How To Make Your Vagina Taste Good - Healthline

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Nutrition

What to Know About Vaginal Taste — and Can You Change it?

Medically reviewed by Valinda Riggins Nwadike, MD, MPH — Written by Gabrielle Kassel — Updated on August 29, 2024

Changes over time
Diet and supplements
‘Hygiene’ products
General tips
What to avoid
FAQ
Takeaway

The taste of your vagina depends on your vaginal pH. Anything from slightly sweet to bitter and acidic is natural. Using douches or other products to alter the smell or taste can have a negative impact on pH, so it’s best to avoid them.

Your vagina is the part of your body that leads from outside your body to your uterus on the inside. On the other hand, your vulva is the outer part that includes your:

clitoris
clitoral hood
inner labia
outer labia

This article uses the terms “vagina” or “vaginal area” to incorporate your vulva, clitoris, and vagina, as all of these areas contribute to genital taste or smell.

If you’re interested in changing the taste of your vagina, know this: A healthy vagina doesn’t taste like flowers, a fresh summer breeze, or vanilla. It tastes like a vagina.

And that can be sweet, sour, metallic, sharp or spiced, bitter or acidic.

Can I taste good down there naturally?

When your vaginal pH experiences a disruption, it can cause an infection like bacterial vaginosis (BV), trichomoniasis, or a yeast infection, which can cause your vagina to taste like a vagina with an infection.

That’s to say, it may taste like rotten fish, spoiled meat, or matzah, for example.

Treating and clearing the infection can clear any unusual tastes, changing the flavor of your bits quite a bit.

But if you have a healthy vagina, anything you do to make your vagina taste “better” can only have a very minimal effect, says Michael Ingber, MD, a board certified urologist and female pelvic medicine specialist at The Center for Specialized Women’s Health in New Jersey.

In fact, Ingber says the thing that affects the taste of your vagina the most is where you are in your cycle.

When you’re menstruating, your blood can give your vagina a metallic taste. When you’re ovulating, the release of cervical mucus can result in a slightly muskier taste.

How to make your vagina taste good

“What you eat and drink plays a role in what goes into your mucosal secretions,” Ingber said. Switch up your snacks, and you may switch up your vaginal odor and taste. But not overwhelmingly so, he says.

But “improve”? Well, that can be subjective.

There’s been no research linking different foods with different vaginal tastes. But anecdotal reports suggest that heavily spiced foods may make you taste, well, spicier, while asparagus and wheatgrass shots may make you taste grassier.

Other foods that may noticeably affect your taste include:

garlic and onion
sugary foods and drinks
dairy
red meat

Sex therapist Angela Watson (aka Doctor Climax) said, “A good rule of thumb is any food that modifies the smell of your sweat or pee will also modify the secretions from your vagina, which will impact the taste.”

What about washes, douches, and other ‘hygiene’ products?

One of your vagina’s (many) superpowers is that it’s a self-cleaning machine. And a good one.

You really don’t need to scrub or wash the inside of your vagina with washes, douches, or other hygiene products. Doing so can actually throw off your pH and lead to infection.

“A healthy vagina does not smell like a flower, and any product that makes it smell like one is likely damaging,” Ingber said.

Your vagina has a naturally acidic environment that allows good bacteria to thrive and survive while killing off bad bacteria. Many of these washes contain glycerin and other sugars that feed the bad bacteria, allowing them to grow and multiply.

“An overgrowth of some of the bad bacteria, like Gardnerella bacteria … may result in BV and result in a fishy odor, which is abnormal and a sign of an unhealthy vagina,” Ingber said.

BV and other infections typically require antibiotic treatment.

Is there anything else you can do?

Anything that’s good for your health is generally good for your nether bits, too. This includes:

eating nutrient-dense fruits and veggies
drinking plenty of H2O
getting enough sleep
managing your stress levels
getting regular exercise

Still, there are a few other things you can do to support the health of your vulva.

(Gently) cleanse the outside of your vulva

Again: You really, really, really don’t need to be cleaning inside your vagina.

But you do need to wash your vulva (your outer bits). So, how do you wash your vulva? Water. That’s it.

Use your fingers or a clean washcloth to spread your labia apart. Gently pat/cleanse/rub around the folds with warm water.

