Why Cleansing Your Vagina With Soap Just Won’t Do!

When I was a teenager, my mom advised me never to use soap on my face because it would dry out my skin. “You’d be better off just using water alone,” she said. I actually listened to her, and started using Noxema every single day to cleanse my face. (I’ve seen moved on to other brands). It tooks years before I applied the same practice for my body, and now I use sugar body scrubs and washes that help to keep my skin hydrated.

So why didn’t I think about my vagina during all these years, at least in terms of how I cleansed it?

Why? Because it never occurred to me that the skin of my vagina could dry out, too. No one ever told me it could. Not my mother. Not my friends. Not my doctors.

It could, and it did.

Fortunately, it’s not taboo to talk about vaginas these days. But never in my wildest dreams could I ever think I’d sit down with a handsome man from Rome, Italy, to talk about dry vaginas. But sit down I did, with Giorgio Chiozza, to discuss a feminine intimate hygiene line he produces, called Lubrigyn, that he claimed would relieve vaginal dryness using hormone and paraben-free, completely natural ingredients.

Manufactured by Uniderm, Giorgio’s Rome-based company, Lubrigyn has been successfully selling across Europe since 2004, and now that CVS.com is carrying it in most of their stores, American women will have the chance to use it, too. When Giorgio recently came to the United States to visit his distribution center in Florida, he and I met so I could learn more about his two products: Lubrigyn Lotion and Lubrigyn Cream. The cream is FDA approved but does not require a prescription.

Lubrigyn Lotion, a creamy, lubricating, moisturizing and cleansing formula, can be used everyday, in the shower as a regular soap substitute, or applied with a tissue, without water, Giorgio told me. Besides its soothing, softening and refreshing ingredients, including sweet almond, jojoba and olive oils, chamomile and aloe vera, the lotion contains sodium hyaluronate, a powerful, active ingredient that attracts and holds on to water.

Used in many of today’s skin care products, sodium hyaluronate is considered the ultimate moisturizer for facial skin. It also helps the vaginal tissue stay supple and moist, Giorgio emphasized. “Replens, a leading lubricant and moisturizer brand, doesn’t have this active ingredient,” he explains, “nor does any other lubricant in America.” “Lubrigyn also is a cream, not a gel, which allows it to better absorb into the mucous membrane.”

Lubrigyn Lotion doesn’t foam, unlike many other feminine moisturizers and cleansers, which actually allows it to maintain the natural protective barrier of the vaginal tissue, also called the hydrolipidic film. Consisting of water and oils produced by the sebaceous glands, the film retains moisture and protects the skin from germs and fungi. As we age, the film dries out and loses elasticity, which can lead to all sorts of problems, including itching, bleeding and pain during sex.

Besides menopause, vaginal dryness can be caused by diabetes and antidepressant drugs such as Zoloft. Even younger women, who take birth control pills, can have it.

“Foam is always more aggressive than oils,” Giorgio explained to me. Cleansing is an electrical process. Simply put, the foam makes positive electricity around the dirt on our skin, reacting with our body’s positive electricity, and weakening and removing the hydrolipidic film at the same time it’s removing the dirt. “Lubrigyn preserves it,” Giorgio asserted. So while we usually associate foam with cleansing, it’s actually not a good thing when it comes to our vaginal tissue!

A 7-fluid ounce tube of Lubrigyn Lotion is approximately $12 and should last 45 days. A package of 15 Lubrigyn Wipes is currently included with the lotion, which is mighty handy when we’re traveling. Designed to gently but effectively clean and deodorize our intimate area, the wipes are infused with many of the same ingredients in the lotion and are hydrating.

Lubrigyn Cream, a more concentrated version of the lotion, contains the same active ingredients, Giorgio said, and can either be used as a vaginal moisturizer, two or three times a day, and/or a lubricating cream before intercourse. “It helps rebuild the collagen in the vagina that is depleted after menopause,” he added, and is effective in relieving more “severe symptoms” of vaginal atrophy. The cream is dispensed with a 1.7 fluid ounce airless pump, and also sells for approximately $12.

I have been using the lotion and cream since Giorgio gave them to me at our meeting, and I highly recommend them. They’re not oily, sticky, or irritating, and the cumulative effect of the cream is definitely noticeable. 

I also invite you to read a concise, easy-to-understand, and fact-filled article on the physical effects of menopause, by Dr. Michael L. Krychman, a gynecologist and sexual health specialist, and to download his clever and colorful guide called How To Get Your Sexy Back: 12 ways to improve your sexual health and well being.

CLICK HERE to give your vagina the tender loving care it deserves.

This post is sponsored by Lubrigyn. Thank you for supporting FabOverFifty!