For me, being sensual, being sexy, starts with feeling like I'm sexy. Before I even get to the point of worrying about whether I'm shaved, or whether my bra matches my underwear... I worry about smell.

You heard me – smell – and I'm not unusual. Many women have contacted me over the years asking about how to deal with feminine odor.

The ‘ecosystem’ we call our vagina is just that: a delicate balance of chemicals, moisture, and good bacteria and yeast organisms that, when in balance, keep you clean and healthy. The vagina is naturally an acidic (low pH) environment, and the microorganisms that we want to be there thrive in these lower pHs.

When this delicate balance is disturbed (by eliminated too many of one type of beneficial organism or by raising the pH to make it more basic), then you have a problem… often resulting in itching, discharge, or… odor.

In English, introducing anything that might alter the chemical balance of our favorite ‘chemistry set’— like antibiotics, over-the-counter topical treatments, douches, some lubes, spermicides, what we wash ourselves with, or even the sperm of new sexual partners — can alter the chemistry of our vagina, disrupting our pH balance, and causing the aforementioned itching, discharge, or odor (or a combination of).

The best way to combat feminine odor (and the yeast/bacterial infections that can cause it) is to help your vagina keep its natural pH balance:

~ Watch what pH-changing foods/drinks you ingest. Eat lots of (organic) yogurt helps supply more beneficial bacteria. Avoid ingesting too many acid-forming foods and beverages like sweets or coffee and alcohol.

~ Be careful what chemicals you let near your nether regions. Soap is basic (high pH) and is one of the most common things to mess with your body’s pH, so I advise using a feminine wash (there are some you can get at your grocery store, but I prefer Sliquid’s Splash Feminine Wash because their products are always 100% glycerin-free, the wash is formulated from coconut derivatives, and the people behind it are such chemistry nerds I know they are doing what’s best for my girl parts).

   FYI, here are the pHs of some of the common soaps on the market… any pHs that aren’t balanced (7.0, Dove is the only one listed here with that pH) can cause trouble.

~ Soap isn’t the only chemical you’re putting near your parts… scented toilet paper, tampons, laundry detergent, and vaginal sprays can all affect a sensitive vagina.

~ Lube is another culprit for messing with your vaginal chemistry. I wrote more in depth in my article about lubes (click here to read it); in short, many contain glycerin, a derivative of sugar, which cause yeast infections in many women (including myself). That’s one more reason we support Sliquid lubes on this site… they are made with plant cellulose instead of glycerin, and won’t knock your pH off.

~ Don’t over-wash. I used to do this… I thought, I must not be clean enough, and would bathe down there both morning and night. Turns out I was aggravating the problem, by taking away all of the good bacteria that keep the smell at bay.

~ Don’t over-douche. I’d say never douche, but sometimes doctors might tell you to rinse with just water. A holistic guru friend of mine says her only exception to the “no douching” rule is the occasional rinse with GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract) — she calls it ‘the miracle curer of many things.’ It’s available at your local health food store or holistic pharmacy. To quote her: “10-20 drops in a warm water douche and you are home free. It is truly awesome stuff with many, many uses, but on this subject it is a non-toxic bacterial rinse that DOES NOT kill the good bacteria but battles those lil’ candida nasties and THAT smell (you know the one I'm talking ’bout). A good brand is “The Original GSE” by NutriBiotic, but there are several brands on the market and as long as it is certified organically grown grapefruit you are probably getting a similar product.”

~ What you wear can cause trouble — like tight jeans, wet bathing suits, nylon underwear, panty hose, or anything else that can keep our nether regions from cooling off/drying out as they need to can cause issues.

~ When in doubt, ask a professional! And remember that you are not alone; we all have imbalances in our ‘chemistry sets’ that need professional help to be righted every once in a while.