While it's definitely encouraging that vaginal health is increasingly becoming less of a taboo talking point, albeit slowly, some trends have the potential to do more harm than good. The past year has seen all manner of preening and pruning treatments for our lady gardens spawn from women's collective insecurity and private health clinics and salons cashing in on said body gripe. But while medical professionals agree that the occasional vagacial - or vagina facial - is good for your health, they're understandably warning against shoving wasp nests up there.
This latest micro trend sees women insert ground oak galls, which are essentially tree deformities formed by wasp nests, into their vaginas in the hope of tightening the muscles down there to improve their sex lives as a result. But in news that'll surprise no one, gynaecologists are recommending you do not try this at home as it'll likely do more harm than good.
This 'craze' came to light when Canadian gynaecologist Dr Jen Gunter spotted Etsy seller HeritageHealthShop was advertising 100g oak galls for that intended use. The listing has now been removed but not before the qualified Dr could out it in a lengthy blog post.
Although it's an all-natural remedy, Dr Gunter advised it could in fact be detrimental to your sex life as it could cause pain during sex due to the drying-properties of some of the ingredients in the homemade paste. Dr Gunter called bullshit on the method in a blog post which read: "This product follows the same dangerous pathway of other “traditional” vaginal practices, meaning tightening and drying the vagina which is both medically and sexually (for women anyway) undesirable."
Dr Gunter also claims that the wasp nest could upset the good bacteria of your vagina and even increase your chances of contracting HIV. She said: "This is a dangerous practice with real potential to harm. Here’s a pro-tip, if something burns when you apply it to the vagina it is generally bad for the vagina."
Dr Gunter signed off with a firm warning which read: "So don’t put dried up wasp’s nest in your vagina. I feel pretty confident in offering that up as medical advice and for goodness sake don’t tell Paltrow. She let bees sting her face so she might be all over vaginal vespatherapy."
Despite Dr Gunter's stern words, the offending item is still being stocked by another Etsy seller who goes by the name Indojuara. The online store claims the oak galls have vagina-tightening properties and banishes bad smells, among other things, but if you're curious to find out just how true these claims are, don't. If you have any concerns about your vaginal health, our advice is to always seek professional, medical help from your GP.
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