The best soap for your vagina.
The other day I was talking to a girlfriend about how her vagina was feeling a little off after using a non-vaginal soap in a pinch. She mentioned that she couldn’t believe that her doctor told her not to use vaginal soaps at one of her appointments. My friend was in complete disbelief that her doctor would say that and chalked it up to cultural differences. She went home and continued to use her soap as she had for years.
As she is telling me this, I am in a full-blown cringe… Now, let’s be clear. One wrong look at my vagina, and it’s completely inflamed. The thought of using soap directly on it makes my body quiver.
When I was considering writing this post, I talked to my friends about their intimate hygiene. In my close circle of friends, most of them do not use soap on their vaginas. I figured, who cares? This seems like common knowledge, and I wasn’t sure this post was valid or even needed. However, my friend that was using the soap suggested I take to Instagram to do a poll for women that use soap and those that do not use soap on their vaginas. The results were astounding. Out of those that participated, 79% of women are using soap on their vaginas.
I have talked to my doctors about this at length. Especially when I was dealing with BV or yeast. I was concerned that I needed to be using soaps and douches to get my vagina clean. Thankfully my doctors have always been team NO soap and always said to never ever douche.
What’s so strange is we are constantly fed advertisements and information about women’s soap and how our vaginas are supposed to smell like roses and taste like candy. According to Patient Info (https://patient.info/news-and-features/should-you-clean-your-vagina), the intimate hygiene industry, which is geared towards women, is estimated to be worth roughly 43 billion dollars. I can’t see that changing anytime soon because women are convinced that if our vagina smells like anything other than flowers, something is wrong with us. Here’s the thing… men have convinced us of this, and I’m not going to spend any more of this post discussing the patriarchy we all face as women but let’s get clear we need to stop allowing men to dictate what our bodies should look like, smell like, and taste like.
So, here is what you are here for. The best soap for your vagina…is NONE. See, our vaginas are naturally designed to self-clean. Our vaginal microbiome has been created to balance its pH, and vaginal discharge and fluids are there to help clean. Naturally, the mucus lining of our vagina is there to help fight against infections and bacteria. When you are using soap or anything near your vagina to “clean” it, you are impacting the natural bacteria that help bring balance to the natural microbiome and pH level.
I can guarantee you if you call your gynecologist right now and say Dr, what soap should I be using to wash my vagina, overwhelmingly they would tell you none. This is not some hippy-dippy post about soap. I’m not saying not to use soap on the rest of your body; I’m not saying let’s boycott soap. I’m simply trying to explain that you do NOT need to be using soap on your vagina.
So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty here. Do you feel like you have to use soap to wash your vagina because if you don’t, it will smell? If you are concerned with vaginal smell, and it’s noticeably fishy, metallic, or any other foul smell, there may be a problem with your vagina’s natural pH. Do not be alarmed, your body’s pH could very well be messed up because of the use of soap, but you should check in with your gynecologist. A quick vaginal swap will analyze the bacteria and determine if something is out of whack.
I think something that I have learned over the course of my medical journey is that I have often felt embarrassed about a smell my vagina is making… and every time my vagina has had some smell, I’ve had something going. The vaginal odor is our warning sign that something is wrong. Whether it be BV (bacterial vaginosis), yeast, or a Pelvic infection, it’s time to accept that our bodies give us warning signs that something is not right, and for our vaginas, it’s using a smell before its anything else.
If you feel like you are using soap because if you don’t, it will smell, then let’s first talk about how to clean our vagina without soap.
First, we should be washing our vaginas with warm water and our hand or a clean washcloth. It should be washed front to back just as we have been taught to wipe. You should be separating your labia and cleaning in between the folds with water. That’s it. That’s all it takes.
Now, if cleaning isn’t doing the trick for you, I’m going to give you a few more hot tips that I will eventually turn into their own posts, but for now, here you go. Wear 100% cotton panties, drink lots of water, and take a daily vaginal probiotic. Click here for the probiotics I take daily.
If those things don’t help keep your vagina balanced and in check, it might be time to take a visit to your gyno for that swap I spoke about earlier.
Here’s the thing ladies, our vaginas are a fantastic self-cleaning organ. Let’s stop harassing our natural microbiome, messing up our pH, and investing in an industry basically designed to make us a further commodity to make money from.
Happy washing!
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