Decoding Your Vaginal Discharge

Like most women with other things going on in life, you probably don’t give your vaginal discharge much thought. As long as it looks and feels normal—that means clear or white and watery to slightly sticky, depending on where you are in your cycle—you have no reason to be concerned. 

But when something in your undies looks or feels off, that sounds alarm bells. Maybe there’s a lot more of it than usual, the color is weird, or you’re hit with a whiff of an odor that you know can’t be good. Before you panic and buy out all the creams and sprays in your local drugstore’s lady bits aisle, read our discharge decoder.

It's Clear to White, Wet, and Stretchy
It’s Probably: Ovulation. This slippery discharge appears during the middle of your cycle; it’s your body’s way of making it easier for sperm to slide into your vagina and fertilize an egg. “Discharge at ovulation can be copious," says Alyssa Dweck, M.D., ob-gyn in Westchester, New York and coauthor of V Is for Vagina. "I often hear from patients who are worried something is wrong, but it’s normal.” No wonder this type of sex is the kind women prefer when they’re ovulating!