‘Femfresh for intimate skin’. Why the hell don’t men get inundated with this crap?

I've not used Femfresh as I don't get a problem with my vulva. However, I do check ingredients carefully as I get skin reactions and allergies elsewhere.

Femfresh appears to use more sodium hydroxide to lower pH than standard body wash and is a good price compared to the products specifically marketed for sensitive skin. I'd probably give it a go but would avoid the one with rosemary oil as that's a problem for me.

I do wish they'd change the name, though.

Same here. I am not being duped by marketing, or ashamed, or forced to spend extra money on some unnecessary product. Every shower gel I have ever used on my vulva makes me very sore and itchy. Water alone does not clean my public hair, so I use a 'feminine wash'. Even some brands of those irritate so I stick to the same brands, as I have to with face wash, moisturisers, deodorant etc.

Try Femfresh then. It's nice and gentle and won't irritate you 🙂

With plain water, soap can irritate the flaps

TBH I use Femfresh because when I used my normal shower gels on my bits, they would get a bit irritated and sore. I find this much better.

But I don't disagree there is a double standard about this between women and men.
I wonder if trans-identifying men spend extra money on things like Femfresh as part of living authentically as a woman?

I lived with a flatmate at Uni who was like this. He stunk of sweat. He spent ages in the shower, and when he literally just came out and passed you on the stairs in his bath robe, when you were on your way to the bathroom, (because he'd taken so bloody long) he STILL absolutely reeked of BO.
I wonder how it is even possible for someone to spend so long in the shower and still come out stinking of sweat. What do they do in there?

BTW it wasn't his bath robe or towels that smelled. We washed them when we were doing a laundry to make sure.

I remember Femfresh being introduced and being coyly advertised in women's magazines as "an intimate deodorant". I didn't pick up from the adverts that it was for spraying on the vulva, I assumed for years that it was just another armpit spray. It's probably better than slapping handfuls of scented talcum powder between our legs like our mothers (well, mine) had been told to do.

I don't spend extra money on products like femfresh. It's a straight swap.

I couldn't give a stuff about men who can't wash themselves properly so long as I don't need to get close enough to smell them.

Unscented soaps and delicate-skin gels are great for many reasons. Not so great is convincing women to spend money on them when they don't need to while men grow fungus on their underarm hair because they're so cavalier about washing.
I've had two boyfriends who had that fungus, and another who still smelled of sweat when he got out of the shower. I don't mind the smell of sweat, but it made me wonder how anyone could be so bad at washing themselves.

I don't feel any shame at all that most soaps and showwr gels make my vulva itch and no I don't want to "wash" with just plain water thanks.

I also have a very limited number of products I can use on my face without flaring up. Can't wear many types of earring. Have to use unscented deodorant etc. All because my body reacts badly to certain things coming in contact with it.

None of this gives me a moment's shame, it's just a slightly tiresome fact about me.

Men can tolerate stronger detergents, and many will prefer those.

In bidet embracing countries ‘intimate wash’ is branded for men and women.
On a separate not, over here, I used to use it on my kids because it’s delicate and unscented until they worked out what vag meant and would giggle at the bottle. Still do.
“Vag is ill” a bit of a running joke in my house

Has anyone else just used normal shower gel their whole lives and been absolutely fine?
I'm not saying there aren't women who will be irritated by these products, but surely, like me, there are women out there who wash with regular shower gel in the bath or shower and have never experienced any problems at all? Maybe I'm weird.

I think the whole "femfresh" thing relies on women's (some women's) embarrassment or shame of their bodies, I mean, we all know the old stereotypes of what women's bits are supposed to smell like, how periods are "dirty", the shame around menstruation etc.
I agree with you OP.

We saw quite a few women with smeg under the clitoral hood, too. Not as bad a build-up as the foreskins but it can still smell pretty bad.

I've caught two different men sniffing my motorbike seat. They were members of my bike group that didn't expect me to return to my bike as quickly as I did.

I don't see the need for specialist products either. I've worked in the NHS and come across several opinions on 'feminine cleansing' from male staff. The only one I agree with is no bar soap. I use whatever shower gel I use for the rest of me on my vulva and haven't had a problem - yet.

Whatever works for you is best but don't fall for marketing crap.

My OH once came downstairs after a shower and looked a bit worried.
"You know that intimate wash stuff? It hasn't got any hormones in it, has it?"
"What? Why?"
"Cos l've washed my bits with it...."

Ffs

🧟🧟🧟

I remember seeing a young woman get off the train and a man creeped over (about 40ish if that's relevant) and sniffed her seat.

What's with all the weird zombie threads being resurrected today?

I definitely used to think this but these days using the fem fresh is the way to keep thrush at bay. No idea why when water used to suffice

A bit like make up. Is it anti-female to wear make up? I really maintain it is more anti-female to shame women for wearing make up.

Feminism is about women's liberation from sex-based oppression. The expectation that women devote their efforts to making themselves pretty in a way men are not expected to, is sexist. It suggests there is something wrong with a woman's actual face that means it cannot be presented to the world. Meanwhile, out men go.

This expectation is actively harmful for women: women are expected to spend money on things men are not expected to spend money on, which is bad for women economically. The Telegraph ran a story in 2013 that two thirds of bosses admitted that they would discriminate against women not wearing make-up (and of the remaining third, consider that some would do so less consciously).

Complying with this sexist expectation on women through wearing makeup helps to bolster the expectation that this is a standard expectation for women. Women who wear make-up help reinforce the social pressure for other women to wear make-up.

The other issue is that often women who wear make-up feel defensive even when the conversation is kept in the realms of only not wanting women and girls to feel this pressure. I see this all the time on tumblr. And, apparently, so do you, if you think it is worse that sometimes a woman speaks against make-up than that make-up is actively pushed onto women generally.

The vagina is a self-cleaning organ.

The vulva isn't. You need to wash that.

My husband brought this up the other day, in his words, “why don’t I have the option to grab a pack of ‘Nut Dabs’?”🤣

m.youtube.com/watch?v=d6IBiR9m3vY

Men don't have the same sort of skin on their genitals. I find soap irritating.