Founder Letter: Your Vulva Is Talking To You

Have you ever noticed how your body whispers before it shouts?

Dear Rosies,

Your vulva is talking to you.

She’s sending hints before the rest of the body catches on. A bit more dryness than usual, a faint itch, a new sensitivity, a change in scent. These are not random annoyances; they’re messages from one of the body’s most finely tuned sensors. The vulva and vagina respond instantly to changes in hormones, microbiome, stress chemistry, circulation, and even emotional climate. Long before a blood test or a diagnosis, this part of you will often signal that something is shifting.

Science affirms what our intuition already knows: these tissues are woven into the whole body’s health. Estrogen and androgens keep the vaginal lining thick, moist, and elastic. A thriving community of Lactobacillus species maintains an acidic, protective pH. Adequate blood flow and oxygen keep tissue resilient. When any of those systems falter—through stress, hormonal transition, antibiotic use, poor sleep, or metabolic changes—the balance tips. The result might appear as dryness, irritation, or recurrent infection, but the root is nearly always systemic.

Take yeast infections, for instance. Candida is a normal resident of the body; trouble arises when the immune and microbial ecosystems lose their harmony. Recurrent yeast often points to something deeper—blood-sugar instability, chronic stress, hormonal fluctuations, or a gut microbiome that’s been stripped by antibiotics. Treating only with antifungals is like silencing the smoke alarm without putting out the fire. When you restore the terrain—support the gut, balance blood sugar, ease the nervous system—the outbreaks usually calm.

Or consider vaginal dryness. In perimenopause or menopause, declining estrogen levels naturally thin the vaginal lining and shift its microbiome. But dryness can also appear in younger women under stress, on hormonal birth control, or during breastfeeding—times when estrogen dips or the body is in energy-saving mode. The tissues are literally showing you how well-nourished and oxygenated you are. Moisture is a measure of vitality.

The tragedy is that conventional advice so often stops at the surface: “Use a lubricant.” “Take this antifungal.” Useful, sometimes—but incomplete. These approaches treat symptoms in isolation, ignoring the complex choreography of hormones, microbes, and blood flow that creates a healthy, responsive vulva.

A more loving, empowered response begins with curiosity. What’s happening in the rest of your body when these symptoms arise? How are you eating, sleeping, and breathing? How’s your relationship to pleasure, to rest, to touch? The vulva is an early-warning system, but also a guide: when she’s supple and well-lubricated, she’s saying yes—the system is in flow. When she’s tight or dry or inflamed, she’s saying, something needs attention.

You can listen without fear. Simple steps—stabilizing blood sugar, tending the gut, hydrating deeply, moving your body to increase pelvic circulation, bringing awareness and breath to your pelvis—support both science and sensuality. If hormones are shifting, bio-identical therapy or vaginal estrogen may help, but so can botanical allies, stress reduction, and re-embodying your erotic self.

This week, take a moment to thank this part of you for her honesty. She tells you the truth long before you’re ready to hear it. What a gift: a direct line between your inner ecology and your outer awareness.

With reverence for your radiant, intelligent body,
Christine