Body

7 Reasons Your New Vaginal Care Regimen Is Dangerously Nuts

Further proof you should never detox your vagina (No. 4 will make you shudder)

by Katie McCarthy | COMMENT

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No. 1: Your Vagina Is the Greta Garbo of Body Parts Like a beautiful, reclusive film star, your vagina wants to be left alone. Tampons and other people's genitals can usually make a cameo in your vagina's movie without causing major issues, but the vagina is a delicate organ that's easily perturbed by foreign bodies.

"It sounds strange to many of my patients, but acid is a good state of affairs in the vagina," says Minkin. "Many products -- blood and seminal fluid, too -- tend to be basic and can disrupt the pH balance," she adds. (Insert joke about your vagina not being basic.)

So what's so wrong with altering the vagina's pH balance? "Any disruption to this fine balance can make a woman more prone to infection," says DePree. The vagina has an "abundance" of "good" bacteria, known as lactobacilli, she explains. "The addition of products may disrupt this balance and allow for overgrowth of less desirable bacteria or yeast."

The vagina can be compared to the GI tract, DePree says. "The vagina is also very porous, it readily absorbs products," she asserts, comparing the vagina to the gastrointestinal tract. "It important to apply the same safety [standards to] vaginal products" as to those you ingest, she says.

Image via Getty

SEE NEXT PAGE: No. 2: Putting "Detoxifying" Herbs in Your Vagina Is a Recipe for Disaster

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