TikTok trends tend to leave people divided. And while you might be used to seeing dance trends and weird challenges on the platform, there’s a new trend making waves, and it’s called vabbing.
If you’ve never heard of it before, get ready for a wild ride.
Vabbing is the act of using your vaginal secretions as perfume. But why are people doing this?
Well, vabbing is said to attract people. The main goal of vabbing is attracting sexual partners, as the practice is supposed to increase someone’s sexual attractiveness. And while it might sound weird at first, many TikTok users swear by it.
- What is vabbing?
- The science behind vabbing
- Should you try vabbing?
- Are there any health risks associated with vabbing?
In this article, we’re getting to the bottom of vabbing. We’ll explain the practice in full detail, where it comes from, the science behind it, and whether there are any health risks.
Read on to learn more.
What is vabbing?
Vabbing is basically using pheromones to increase your chances of attracting a partner. People use their vaginal secretions as a perfume by placing them on certain areas of their bodies. You can dab some secretion on areas where you’d typically put perfume, such as your neck, wrists, or behind your ear.
The whole practice is based on pheromones, which is a way we can communicate with people through smell. Pheromones can tell a lot about a person, like their genetic makeup, but they are also used in the animal kingdom to elicit specific responses.
For example, bees and wasps use pheromones to communicate with each other. Certain wasps use pheromones to detect if there’s a female in their vicinity. And if they sense a female wasp’s pheromones, they will act differently to try and attract the female. This is basically how vabbing is supposed to work.
The vaginal secretions are said to contain pheromones that can attract a partner. So, if you dab some secretions on your body before heading out, you might be able to increase your chances of attracting a partner.
But does this really work?
Before we get to that, we need to talk about where vabbing came from in the first place. While it’s currently making waves on TikTok, we can trace the act further back. So, let’s talk about the history of vabbing.
Where does vabbing come from?
It’s easy to assume that vabbing originated as a TikTok trend. One of the first uses of the term was in the 2019 book Game of Desire by sexologist Shan Boodram. She explained the act of vabbing in detail in her book and an accompanying YouTube video.
That said, the idea of using smells to attract sexual partners isn’t anything new.
For example, a project in the past aimed to match people based on their smells. Different people wore the same shirt for three days, and the scientists then used the scent left on the shirt to find them a partner.
On top of that, you won’t have a hard time finding pheromone perfumes online. Using pheromones to attract sexual partners has been around for a while. Still, the concept of dabbing vaginal secretions on your body as a perfume really started gaining popularity on TikTok.
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What is the point of vabbing?
In 2022, TikTok user Mandy Lee posted a video on her account saying that vabbing worked wonders for her in her dating life. She noted that dabbing vaginal secretions on different areas of her body made a huge difference and allowed her to attract more men.
From there, many users tried it out for themselves. And now, there are many videos on the platform of people saying that they used vabbing to try and attract partners, and it worked instantly.
On top of that, vabbing became a part of a feminist movement, and people are using vabbing to embrace their natural scent. For centuries, women covered their natural scents with perfumes and deodorants, and with vabbing, they are rejecting the idea that they have to smell like expensive perfumes to attract a partner.
But even if vabbing is starting to gain popularity, many people aren’t entirely sold on the concept.
The science behind vabbing
The thing about pheromones is that they are real chemicals that animals use to communicate with each other in the wild. On top of that, animals regularly use pheromones in partner selection and when finding a viable mate. So, it would make sense to think that humans can also use pheromones to instantly attract partners.
But it’s a bit more complicated than that.
While pheromones exist, it’s not entirely clear if humans have them and if we can sense them in other humans. This is because most animals detect pheromones using a vomeronasal organ or VMO, which is a specific organ in their bodies that can detect pheromones.
Humans aren’t actively smelling pheromones, and for us to detect them, we need to use our VMO. There are already significant debates on whether humans have a real VMO in the first place. And if we do, it might have been made inactive due to evolution, so we may not be able to detect pheromones in other humans.
So, before you listen to your favourite TikTok influencer, understand that there is little scientific evidence to support vabbing’s effectiveness at attracting a date.
Should you try vabbing?
You might want to consider vabbing because many people on TikTok claim it worked for them. However, take these stories with a grain of salt, as they are all anecdotal evidence and don’t have any scientific backing.
Some experts still believe using vaginal secretions can help you find a partner. Even so, it’s important to remember that people also have personal preferences when it comes to smells, so vabbing might not have the same effect on everyone.
On top of that, everyone’s vaginal secretions will smell differently. The scent of a person’s secretions will vary depending on many factors such as their health, hygiene, and even their diet.
And the thing is, many experts say that none of the things that give vaginal secretions their smell are hormones.
So, there is generally no harm in trying vabbing, and if it helps you attract a mate and feel more confident, you might want to try it out. However, no scientific studies can confirm how effective vabbing is, so we can’t give it a scientific stamp of approval.
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Are there any health risks associated with vabbing?
On top of the fact that there isn’t any scientific evidence to support vabbing, it could also have some health risks. This is because to get vaginal secretions that you can use as perfume, you need to stick your finger inside the vagina, which can cause an infection.
Additionally, the vagina is full of microbes essential to protecting it. You don’t want to place these microbes on other areas of your body, which is why many experts advise against vabbing.
Maybe you should pass on this one
Vabbing is a fascinating TikTok trend. And while it might sound like a unique way of attracting a date, the science behind it is flawed.
Pheromones exist in nature, but there is significant debate on whether humans have pheromones and whether we can even detect them. There are also certain health risks associated with rubbing vaginal secretions on your body, which means that it might be best to avoid this TikTok trend for the time being.
