Vaginal Hygiene: What is a Vulva and How Do I Keep it Healthy?

Keep Your Vaginal Hygiene Routine Simple

All the vulva needs to stay healthy is to be kept clean with water. Vaginas have a smell – a really positive, earthy smell – and that’s a great thing. It’s full of pheromones to help excite a sexual response and it’s supposed to be there.

Remember that the skin on the genital area is just skin, like on any other parts of the body. And because it’s like any other parts of the body, it’s vulnerable to any other skin infection, eczema, dry skin, dermatitis or psoriasis.

Ask the Experts If Anything’s Wrong

If people are feeling itchy and uncomfortable, have it checked out. If people self-treat for thrush and bacterial vaginosis they can start using pessaries and creams that they don’t need, when actually what they have is dry skin that just needs an aqueous cream moisturiser.

Ruth Bailey says, “Those of us who work in sexual health look at genitalia all the time. To us, it’s just a body part. We are really happy to advise and support people, but they need to come and talk to us. That can save lots of time and energy rather than self-diagnosing and treating yourself incorrectly.”

Embrace Your Pubic Hair

At the moment, it’s really fashionable to shave your pubic area. Trends with pubic hair often tend to be heavily influenced by the increased of use of pornography. Pornography will portray a vulval area where the lips are really neat and tidy – sometimes they’re made neat and tidy by surgery – and they’ll show a hair-free pubis. That’s not what a healthy vulva looks like.

Pubic hair is part of our protective system. It’s designed to protect us from bacteria and things that might get inside the vagina. People who shave it get rid of their first line of defence.

It’s also really common for people to come in to see us with something called folliculitis – inflamed hair follicles from shaving. That’s quite painful. And shaving rashes are really common. They will make your vulval area really dry and uncomfortable.

It’s important to remember that sex is for fun. It’s to be enjoyed. If you’ve got an itchy, uncomfortable vulva, it’s not going to be enjoyable.

Accept that vulvas look different

Part of being healthy is recognising that one of the fantastic things about bodies is that they’re all different. It’s really common for people to say, ‘I think there’s something wrong with me. My lips are too big. My lips are uneven.’ But it’s absolutely normal. This is you. The growth of porn has given people unrealistic expectations of what their vulva should look like. Feeling negative about how your vulva looks, how your lips look and having unrealistic expectations is unhealthy.

What’s the Best Underwear for Vaginal Health?

With your underwear, what your vulva really wants is big Bridget Jones pants. Tight clothing can be uncomfortable and stop air getting to the vulva.

Tight nylon thongs particularly will increase the risk of thrush. If you’ve got a thong that's going to be really near the anus and around the perineum, it’s a trap for bacteria. Wearing no underwear is better than wearing a really tight thong. Go for bigger underwear in natural fibres.