The bizarre home remedies women are trying in order to tighten their vagina muscles

Shutterstock

Dr Rekha Tailor, founder and medical director of Health & Aesthetics, cuts through the noise on vaginal laxity – from dangerous TikTok trends to treatments that genuinely help. 

Let me be honest with you: in my years of practice, I have heard it all. Women coming in having soaked tampons in apple cider vinegar. Women who’ve applied oak gall paste internally because someone on a forum swore by it. And more recently, patients sheepishly admitting they followed a TikTok trend before things went wrong. The internet has democratised information, which is wonderful – but it’s also given a megaphone to some genuinely alarming advice.

Vaginal laxity is far more common than most women realise, and it’s still not talked about enough. It can happen after childbirth, with age, during and after menopause, and can also be worsened by smoking and being overweight. The consequences – stress urinary incontinence, reduced sensation during sex, vaginal dryness – can quietly erode quality of life. And because women are embarrassed to bring it up with their GP, many end up down an internet rabbit hole at midnight, which is rarely a good place to be.

So let’s go through what’s out there, and what I actually think.

Apple cider vinegar douches

This one refuses to die. The idea that soaking a tampon in diluted apple cider vinegar and inserting it will “tighten” the vagina has been circulating for years. It won’t. The vagina is a self-cleaning organ with a finely balanced pH. Vinegar disrupts that balance, increases infection risk, and can cause significant stinging. There is no physiological mechanism by which it could tighten anything. Please don’t do this.

Oak galls (wasp nests)

I genuinely thought this trend had died down, but it periodically resurfaces. Oak galls – the bark growths formed when gall wasps lay larvae in oak trees – are ground into paste and applied internally. The astringent properties are real, but the effect is the opposite of helpful: they strip away the protective mucosal lining, cause dryness, and create an environment far more susceptible to infection, including STIs. This is one of those cases where “natural” does not mean safe.

Herbal remedies — gooseberries, aloe vera, Curcuma comosa

I have a lot of time for herbal medicine when the evidence supports it. Here, it largely doesn’t. Boiled gooseberry water, aloe vera applied internally, extracts of Curcuma comosa – none of these have robust clinical data behind them for vaginal tightening. Aloe vera is generally well-tolerated on skin, but applying anything to genital mucosa that hasn’t been tested for that purpose is a risk not worth taking. The vaginal microbiome is surprisingly easy to disrupt, and restoring it once it’s upset is no fun at all.

Dietary changes

This is the one area where I have some sympathy for the advice you find online – with caveats. Reducing caffeine and alcohol genuinely can help with urinary incontinence symptoms, as both are bladder irritants. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with pelvic floor weakness, so maintaining adequate levels makes sense. Phytoestrogen-rich foods (soy, flaxseed) may offer modest benefit during perimenopause for some women. But diet alone won’t reverse significant laxity – it’s supportive, not curative.

Pelvic floor exercises

Kegels remain the gold standard first-line intervention, and I’ll defend them firmly. They’re free, safe, evidence-based, and genuinely effective for mild to moderate symptoms – particularly stress incontinence. The key is doing them correctly and consistently, which is harder than it sounds. Research consistently shows that supervised pelvic floor physiotherapy outperforms self-directed exercises. If you’re not sure whether you’re isolating the right muscles, see a women’s health physio – it’s worth every penny.

Weighted vaginal cones and electrical stimulation devices are legitimate adjuncts with decent evidence, particularly for incontinence. They’re not glamorous, but they work for the right patients.

The Emsella Chair – pelvic floor rehab without doing a single Kegel

One treatment that has genuinely impressed me in recent years is the BTL Emsella chair, and it deserves far more attention than it gets. The concept sounds almost too simple: you sit fully clothed on what looks like an ordinary chair, and it delivers thousands of high-intensity focused electromagnetic (HIFEM) pulses to the pelvic floor muscles – the equivalent of approximately 11,000 Kegel contractions in a single 28-minute session. For context, that’s more than most people would achieve in several months of diligent home exercises.

I find it particularly valuable for patients who struggle to isolate their pelvic floor muscles correctly, which is far more common than you’d think, and for those who simply haven’t seen sufficient improvement from exercises alone. It’s also an excellent option for post-menopausal women dealing with both laxity and stress incontinence simultaneously, where hormonal changes have compounded the muscle weakness.

The evidence base is solid. Multiple clinical studies have demonstrated significant improvement in urinary incontinence symptoms, with a standard course typically involving six sessions over three weeks. Most of my patients notice a meaningful difference by sessions three or four. There’s no preparation required, no recovery time, and you leave fully dressed having done absolutely nothing except sit there – which, honestly, is the kind of treatment most of us can get behind.

It won’t replace surgical intervention for significant prolapse, and expectations need to be realistic. But for mild to moderate stress or urge incontinence, and for women wanting to proactively maintain pelvic floor strength – whether that’s postpartum, post-menopause, or simply as they age – Emsella is ah effective non-surgical options.

What actually makes a meaningful difference: vaginal rejuvenation treatments

For women with moderate to significant laxity – particularly post-menopausal women or those after multiple vaginal deliveries – energy-based vaginal rejuvenation has genuinely changed the landscape. When I first wrote about this back in 2019, laser treatments were just beginning to gain traction in mainstream aesthetic practice. The technology and the evidence base have both moved on considerably since then.

We now have a well-established range of devices using fractional CO2 laser, Er:YAG laser, and radiofrequency, all of which work by stimulating collagen remodelling within the vaginal wall.

The results– improved tightness, better lubrication, reduced stress incontinence – are real and well-documented in the clinical literature.

Treatments typically take under 30 minutes, are minimally uncomfortable, and require no downtime. A course of three sessions is standard, with maintenance treatments usually recommended every 12 to 18 months.

I want to address something directly: a lot of women come to me having avoided seeking help because they feel these treatments are purely cosmetic, or that wanting to feel better in this area is somehow vain. It isn’t. Stress urinary incontinence affects daily activities, professional confidence, and exercise habits. Painful sex strains relationships. These are legitimate medical issues, and they deserve proper medical attention. 

I’d also gently push back on the cultural narrative that vaginas are supposed to feel a certain way. The goal of treatment is symptom relief and quality of life – not conforming to some arbitrary standard. If the symptoms are bothering you, that’s reason enough to seek help.

The bottom line

Home remedies for vaginal laxity range from completely ineffective to actively harmful. The internet will always generate new ones — currently jade eggs and various herbal steaming rituals are making the rounds – and my advice on all of them is the same: scepticism is your friend.

If you’re experiencing symptoms, speak to a doctor who specialises in this area. A proper assessment will identify whether the problem is primarily muscular, hormonal, structural, or a combination. From there, a genuinely evidence-based plan can be put together tailored to you.

Dr Rekha Tailor

Dr Rekha Tailor is founder and medical director of Health & Aesthetics. She specialises in aesthetic and non-surgical treatments, including Emsella for pelvic floor rehabilitation and urinary incontinence.

Source: https://aestheticmed.co.uk/the-bizarre-home-remedies-women-are-trying-in-order-to-tighten-their-vagina-muscles