This can keep dead skin cells, discharge, and other dried bodily fluids from building up in the nooks and crannies of your vulva, Watson explains.

This white, gooey buildup is typically why your vagina might smell (or taste) mustier than usual.

Plus, it’ll wash away any sweat that dries after exercise or rigorous activity, which can make your vagina taste salty.

Wear cotton panties

Cotton = breathable. And a 2019 study showed that people who wear breathable skivvies might have lower rates of BV than those who wear underwear made of synthetic materials.

Try to avoid smoking and cut back on booze

If you’ve ever hit the gym after a night of drinking and smoking, you might know alcohol and tobacco can change the scent of your sweat. The same goes for the scent of your vulva. Both can make you smell more sour, bitter, or stale than usual.

Use nonporous sex toys

Porous materials have microscopic holes that bacteria can climb and reside in. So, while sex toys made of porous materials can introduce new pH-altering, infection-causing bacteria to your bits, nonporous sex toys won’t.

Hydrate

“When you don’t hydrate, everything gets concentrated. That’s why your urine smells more strongly when you’re dehydrated,” Ingber said. “Same goes for vaginal odor.”

Dump anyone who doesn’t like how you taste

If your boo usually loves going downtown but one day (nicely) mentions that you taste different, you may want to call up your healthcare professional.

But if you’re dating someone who consistently makes disparaging comments about your flavor or uses it as an excuse not to give you head, dump ’em. Like yesterday.

Is there anything that could make the taste worse?

Again, a vagina with an infection can taste and smell like one.

Anything that messes with the natural pH of your vagina, resulting in an infection, can make your vagina taste worse.

Things that can mess with vaginal pH include:

washing inside your vagina
using flavored condoms during penetrative sex
incorporating food into oral sex play
using scented soaps down there
leaving a tampon or cup in for too long
using strong-scented soaps and detergents

Frequently asked questions

Is an odor ever a sign of something more?

A change in flavor or scent often indicates an infection, especially if there are accompanying symptoms, like a change in discharge or itchiness. Contact a healthcare professional to find out what’s up. It may also be a sign of menopause.

Does boric acid make your vagina taste better?

There’s some evidence that boric acid can help treat some recurrent vaginal infections. This means it may help remove an unpleasant taste related to these conditions. Ask your doctor before trying it out.

How do you keep your vagina smelling fresh?

Following healthy practices for your body and vaginal health can help keep the area naturally fresh.

How can I get rid of a fishy odor?

You may have an infection like vaginitis if you have a fishy odor in your vaginal area. This requires medical treatment.

The bottom line

There are a few lifestyle changes that may be good for your overall vulvar health and may make your vaginal taste milder.

But “there’s a huge variance in healthy vaginal tastes, and there is no correct or ideal healthy vagina taste,” Watson said. So, as long as your vagina is healthy, it usually tastes A-OK!

The only time you may feel concerned about the taste of your vagina is if it’s recently changed, or if you’re experiencing other symptoms.

Gabrielle Kassel (she/her) is a queer sex educator and wellness journalist who is committed to helping people feel the best they can in their bodies. In addition to Healthline, her work has appeared in publications such as Shape, Cosmopolitan, Well+Good, Health, Self, Women’s Health, Greatist, and more! In her free time, Gabrielle can be found coaching CrossFit, reviewing pleasure products, hiking with her border collie, or recording episodes of the podcast she co-hosts called Bad In Bed. Follow her on Instagram.

How we reviewed this article:

SourcesHistoryHealthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We only use quality, credible sources to ensure content accuracy and integrity. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

Ingber M. (2019). Personal interview.
Lin Y-P, et al. (2021). Vaginal pH value for clinical diagnosis and treatment of common vaginitis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8618584
Pete PMN, et al. (2019). Genital hygiene behaviors and practices: A cross-sectional descriptive study among antenatal care attendees. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ce78/cd1734c1ad50e23317025ea5803a242bd6ad.pdf?_ga=2.243298757.1991222733.1578700010-1385276422.1576695003
Powell A, et al. (2019). Clinicians’ use of intravaginal boric acid maintenance therapy for recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis and bacterial vaginosis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6878170/
Watson A. (2019). Personal interview.

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Medically reviewed by Valinda Riggins Nwadike, MD, MPH — Written by Gabrielle Kassel — Updated on August 29, 2024

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