health 

“When Women Used Lysol as Birth Control,” by Nicole Pasulka, Mother Jones, March 2012  https://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/03/when-women-used-lysol-birth-control/

“Why You Should Not Ever Need to Douche,” Cleveland Clinic, 2025

Devices and Desires: A History of Contraception in America by Andrea Tone, 2001

“Study Links Talc Use to Ovarian Cancer,” by Aria Bendix, NBC News