This post was written by LineaOrganica Co-Founder Mikee Federizo; originally published in her Organicaholic blog

Disclaimer: I will mention vagina a lot in this post.

YEP. This is a topic that we girls often don’t want to talk about since no one wants to mention the “v-word” and its “embarrassing”. I can remember my high school teacher telling our class (I went to an all girls school), “Girls, what do you call your private parts? VAGINA! Not flower! Say it! Vaggggiiiiinaaaaa” and since then we were never uncomfortable anymore whenever we talked about it.

Today I would like to share some very important information about feminine hygiene. It is vital for us to be aware of this topic because it concerns our health. Let’s talk medical and let’s talk scientific. So girls, listen (read) up! 😊

Let’s start with some facts. First, our vaginas are self-cleaning and we don’t really need to “clean” it. Second, it is also supposed to be pH balanced, wherein the pH score is somewhere between 3.5 to 4.5 pH. This means that our potential of hydrogen (pH) is neither acidic nor basic. Third, it is also self-lubricating, meaning there should always be moisture and we shouldn’t feel dry.

But how come we sometimes feel itchy or dry and sometimes, even smell odor coming from it?

The reason behind this is because of something called bacterial vaginosis (BV). This is the effect of having a high pH level, and this causes odor. The problem is that 2 out of 5 women have it, and 84% don’t know they have it. Even bigger problem? Women who have the BV are 60% more susceptible to STDs and HIV infection, and are 3x more likely to infect their male partners.

What do a lot of us do when we feel dry and itchy, or if we smell bad odor coming from our vaginas? We go to the supermarket and buy feminine washes off the shelf. However, what we don’t know is that using these chemical-based feminine washes have a very high concentration of petrochemicals, which increase risk of BV in women up to 13x. For your information, petrochemicals are 30x harsher than tissue, and they suck out all the moisture of your vagina–it actually dries you out. Resulting to our vaginas releasing more odor and us feeling even more itchy. It is truly a vicious cycle if you think about it. We smell bad odor -> we wash it off with a feminine wash -> it smells okay for a while -> it releases bad odor again later on -> we wash it off again …. And this continues on and on until we become used to it being a part of our routines. Furthermore, the colors, fragrances, and chemicals (like parabens and propylene glycol) found in these products are also contributing to bacterial vaginosis.