When it comes to caring for your Intimates, there is a lot of conflicting information all over the internet with the most popular question being; Is Water enough to keep you clean? The answer is No! While it is imperative that we avoid perfumed soaps, gels, and antiseptics when it comes to cleaning the vulva as they can cause irritations and allergies to that delicate area, Water alone cannot do the trick.
Naturally, an active day can make you sweaty and itchy and perhaps can give off a musty smell, almost like a body odor, especially around the intimate area which is kept covered for the majority of the day and burdened with wearing panty liners, sanitary pad or tampons.
Water is great when don’t have a feminine cleanser handy but the vulva is typically exposed to dirt, bacteria, menstrual fluid, vaginal discharge, and even semen. Our genitals also sweat! In fact, our vulva houses a high concentration of sweat glands. Just like your face, the vulva has lots of sebaceous glands that secrete oil that traps dirt and bacteria in the hair follicle. Now, have you ever tried to clean your face properly with water alone?? I’m sure the answer is “NO”.
Now imagine the vulva! The groin area secretes oil on the surface of the skin and as we all know, oil and water don’t mix. In order to give your intimates a deep enough clean, you will need a surfactant; a surfactant is a foamy agent usually found in soaps and washes, which effectively washes off the oil and dirt.
So now we know that Water is not enough, while all hygiene practices are personal, you need to consider if they’re right for you, you may decide to wash your vulva just like you would other parts of your skin. But the skin of the vulva is extra sensitive and delicate and just like our facial routine we need to choose the products we use for our intimates carefully.
Using just any normal soap or body wash can cause havoc with this sensitive skin, often these are high in alkaline, which can affect your skin’s acidic shield, causing irritation to your vulva as well as dryness. So, we need to take some time and just pay special attention to this area and wash it properly with not just any wash but an ORGANIC FEMININE WASH and water of course.