These Feminine Wipes Are the Next-Best Thing to an Actual Shower

If you’re feeling less than fresh after a workout or a particularly hot day, one solution (other than good ol’ ventilation) is using the best feminine wipes. Or whatever you want to call them: vaginal, vulval, or personal wipes—you get it. There are plenty of reasons vulva owners like to carry various types of disposal cleansing cloths: if they’re on their period and experience leakage, if they’d like to use it post-intercourse, and even if they’ve been wearing a thick fleece pair of sweatpants or leggings (you know the ones). Whatever the reason is—and that’s between you and your vulva—if you choose to use wipes, there are a few important things to know. So we spoke to gynecologists about the need-to-know info when buying and using feminine wipes. 

Does the vagina need to be cleaned?

First thing’s first: You don’t necessarily need wipes to keep your vulva and vagina clean. As you may already know, the vagina is a self-cleaning organ, and inserting any kind of cleansing product could mess with its pH balance, Dr. Jennifer Conti, an ob-gyn and a Modern Fertility medical adviser, tells Glamour. “Your vagina is naturally pH-balanced and doesn’t need products to do that for it,” she says.

Additionally, while we may experience sweaty or musty smells on occasion, these odors are totally natural (if the odor is more pungent or you’re experiencing unusual discharge, it’s advised you make an appointment with your ob-gyn or health care provider). Conti tells Glamour that our culture has perpetuated the idea that women’s genitals are “dirty,” which is absolutely not true. “Society teaches us to believe that our natural vaginal scent and discharge is abnormal such that we have created entire industries that perpetuate this harmful belief…. Your vagina is not supposed to smell like geraniums or fresh laundry,” she says.

Are feminine wipes safe?

Vagina and vulva are often used interchangeably, and they’re actually totally different body parts. The vagina is the canal that leads to your uterus, while your all-encompassing vulva contains all your external organs like your labia, clitoris, the opening to your urethra, along with your vagina. When health experts say you shouldn’t use products such as douches, it’s because they’re inserted in your vagina. Whatever you use internally should always be body-safe and vagina-friendly, and douches are neither. If you use products internally, you run the risk of getting a yeast infection or bacterial vaginosis, which is a condition that’s brought on by a pH imbalance (BV symptoms include white or gray discharge, itching and burning, and a fishy odor). 

Using a product externally, however, is considered safer (just FYI, we’re using the term “safer” since all bodies are different and react to certain ingredients in different ways)—which is why gynecologists recommend feminine wipes over items like douches.