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 wipes, vulval wipes, 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 one post-intercourse, and even if they’ve been wearing one of their best sweatpants or workout 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, Jennifer Conti, MD, an ob-gyn and a medical adviser for the women’s health company Modern Fertility, tells Glamour: “Your vagina is naturally pH-balanced and doesn’t need products to do that for it.”
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). Dr. 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?
The terms vagina and vulva are often used interchangeably, but 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.
What should I look for when shopping for feminine wipes?
Online health care provider Medzino’s resident ob-gyn, Kim Langdon, MD, advises Glamour that the best feminine wipes are “hypoallergenic, fragrance-free, paraben-free, pH-neutral, and don’t contain oil or alcohol.” And don’t let marketing fool you: Beware of anything that says “odor-control” on the label. “Anything that say ‘odor-control’ is bogus if it has special chemicals to allegedly fight off odor,” Dr. Langdon says. With all that in mind, here are some ob-gyn-approved wipes for feminine care.
