Skincare For The Vagina/Vulva: Taking Care Of Down There

Your skin is the largest organ of your body, and over here at QUILL, we are strong supporters of the notion that all of your skin should be pampered. Of course most of y’all know stuff like taking care of your face or hands by now. What has only been recently entering the conversation is skincare for your vagina, so here’s how you can take care of the skin down there.

Getting To Know Your Vulva

“But wait… didn’t you say vagina earlier?” you might be thinking as you read the section header. “Or was it virgina…? clean virgin? Virginia.” Okay, I’m being an ass and teasing you a bit, I promise nothing but love here. But yes, we did say vagina earlier, and the header does say vulva. To be clear, there is, in fact, a difference between vaginas and vulvas.

In short, vulva refers to the genitals that are on the outside of your body, and the vagina is just one part of the vulva. For the sake of this article, we’ll use vagina and vulva pretty interchangeably — as most accidentally do — but we’ll mostly use the proper terminology in the correct context.

What Is Skinare For The Vagina/Vulva?

Skincare for your vagina is exactly what it sounds like: taking care of the skin around your vulva to ensure it is as healthy as possible. Taking care of your vagina skin does not have to require ridiculously elaborate steps in the routine; the process is relatively simple and something that you shouldn’t have to worry about.

The skin around your vulva is very delicate and could be susceptible to irritation, discomfort, rawness, and some other conditions that you probably don’t want to be dealing with. Not only will your vulva thank you for keeping it refreshed, but you’ll also feel so much better — because who doesn’t love a fresh and clean vagina?

A Self-Cleaning Vagina

You may have heard before that the vagina is self-cleaning and that you don’t really need to do anything too much to it. And that’s true. The body is well-equipped in keeping things balanced and healthy, usually through vaginal discharge and healthy bacteria that live in the vagina.

Yes, the vagina is self-cleaning, but as long as you are comfortable with it and are using products that aren’t damaging or irritating, there shouldn’t be any harm in giving the skin around your vagina some extra hygienic attention. And, generally speaking, it’s the skin around it that you’d want to keep clean — in other words, washing your vulva.

Basically, you don’t have to wash inside your vagina, but you should wash your vulva to ensure it’s nice and clean. But I digress.

How Can You Naturally Clean Your Vagina?

Before we get into the products you can use on and around your vulva, let’s look at the simplest and most natural way to get them clean down there.

The best and most natural way to clean yourself is to simply use warm water during your regular shower or bath. You can also use a mild soap that won’t irritate your skin, but it’s not necessary.

Warm water ready, you’ll want to spread your labia/lips apart and gently clean thoroughly around the folds; do your best to not get water or soap (if you use any) inside your vagina. And that’s all she wrote.

Vulva Skincare

Something you’ll absolutely want to avoid when finding the right products for your vagina are those that are heavy in fragrances or perfumes, dyes, douches, or anything that will likely irritate you. Remember, your vagina/vulva is incredibly sensitive, so you’re not going to want to get too fancy with the products — keep it gentle.

If any of these products cause irritation or maybe things don’t smell right down there, stop using it and find another product (or just use soap and water).

Here are some of the best products that you can use for your vulva: including things like gentle foaming cleanser, or as one of my best friends likes to call it, ‘pussy soap,’ and even an exfoliator for your pubic area.