Should Your Vagina Smell Like a Bouquet of Roses? 🌹😅

Let me be a little cheeky for a moment — but no.
Your vagina should not smell like roses, sweet peonies, or “island breeze” (whatever that even is).

Your vagina should smell like… a vagina. And that’s completely normal.

In fact, those heavily scented “feminine hygiene” products that promise to make your lady bits smell like a perfume counter? 🚩 Be cautious. A healthy vagina depends on a balanced pH and a healthy microbiome (aka its natural bacteria). Products that disrupt that balance can actually increase your risk of irritation, dryness, and urogenital infections.

When Should You Actually Worry About Vaginal Odor?

That said, there are times when vaginal odor is worth paying attention to.

🚩 You should check in with a healthcare provider if the odor is:

• Strong, fishy, or foul-smelling (especially if it doesn’t go away)

• New or noticeably different from your usual scent

• Accompanied by other symptoms, such as:

  • Itching or burning

  • Vaginal irritation or redness

  • Unusual discharge (grey, green, yellow, thick, or frothy)

  • Pain with sex

  • Burning with urination

These can be signs of things like bacterial vaginosis, a yeast infection, or another vaginal or urinary infection — all common and treatable.

👃 A urine-like smell?

This can sometimes be related to:

• Mild bladder leakage

• Dehydration (very common with breastfeeding!)

Increasing fluid intake can help, but if it persists, it’s worth getting checked.

Bottom line

✔️ A normal vaginal scent = healthy
🚩 Strong, unusual, or persistent odor plus symptoms = time to get it checked

And remember — this is common, not embarrassing, and absolutely nothing to feel awkward about. Your body is just asking for a little extra attention 💛

Mia Dang, PT, is a pelvic physiotherapist with extensive supplementary training in pelvic floor physiotherapy and perinatal care