How do I clean my vagina?

Short answer? You don’t need to. Just like a self-cleaning oven, well, it cleans itself. Your vagina will handle its own hygiene, no effort from you required. Just like you don’t need to manually attack your self-cleaning oven with a wire scourer and some scary cleaning spray, you don’t really, really shouldn’t be going to work down there with, well, anything. No scrubs. No perfumed sprays. No douches. And definitely, definitely no steaming, whatever Gwyneth might say.

Look, we get it: Society has conditioned us to be self-conscious about “smelling bad” down there, or having--gasp--discharge. Here’s the thing: Your vagina was never intended to smell like a field of roses, and discharge is part of an extremely normal--and pretty clever--biological process that our vagina uses to clean itself. It’s how the vagina pushes out dead skin cells and bacteria. Secretions are a sign the vagina is doing its job, so instead of being embarrassed by them, we should probably be high-fiving our vagina and giving it a 5 star rating at its next performance review. (That said: It’s also totally normal for your vagina to smell different at different points throughout your cycle because your hormone levels are fluctuating. But if you start noticing any changes in colour or a concerning odour, it’s a great idea to chat with your healthcare provider, since these might be a symptom of something you might want to get handled, like an infection.)

Your vagina is actually a delicately balanced microbiome, not unlike your gut, filled with microflora and bacteria designed to work in perfect harmony. Products like vaginal washes or douches can actually wash all that good bacteria out, throwing off your pH balance and creating an environment where unwanted bacteria flourishes, and you’re at a higher risk for infections. That said, you can wash your vulva, which are your external organs. (Fun fact: Your vagina is the internal tube of muscle that leads to your cervix.) A gentle wipe with lukewarm water and a soft towel--no soap!--front to back is all the cleaning it needs.