Sex Education: Hygiene For Vulva Owners

We need to start a video. A few months ago, we did a video all about how to take care of your penis. And this was in response to a DM that we got on Instagram from somebody saying, I've never been taught how to do this. Can you make a video about it? We got so much great feedback for that video. And of course, we got asked to make a video about vulvas. So we are back today with a video about how to take care of care of your vulva. Before we get into it though, we want to know, did anyone ever teach you how to properly care for your vulva? If you're a vulva owner, leave us a little cat emoji in the comments below if you did.

All right, but first, if you're brand new to our channel, then we want to say, hi. We are Vanessa and Xander Marin. Vanessa here is a sex therapist and we've been together for 15 years. And hey, I'm not going to tell you how to take care of your vulva, but I'm here for moral support.

Our account is all about giving you the tools, tips and techniques that you need to create a truly extraordinary relationship inside of the bedroom and out. So if you're interested in that, just go ahead and hit that subscribe button.

Alright, well, I'm gonna set Vanessa up, so why don't you give us the tips, babe?

All right, let's start with one of the most important ones. Only wash your vulva with water. Yes, you heard that right. No soap. This is something that blows so many people's minds. They've never heard about this before, but so can actually cause irritation on the delicate tissues of your vulva.

It doesn't matter what type of soap, right?

Yeah, it doesn't really matter what type of soap. Any kind of soap can cause disruption, can cause irritation. And ironically, if you're really scrubbing away at soap, that can lead to worse odor. Sometimes people ask, okay, what about, like, Summer's Eve Vagisil? There are a lot of products that are specifically marketed as vulva washes. Those are actually some of the the worst. So avoid them. Seriously, all you need is water. So let's talk a little bit about the logistics of how to clean yourself off. So all you need is that warm water. You just need to rinse yourself off. You can use your fingertips to really get into the folds of your labia. Make sure you're cleaning all around. If you really want to, you can use a very soft, gentle, clean washcloth. It's not really necessary, but if you feel like it helps, you can use that. So you want to get into the folds of the labia, because dead skin cells can build, especially in those inner labia in particular. So you might see, like, a sticky white substance, a little bit of a buildup. You just want to use your fingertips and that warm water to gently, gently wash that away. Once you get out of the shower, a quick little pat dry can be really beneficial. The vulva doesn't like to hang out being really wet. And that's why you also hear things like, don't sit around in wet bathing suits, so you can just gently pat it dry. Next, want to make sure that you are not using any sort of deodorants, deodorizing sprays, fresheners. Very similar to what I was talking about with, like, the Vagisil and the Summer's Eve. There are a lot of products that are marketed to keep vulvas fresh. Your vulva does a great job of cleaning itself out all on its own. It does not need any help. And a lot of these products, ironically and frustratingly, are very irritating to the vulva. The vulva does not, like, stick. It does not like a lot of chemicals that can actually disrupt the pH balance. And like I was saying earlier, ironically, can lead to more odor. So nothing on the vulva. You do not need any products, I promise you.

All right, but what about before or after sex? Is there anything that you should be doing?

Yeah, so a lot of people feel like they're supposed to be showering before and sometimes even after sex. Again, these things are just not necessary. You don't have to shower before, you don't have to shower after. We do have a separate video on Is Sex Dirty? We'll link to that as well. But you don't need to do any special cleanup. If you do feel like maybe you had a really intense day, you were working out, doing a lot of physical labor, or anything like that, you can freshen up with an unscented organic baby wipe. Again, this is totally not necessary. But if you're just feeling like you want a little bit of a cleanup, and the idea of, like, getting into the shower and using that warm water on yourself just feels like a little bit too much. The unscented organic baby wipe can work in a pinch.

All right, well, what about this? We get DMs from people all the time asking, should you shave or should you wax? For hygienic purposes.

Okay, for hygienic purposes, no, you do not need to remove the hair from the vulva Again, kind of the theme of this video is like, just leave the vulva alone. It's fine. It can take care of itself. So there's no hygienic reason to remove it if you prefer. If it makes you feel more sensation, it makes you feel more sexy, go for it. But there's no hygienic reason to do it. And our final tip is to wear clean underwear. So you want to change your underwear every day. Cotton tends to be the best material. It's just easy and breathable. And if you can, at night, it's really great to let the vulva breathe a little bit. So that could be sleeping in loose fitting shorts or. Or nothing at all. It's just great to give the vulva a little bit of space to breathe at night. All right, well, that wraps up our video on how to take care of your vulva.

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Thanks for watching.

See you next time.