Daily Vanity Logo

Farhanah Firdaus, better known on her YouTube channel and blog as Faafirds, has a skincare epiphany recently – that feminine wash may be the solution to clear, acne-free skin.

The young Malaysian vlogger shares on a YouTube video that she has been suffering from bad breakout for about four months, and she didn’t know why her skin was acting up this way. In a bid to clear up her skin, she tried a few methods and shared the ones that she thinks had helped.

First, she doubled the amount of water she has been drinking. By hydrating her body, she says that it has also helped improve her skin.

Secondly, she started drinking a vitamin-rich lemon drink. She actually drank it only because she wasn’t well and was hoping to increase her vitamin C intake so she could recover. However, a good “side effect” came out of it – it looks like the vitamin-filled drink also has a positive impact on her skin! She says that the size of her pimples went down significantly the next day. It looks like a vitamin C dose isn’t just good for your immune system, but may be a saviour for your skin too.

Finally – this is the bizarre part – she started washing her face with feminine wash. Farhanah shares that she saw someone tried it as a solution to combat acne, and she decided to give it a shot too. She attests that this beauty hack works for her and helped her pimples to go down, although she isn’t sure about the science behind its effectiveness.

Why does feminine wash help to combat acne?

Farhanah shares that she doesn’t know why feminine wash has helped her clear up her skin, but we were thinking it may have something to do the anti-bacterial function of feminine wash.

Feminine washes are designed to keep vaginal odour and irritation at bay. Odour and irritation at our private parts are caused by bad bacteria, and this is why feminine washes are formulated with anti-bacterial functions.

And guess what causes skin inflammation, which appears as red and swollen pimples on our skin? Yes, bacteria! The anti-bacterial benefits of feminine wash may be helping to kill bacteria and reduce inflammation on skin, which in turn help to control acne.

However, take note that while our facial skin is slightly acidic (normal skin is at pH5.5), our vagina is slightly more acidic than our facial skin. This is why feminine washes are usually acidic – for instance, the Sebamed one that Farhanah used is at pH3.8, which can be a little too acidic on our skin. And take note that acidity of skin is actually what causes acne on our facial skin.

What this means is that you may not necessarily need to use a feminine wash on your face to get rid of acne. A mildly acidic (at pH5.5) cleanser or product with ingredients that have anti-bacterial benefits (e.g. benzoyl peroxide, tea tree oil or witch hazel) may also work well to help you clear up acne. In fact, we wouldn’t recommend using a feminine wash on your face regularly, because you wouldn’t want your skin to get too acidic, which can cause acne instead.

Watch Farhanah’s video here: