If a woman's period lasts longer than 7 days naturally, do the days after day 7 count as the monthly Niddah, or a separate uncleanness?

Question

I'm sorry that question title is so long winded! To explain, the Torah says the woman is in the state of niddah for 7 days once she starts her period. The custom today is to add another 7 days before the woman can become clean in the Mikveh. The Torah also says if the period lasts beyond the normal length of her period, then throughout the time she is having an unclean discharge she will be as if she's in niddah. However, what if the woman's period is naturally longer than 7 days?

If one's period has lasted for 8 days since her body got on a regular cycle. It is not an extra day, it isn't abnormal bleeding. She just typically still notices blood- just a little bit, but it's still blood- 8 days after her cycle starts.

If a woman's normal period is longer than 7 days, do the days after day 7 count as the monthly niddah, or extra uncleanness? And just to be clear, how does the woman count the 7 days after her period if the period normally goes longer than 7 days?

Thank you! :) I'm new at this, so I apologize if this is a dumb question. Just trying to learn!

Answer 1

The Torah says that a woman becomes a Niddah for seven days from whenever she starts her period. The rabbis later added that in order to purify herself, she must wait seven "clean" days after she stops bleeding (starting at least 4 or 5 days after the beginning of her period). In your case (which is not all that uncommon), you would simply start counting the clean days immediately after the eight days of bleeding. So while in theory other women might be able to become pure after a minimum of 12 days, it would take you 15 (which might cause fertility issues, which is another question).