Cult Beauty just launched The Vulvalution, a new section dedicated to female sexual wellness and pleasure

Cult Beauty, the UK’s fastest growing multi-brand retailer, has introduced the first online category dedicated to female sexual pleasure and wellness in the UK.

Launched on International Women’s Day, the “#Vulvalution” (as the section is called), offers a curated selection of the best in women’s sexual wellness: from sex toys to supplements, intimate cleansers to pelvic floor trainers and libido-enhancing ingestibles.

In an age where sex is everywhere in the media, astonishing numbers of women lack basic anatomical awareness. A topic still shrouded in stigma and shame, Cult Beauty’s striving to tackle long-standing taboos and initiate frank conversations about women’s wellness.

But it’s not just about flogging products. Cult Beauty are on a mission to use the section to raise awareness, provide education and empower women to feel more ‘in tune’ with their gynaecological health and sexual pleasure.

The section – think Goop meets NHS – features informative content that tackles the ‘hush hush’ approach to the issues affecting so many. First up? A best practice guide on how to wash your vagina.

And that’s not all. 10 per cent of the profits from the whole category will go to helping genealogical cancer charity The Lady Garden Foundation build awareness and their NHS partner, internationally renowned cancer trust The Royal Marsden to eventually find cures.

“The last two years have been a time of great social upheaval and awakening,” cult Beauty founder Alexia Inge says of the launch. “Women are shedding the constrictive chrysalis of social stigma, shame and embarrassment; they are starting to own their sexual health and fulfilment and search for solutions and guidance that don’t come from the NHS, porn sites or sex shops. From menstruation to masturbation, female wellness and intimate health now exist under beauty’s umbrella.”

We caught up with Cult Beauty founder Alexia Inge to hear some more about the initiative

What inspired you to launch the section?

“I was inspired by a movement! From a traditional consumer perspective, women have either been made to feel shameful and embarrassed, offered only basic utilitarian solutions for delicate sex-care concerns; or inadequate, through one-dimensional sexual constructs of what ‘should’ make them feel fulfilled. 

Female sexual wellness has always been placed under the patronising head-pat of a term, ‘women’s problems’. Cult Beauty is launching this new category to blow the dust off these ‘under the counter’ taboos; to provide a destination for the hero products of the female sexual wellness category, where you can also pick up your favourite indi mascara and cult shampoo.” 

Do you think the current sex education and healthcare system is failing British girls?

“It’s bigger than that we need to update our cultural establishment, especially the language around female sexual health and the permission to talk more openly about it. Right now, one can’t even use the word ‘vagina’ in a Facebook ad raising awareness about gynaecological cancers, Facebook blocks it as ‘obscene content’!”

Tell me about the decision to partner with the Lady Garden Foundation

“We are launching this new category in partnership with The Lady Garden Foundation because this is about more than products. We’re starting a conversation to help women close the ‘orgasm gap’, but also normalise commonplace issues so embarrassment doesn’t inhibit a better quality of life. We want to help The Lady Garden banish ‘The Silent Killer’ cancers by being loud about the symptoms.”

Which brand or product are you most excited about?

“The Elvie Pelvic Floor Trainer, it’s an ingenious, female-founded, British product that is so effective it’s now given out on the NHS to help women with extreme pelvic floor issues. Giving patients this trainer has been found to decrease the need for operations by 50%!! Regular use also makes orgasms easier to attain and stronger.”

Do you see the educational aspect expanding? Perhaps into events or initiates with the NHS?

“Yes! When people start talking about and openly sharing their issues and needs you don’t just get education, you find understanding and the comforting pressure-valve release of normalisation.” 

cultbeauty.co.uk/female-wellness