What The Hell’s A Vaginal Detox When It’s At Home?

Along with sugar detoxes and juice cleanses, January has also seen one other weird health trend, with women all over the web putting small balls of herbs wrapped up in string inside their vaginas.

Why you ask? Well it’s all in a bid to detox their wombs. The idea is that these ‘herbal tampons’ or ‘Detox Pearls’ work to cleanse the womb and return it to a more balanced state. Among its other benefits, the pearls are believed to cure yeast infections, endometriosis, fibroids and bacterial vaginosis, too.

But that’s not all. Nuh-uh, they’re also said to cleanse your womb, er, spirtually, meaning you get rid of any pent up emotional issues, as well as tightening up your vagina canal.

While that all sounds very well and good, the big question we had was: um, do you actually need to raid the herb and spice rack for a healthier vag?

Not according to the experts who say the vagina is perfectly capable of detoxing itself. In an interview with Metro Dr Vanessa McKay from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists explains that “the vagina is designed to clean itself with natural secretions and should not require a detox.

“It contains good bacteria, which are there to protect it,” she continues. “If these bacteria are disturbed it can lead to infection, such as bacterial vaginosis or thrush, and inflammation.’

Got it. We’ll be keeping the herbs for our spaghetti bolognese then so…

• body
• health
• Vagina