From period scooping to menstrual masking: the strange science of viral period hacks
Period scooping sounds like something you would only hear in a biology lab, not while doom-scrolling TikTok. Yet earlier this year, videos claiming you can “scoop out” your period to avoid the mess and shorten the whole thing racked up millions of views. Some people were pushing in the shower using pelvic floor muscles. Others described using water, fingers, or even objects to “clean out” menstrual fluid.
In the final episode of the first season of The Conversation’s Strange Health podcast, co-host Dan Baumgardt and I watched the clips, winced a bit, laughed a bit, then did what we always do: we asked an expert what is actually going on inside the body.
I spoke to Sally King, a visiting fellow at King’s College London and founder of the evidence-based menstrual health project Menstrual Matters. Her first point was almost disappointingly simple: you cannot shorten a period by “scooping”. Menstruation is the shedding of the uterine lining, triggered by hormonal changes and helped along by uterine contractions. Once the process is underway, removing fluid from the vaginal canal does not stop the uterus shedding tissue. It might make you feel less “full” for a moment, but it does not end your period early.
Where King’s tone sharpened was on the version of “scooping” that involves washing inside the vagina with water or soap, essentially douching. This is not harmless hygiene. The vagina is self-cleaning and has an acidic environment that supports protective bacteria. Flooding it with neutral water or alkaline products disrupts that balance and is linked to infections such as bacterial vaginosis, and in some cases more serious reproductive health problems.
If the motivation is smell, discomfort or discharge, the answer is not Dettol or “feminine washes”. It is proper treatment and, crucially, a culture where people feel able to ask for help without shame.
Read more: ‘Dirty red’: how periods have been stigmatised through history to the modern day
Then there videos raving about “emergency period stop” drinks. Lime juice. Tajín. Shots of whatever is trending this week. King was blunt: there is no scientific basis for any food or drink instantly halting a period mid-cycle. Menstrual symptoms can change from month to month anyway, which makes it easy to mistake coincidence for cause, especially online where confirmation bias thrives.
And yet not all viral period content is rooted in disgust. Some of it is a backlash against stigma. The most eyebrow-raising example is “period masking”, where influencers smear menstrual blood on their faces and claim the stem cells will transform their skin.
King’s verdict was half delighted, half exasperated. Menstrual fluid does contain unusually interesting stem cells, and scientists are investigating them for regenerative medicine. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, researchers reported promising results using menstrual blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells as a treatment in severely ill patients, but these were processed cells delivered in a clinical setting, not a DIY face mask.
Read more: Menstrual health literacy is alarmingly low – what you don’t know can harm you
These trends flourish in the gaps left by poor menstrual health education, including in medicine. King argues that we still teach about menstruation primarily as a prelude to pregnancy, rather than a complex biological process with its own functions and health signals.
If a hack relies on shame, secrecy, or the idea that your body is dirty and must be “fixed” fast, it is probably selling you something, even if what it wants is only your attention.
Strange Health is hosted by Katie Edwards and Dan Baumgardt. The executive producer is Gemma Ware, with video and sound editing for this episode by Anouk Millet. Artwork by Alice Mason.
If you’ve got a question about a viral trend or video you’ve seen and you’d like us to delve into the science behind it in a future episode, please email us at strangehealth@theconversation.com.
Listen to Strange Health via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.
Katie Edwards is Commissioning Editor, Health and Medicine at The Conversation in the UK. Sally King is the founder of Menstrual Matters- the world's first evidence-based info hub on menstrual health and rights.
Dan Baumgardt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.