With These Feminine Wipes, Gluten-Free Has Officially Jumped The Shark

Time to overshare: We don't really give wipes much thought unless we're around someone who needs a diaper change. We're not knocking feminine hygiene, but we generally find that our daily showers take care of our cleansing needs (exceptions include summertime and visits from Aunt Flo). But, when we got an email about gluten-free adult wipes, we collectively wondered: Seriously? Do we need feminine wipes made like our morning muffins — gluten-free?

We couldn't tell if the gluten-free aspect of these Healthy Hoohoo (yup) feminine wipes is by design, or if it's just a happy accident that plays into their marketing strategy. After all, it does seem that gluten-free anything is guaranteed to sell these days. There are certainly some dietary restrictions that make a lot of sense when translated to beauty products. Things that are cruelty-free, for example, make as much sense for a vegan to eat as to apply topically (see: ball cream).

While these wipes do happen to be vegan, we feel skeptical about gluten falling in the same category. Most doctors say that gluten in skin-care products is not a concern unless it is ingested, so until science proves otherwise, we're non-believers of the whole gluten-free beauty pitch.

But back to the larger picture of the dubious necessity of vulva wipes — a quick poll around the R29 office found some very passionate supporters of bathroom wipes, and some equally vehement naysayers. It seems we are an office divided.

We've been told that these in particular are "pH balanced to naturally cleanse girlie parts without removing all the goodness Mother Nature put down there." We've yet to get a comment from Mother Nature herself, but the more we think about it, the more we think that these sound actually...kind of nice. After all, in addition to being gluten-free, they're also free of parabens and fragrance — so, if we do decide we need to give our "hoohoos" extra cleansing, we'll definitely consider these.