Lylac Health x Weaving Voices - 30th Anniversary & Safety in Lubricants

Lylac Health
4 hours ago
3 min read

On October 15, 2025, Lylac Health was honored to attend the 30th Anniversary Celebration of Weaving Voices for Health and Justice. The event showcased Weave’s decades of advocacy, specifically highlighting their most recent initiative regarding lubricant safety, a cause Lylac Health is proud to support.

The Lubricant Safety Campaign

In the fall of 2025, Weave released their Water-Based Lubricant Safety Data Sheet. This campaign was designed to pull back the curtain on the chemical safety of products currently on the market.

Through this research, Weave revealed a concerning reality: many lubricants are largely unregulated and are not required to match the natural pH or osmolarity of vaginal fluids. This lack of oversight can lead to products that inadvertently cause irritation or disrupt delicate tissue.

Resource: You can view the full findings and the lubricant database at weavingvoices.org/lubricant-database.

The Science of Vaginal pH

At Lylac Health, our research into vaginal health emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balanced environment. A healthy vaginal pH typically ranges from 3.8 to 4.5 (Lin et al., 2021). This acidic environment is crucial because:

It supports the growth of beneficial bacteria (Lactobacilli).
It inhibits the overgrowth of pathogens that cause infections.

While a spike in pH is not a standalone diagnosis, it often serves as a key indicator of underlying issues such as Bacterial Vaginosis (BV), yeast infections, or UTIs (Chen et al., 2025; Hemalatha et al., 2013; Lewis & Gilbert, 2020). When consumer products like lubricants do not respect this biological range, they risk disrupting the microbiome and leaving the body vulnerable.

Breaking the Cycle of Stigma

If the science is clear, why is the market lagging? During the anniversary event, the Weave team highlighted that the biggest barriers to safety are stigma and a lack of education. Because intimate health is often treated as a "taboo" topic, companies are rarely held to the same rigorous standards as other healthcare products.

Addressing these barriers requires a two-pronged approach:

Policy Change: Pushing for stricter regulations on intimate care ingredients.
Accountability: Holding brands responsible for the physiological impact of their formulations.

A Legacy of Impact

Weave has a long history of bridging the gap between community needs and systemic change. For 30 years, they have centered the voices of those most impacted by health inequities, transforming "private" health concerns into public advocacy milestones. By partnering with organizations like Lylac Health, they continue to ensure that science and justice go hand-in-hand.

Citations

Chen, Y.-C., Chiang, Y.-F., Huang, K.-C., Wang, K.-L., Huang, Y.-J., Shieh, T.-M., Ali, M., & Hsia, S.-M. (2025). The vaginal microbiome: Associations with vaginal pH, menopause and metabolic parameters. Microorganisms, 13(6), Article 1317. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms13061317
Hemalatha, R., Ramalaxmi, B. A., Swetha, E., Balakrishna, N., & Mastromarino, P. (2013). Evaluation of vaginal pH for detection of bacterial vaginosis. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 138(3), 354–359.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3818598/
Lewis, A. L., & Gilbert, N. M. (2020). Roles of the vagina and the vaginal microbiota in urinary tract infection: Evidence from clinical correlations and experimental models. GMS Infectious Diseases, 8, Article Doc02. https://doi.org/10.3205/id000046
Lin, Y.-P., Chen, W.-C., Cheng, C.-M., & Shen, C.-J. (2021). Vaginal pH value for clinical diagnosis and treatment of common vaginitis. Diagnostics, 11(11), Article 1996. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11111996