Please Do Not Put Vicks VapoRub In Your Vagina

by Erika W. Smith

We are *back* with another weird vaginal trend! Following our warning not to put glitter in your vagina or glue on your labia, we would like to also remind you to keep Vicks VapoRub out of your vag, too.

In late October, several publications — from the Daily Mail to Mommyish to Allure — picked up message boards and blogs that were encouraging women to use Vicks VapoRub to “clean” their vaginas (not necessary), cure vaginal thrush, soothe itching, prevent yeast infections, create a “pleasant odor,” and ~spice things up~ in the bedroom. 

Spoiler alert, Vicks VapoRub doesn’t do any of these things. Women who tried it wrote about a tingling sensation, but uhhh, that is a bad sign!

In a post appropriately titled, “Vaginal Vicks VapoRub, oh my God people just don’t,” the internet’s favorite gyno, Dr. Jen Gunter, spelled out the risks of doing this. Vicks VapoRub’s ingredients include camphor, menthol, nutmeg oil, thymol, eucalyptus oil, turpentine oil, and cedar leaf oil. If applied vaginally, she writes, these ingredients can lead to irritation and infection.

Vaginas are self-cleaning and naturally have an odor. Your vag is probably fine! Great, even! But if there’s a change in odor you’re worried about or if you’re itching, get yourself to a doctor and leave the Vicks alone.

Top photo: Vicks VapoRub

More from BUST

Please Do Not Put Glitter In Your Vagina

Please Do Not Glue Your Labia Shut When You’re On Your Period (Or Ever)

The Advanced Masturbation Guide, For When Your Fingers Get Boring 

 

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