FLORA BELONGS IN YOUR FAUNA: Tender-Loving Care Products To Nurture Your Nether Regions

Not all PHs are created equal. This is especially true about your most delicate inner workings—the vagina. It has often been colloquially deemed as a “self-cleaning oven,” meaning that it carries dead cells and bacteria out of the body all on its lonesome. Well, almost.

Our vagina relies on tons of good bacteria to help everything stay in order. It essentially has its own microbiome, and similarly to the microbiome in our guts, it needs a little tending to keep the garden tilled and blooming. This means consuming lots of fermented foods and probiotic goodies, not overdoing it with antibiotics, and getting over our obsession with sterilizing everything.

Our modern world is aggressively antiseptic in the name of good hygiene, to an absolute fault. You wouldn’t want to scrub your guts with antibacterial soap, so spare your lady bits the same! Nurture, nourish, and love your yoni with gentle, loving ingredients and products.

Firstly, use a gentle cleanser. You want to skip the fragrances, unless very naturally derived—but keep in mind that even essential oils can be a bit too intense when applied down there, so be mindful. A few drops of lavender in your bath water won’t hurt, but no need to perfume your nethers. If you ever feel the need for a refresh, opt for a PH balancing towelette.

"It’s like a facial for your vulva."

If using tampons, always go for organic, unbleached, unscented cotton. Any chemicals in traditional tampons leach into your body like steeping tea. It’s crucial to introduce as few outside materials to your vagina as possible.

If you’ve never heard of yoni steam, welcome to the world of radical self-care, baby. It’s like a facial for your vulva, and it allows steam to softly permeate the tissues on the outside of your undercarriage and gently tone and detox the uterus. Raspberry leaf and parsley are great herbs to add to your steam for a blood-building treatment post-period.

When it comes to sexual enhancements, always look for a neutral PH, fragrance-free, water-based lubricant. Bonus if it has aloe vera and gentle botanicals.

And lastly, for a little extra TLC, try a yoni massage oil. Adaptogens and botanicals moisturize and protect the delicate skin’s barrier without compromising the acid mantle or the good bacteria. So go ahead and treat yourself.