What We Never Put in Our Formulas

Formulating an intimate care product is a different exercise than formulating a regular skincare product. The skin involved is more sensitive, more absorbent, and more easily thrown off balance — which means the margin for error is smaller and the ingredient list matters more.

Here's what we deliberately leave out, and why.

Glycerin

Glycerin is one of the most common thickening agents in lubricants because it's cheap and effective at creating a smooth texture. The trade-off: glycerin is a sugar alcohol, and in an intimate context, it can feed yeast and disrupt the natural pH balance of the skin with repeated use. For some people this causes no issue at all. For others, it's a source of recurring irritation they never quite connect back to their lubricant. We'd rather not take that chance.

Parabens

Parabens (methylparaben, propylparaben, and similar) are preservatives used across the beauty and personal care industry to extend shelf life. They're still considered safe in low concentrations by most regulatory bodies, but they're also one of the most commonly requested ingredients to avoid — and for intimate products specifically, where absorption is higher than on other skin, we'd rather formulate without them from the start.

Synthetic fragrance

Fragrance is, by a wide margin, the most common trigger for irritation in intimate care products. "Fragrance" as a labeling term can legally hide dozens of individual compounds, none of which are disclosed. We formulate fragrance-free across the board — not because scent is inherently bad, but because in this specific category, the risk-to-reward ratio doesn't favor it.

Petroleum-based occlusives

Ingredients like mineral oil and petrolatum are common in body lotions because they're effective at locking in moisture. In an intimate context, though, petroleum-based ingredients can degrade latex condoms and are harder for the body to break down naturally. We use plant-derived and water-soluble alternatives instead.

Harsh pH-altering agents

Vaginal skin has a naturally acidic pH, and products that skew too alkaline can disrupt that balance, making the area more susceptible to irritation and imbalance over time. Every formula we make is pH-tested and adjusted to sit close to that natural range — not just "safe," but actually compatible.

What we use instead

Removing an ingredient only matters if what replaces it actually works. Our formulas lean on:

• Cellulose-based thickeners for texture and glide, without the pH disruption glycerin can cause
• Aloe-based botanicals for a calming, soothing base
• Citric acid, used precisely to balance pH rather than distort it
• Plant-derived emollients in place of petroleum-based ones

Why this matters more than it might seem

None of this is about fear-mongering ingredients that are genuinely fine for most people in most contexts. It's about recognizing that intimate skin is more sensitive than the skin on the rest of the body, and that a product used repeatedly and directly on that skin deserves a higher bar than a lotion you rinse off in the shower.

Every formula we release is reviewed by a board-certified dermatologist before it ships — not as a marketing checkbox, but because we'd rather catch a problem before it reaches you than after.