Vabbing: New TikTok Trend Advocates Using Vaginal Fluids To Attract Partners

If vampire facials and faux freckle treatments have you convinced that beauty trends cannot get any more bizarre, think again. As the TikTok trend of "vabbing" indicates, it seems that we will forever be awash with downright weird, strange beauty hacks.

So what exactly is vabbing? As the name suggests, it is a combination of the words vagina and dabbing, and quite literally involves dabbing your own vaginal secretions on your body instead of perfume. Why would someone do that? Well, according to the trend, the pheromones in the body’s secretions are enough to arouse and entice those around you.

This isn’t a Goop gimmick (remember Gwyneth Paltrow's ‘This Smells Like My Vagina’ candle?) or some futuristic way to extract our DNA into a perfume. The brave, experimental TikTokers are instead dipping into their own ‘natural scent’ as free perfume – both to save cash and harness the apparent attraction powers of their own vaginal secretions.

Is vabbing a new thing? 

The term was popularised in an episode of the Secret Keepers Club podcast in 2018, run by two New York City-based comedians, Emma Willmann and Carly Aquilino. However, vabbing burst into the mainstream in 2019, when author Shan Boodram championed the scent in an interview. Boodram also discussed the activity during a February 2020 appearance on A Little Late With ">Lilly Singh.

Boodram tested the theory that a person’s signature scent could attract partners as part of her book, The Game of Desire. Three women were sent into a bar, first wearing no perfume, then wearing the residue from their vaginal canal on their pulse points.

Her subjects all reported feeling more confident to approach and flirt, and noticed that people were leaning into them more.

The trend recently got picked up on TikTok again with creators urging women to use this makeshift perfume in order to increase their attractiveness to potential mates. (Uh-huh!)

Suggested Reading: Why Do Women Fall For Products Like Vaginal Detox Pearl?

Is there any scientific backup to support these claims?

Not really. It is important to remember there is little to no actual science behind this trend, but there does seem to be a growing bank of anecdotal testimonials. So take it with a grain of salt.

Vabbing promotes the use of vaginal fluids as perfume | Credit: Unsplash images

Dr Jen Gunter, an OBGYN and author of The Vagina Bible,  claims that there is no evidence that humans make pheromones or that they can detect them. "Disinformation here sells lots of products, I’m sure. And it is true that you can be quickly conditioned to like a smell! But, we aren’t controlled by unseen forces," she tweeted.

While the idea of attraction by smells and pheromones has mainly been proven in animals, it’s hard to see that there could be a correlation between scents and human behaviour.

Dr Gunter further worries that misrepresenting vabbing as a scientifically founded practice has more insidious consequences. There is also a possibility of a placebo effect with those who have tried vabbing. If we believe that dabbing our vaginal fluids on our pressure points will make us more attractive, we might act more confidently, and, as a result, come across as more attractive to partners and potential partners.

Is it safe?

Though it is pretty harmless, it is better to skip vabbing if you have bacterial vaginosis, as your vaginal discharge might smell quite unpleasant, making it a less-than-ideal perfume. In that case, make an appointment to talk with your doctor — you might need a course of antibiotics to clear the infection.

Moreover, one needs to be super careful before and after vabbing, for the sake of maintaining general hygiene.

Naturally, we as humans have been mating and finding partners without the need for vabbing so far; but with our ever-changing ideologies around relationships, love and sex, literally, anything that can help you score a date (even as a placebo) snowballs into a trend. Just take the traditional approach and wear a normal perfume, if you are not feeling up for an adventure.