Seventy years ago, movie icon Marilyn Monroe sparked an international scandal when she admitted that she slept naked – except for a delicate dab of Chanel no5 perfume behind her beautiful ears.
Fast forward to depravity-laden 2025 and it takes a lot more than sleeping in the nuddy to cause outrage.
However, there is a growing trend for dabbing a particular ‘scent’ behind the ears that IS causing ‘shock and disgust’ – and it will leave any sane person yearning for the good old days when a touch of something floral and citrussy was all that was required.
Introducing ‘Vabbing’ – which might sound odd but there’s a grammatical clue in there if you look hard enough. That’s right, we’ve got ‘vagina’ and ‘dabbing’ locked together in a highly-scented embrace.
There’s really no point in trying to write around this to make it sound mystical – so let’s just go there! Vabbing is a process where a woman inserts her fingers into her vagina to gather up some of her natural bodily secretions. This is then applied to, well, wherever you’d usually apply a perfume – pulse points and behind the ears/neck are popular – in a bid to seduce a mate.

It’s a fairly recent phenomenon with the trend first being spoken about just before Covid struck (let’s just call that a coincidence, huh?)  But it’s taken off again recently thanks to US influencer and TikTokker Mandy Lee, whose DIY Vabbing tutorial (does anyone actually need instructions for this?) has racked up over 1.5million views and has gone viral again on X.
Of course, the million-dollar question is; does it really work? The science part is hazy, but it’s believed we are sub-consciously attracted to ‘sex smells’. Having said that, experts still can’t be sure how human pheromones work as we don’t pick up the signals from smells in the same way as animals. And the science behind vaginal secretion is also murky – it’s apparently got something to do with aliphatic acids, but after that it gets confusing and you’re only reading this for the laughs and the sex talk so let’s not get weighed down by the six types of ‘copulins’ that can be found in females before ovulation. Anyway, it doesn’t take a scientist to work out that there could possibly be something about Vabbing that works – at least a little bit.
And here’s where it does get interesting. There are brave souls out there who’ve given it a try and reported back with incredible results. Take this thrilled woman who wrote on Reddit, ‘I’ve tried it 4 times the past 2 weeks. Each night were nights when my husband said he was too tired for sex and had rolled over for bed. I got laid each time I tried it. (I put on my neck and reached over to hug and kiss him goodnight) He couldn’t keep his hands off me and the sex was extra spicy. I’m going to keep testing it out, but so far so good!’ WOOF!  And sex expert Dr Shan Boodram – who invented the phrase Vabbing – wrote in her book The Game of Desire, ‘I am certain that every single time I employ it, it makes me feel like an enchanted goddess with a delicious secret.’

That said, it’s not for everyone. Take these comments on Reddit from women who have absolutely no intention of wiping their va-jay-jay juice anywhere, thank you very much. ‘This is how the new wave of HPV will be spead…’,  ‘And this is why I don’t hug people!’…’ ‘I’m a bisexual woman. I eat pussy, but no-one – and I mean no-one – wants to smell it on your neck or wrists!’
Medical experts have also received the Vabbing trend with suspicion. Not only do they say it probably doesn’t work, but they’re worried about the health implications. Thorough hand-washing before Vabbing is a must, says one doctor, as ‘dirty fingers could spread infection, cause pelvic inflammatory disease, bacterial vaginosis or thrush’. Hmmm, that probably wouldn’t smell too good rubbed behind the ears…
If all this wasn’t quite ikky enough for you, the bad news is that there’s a sub-trend called ‘Vabbing in the Gym’ where – you guessed it – ladies are scenting themselves with eau de coochie before a workout, in the hope of attracting a lover on the cross-trainer. This is yet another good reason for all of us remember to use an anti-bacterial wipe on equipment before/after a workout… or in the words of this gym user, “Between Covid, monkeypox and ‘Vabbing’, it’s crazy to see people still not wiping down gym equipment after they use it.’ Wise words.

So there you have it. To Vab, or not to Vab? We’ll leave that up to you, but always wash your hands first and remember that it’s probably best not to tell anyone if you do decide to try it as it could provoke a strong reaction.  One man was filmed destroying his phone after watching a Vabbing video on TikTok, saying, ‘I hope all these women are joking, that is disgusting!’
For now, perhaps the safest way to enjoy the trend is to simply light one of Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘This Smells Like My Vagina’ candles and soak up that fabulous lady scent…

PICTURES: GETTY