While some bearishness has emerged about sexual wellness after retailers and investors were bullish on it in the 2020s, the adjacent intimate care category—which pleasure-focused brands have dipped their toe into—is being embraced as more widely palpable and ready for disruption. Product launches, from pH-balanced vulva washes to better-for-you herbal hemorrhoid treatments, are streaming into it, and stores are making shelf space for it, particularly as they build upon their business in body care, a segment that outperformed skincare last year.

Summer’s Eve and Vagisil face a quickly growing cadre of competitors convinced old-school feminine hygiene is due for a modern-day intimate care makeover. New brands Privates, Niches & Nooks and Beam Butt Care join other startups Plum Vagiceuticals, Antevorta Laboratories, Wype, Beia, Momotaro Apotheca, Asset, MyBum, Ina Labs and Buttface in challenging legacy players. Their modern intimate care merchandise to clean, refresh, soothe and treat intimate skin is formulated to resonate with consumers conscious about ingredients and drawn to contemporary packaging.

“This surge, I believe, reflects broader consumer trends that are normalizing discussions around intimate care and moving the category well beyond its traditional boundaries,” says Krupa Koestline, cosmetic chemist and founder of KKT Innovation Labs, a clean beauty product development company fielding a rise in demand for intimate washes, deodorants, wipes and targeted intimate care treatment products.

Allied Market Research pegs the size of the global feminine intimate care market at $7.8 billion in 2024 and projects it will accelerate at a compound annual growth rate of 6.1% to hit $14 billion by 2034. The market research firm attributes growth to higher disposable incomes, knowledge of personal cleanliness and the desire for organic and natural products. It mentions products that are pH-balanced, fragrance-free and dermatologist-tested are attracting consumers.

Molly Kennedy, VP of marketing at Niches & Nooks’ parent company, brand incubator Maesa, sees progress in normalizing intimate care, but acknowledges there’s still a ways to go for universal acceptance. “While intimate care is becoming a real and meaningful part of conversation, it’s not something that’s fully discussed in broad daylight yet,” she says. “That’s part of the role of this brand coming in. We really want to spark that open dialogue and offer a more modern and chic approach to intimate care.”

Niches & Nooks resulted from Maesa, in collaboration with Target, spotting a white space for elevated intimate care, and the retailer has picked up the brand. Among its products priced at $12.99 each are Wash Your Nooks Gentle Cleanser, Wipe Your Nooks Refreshing Towelettes, Dry Your Nooks Sweat Absorbing Chafing Barrier Spray and Freshen Your Nooks Body & Fabric Fragrance Mist. The brand highlights the products have microbiome-friendly scents described as safe for all skin types, and its chic eggplant purple stands out in the intimate care space full of puerile pinks and baby blues.

Kennedy says, “Target was excited to disrupt this category and bring in something that’s new and different to the consumer and a need that they saw was there.”

Earlier this month, Walmart rolled out a women’s intimate health section to 1,000 stores featuring intimate skin moisturizers and cleansers as well as vaginal health solutions like suppositories. Ulta Beauty has expanded its intimate care offerings with a selection of mother and baby products on its website that will arrive at nearly 400 stores in the summer.

“Whether our guests are navigating puberty, fertility, postpartum recovery, perimenopause, menopause or anything in between, we want Ulta Beauty to be a destination where they feel supported and understood,” says Laura Beres, VP of wellness at Ulta. “Historically, this category has been underrepresented or stigmatized, and we’re proud to offer a more inclusive, supportive and educational space for our guests to explore and discover products that prioritize their comfort, confidence and health. Whether it’s a soothing vaginal moisturizer, a targeted skin treatment, or a supplement that supports vaginal microbiome balance, we want to ensure women feel seen and supported.”

In March, Talbots-owned online lifestyle retailer Haven Well Within introduced a women’s intimate wellness selection with products from Womaness, Joylux and Rosebud. Intimate wellness has quickly become the retailer’s No. 1 category within its beauty department. Initially, Haven Well Within crafted the intimate wellness selection to support menopausal and perimenopausal issues, but it’s stretched the selection beyond those issues.

“We curated thoughtful, effective products that support hydration, hormonal balance and overall intimate care, empowering women to feel confident, comfortable and cared for at every stage,” says Tara Ellef, brand leader at Haven Well Within. “We’re deeply invested in continuing to expand our offering, bringing in thoughtful, expert-led brands, creating educational content and making space for more honest dialogue. We want her to feel comfortable exploring this topic.”

With stigma about intimate care concerns persistent, many consumers choose to purchase products for them discreetly online. On Amazon, intimate moisturizers, washes and wipes ring in sales of over $12 million a month, according to Amazon marketing and intelligence agency Envision Horizons. Established brands Vagisil and Summer’s Eve account for the lion’s share of Amazon’s intimate care sales, but upstart brands like Medicine Mama are gaining traction on the giant e-tailer. Envision Horizons estimates Medicine Mama Apothecary’s monthly revenue in the vaginal moisturizer category from Amazon is $320,000. The brand’s bestselling Vmagic Vulva Balm is $23.99 for a jar and $15.99 for a stick.

Elder millennial and gen X female consumers are driving much of the growth in intimate care and putting pressure on retailers to provide intimate care options. Michelle Jacobs, co-founder of Womaness, explains these consumers are more open than their older counterparts about discussing sexuality, fertility, perimenopause and menopause.

“As this customer ages, she is going to be looking for different products to meet her needs. If retailers want to compete with Amazon, they need solutions that work and brands that speak to her in a modern, educated way,” says Jacobs. “We know, from our own customer research, this customer does not want to buy the same products her mother or grandmother used. She wants new modern brands that reach her where she is—on social media, digital media and also sprinkled within traditional media.”

As consumers’ openness to intimate care topics and products has grown, butt care, a subcategory Beauty Independent first reported on in 2018, has entered the intimate care purview. Asset, Bawdy, Wype, Asset, Buttface, MyBum, Luna Daily, Beam and Future Method are a few of the brands in the subcategory. They’re selling products like hemorrhoid treatments, on-the-go hygiene aids, soothing wipes and hole sheet masks and serums.

In direct-to-consumer distribution and on Amazon and at Boots, Wype markets cleansing gels for bums and vulvas that are applied to toilet paper for a deeper clean. Giorgia Granata, co-founder and CEO of the brand, says, “Creating a winning intimate care product isn’t merely about putting a formula in a bottle, it’s about deeply understanding the specific needs of customers’ bodies and skin, providing medically-backed educational content and turning a daily habit into an act of self-care.”

Co-founder Lauren Breuer developed unisex intimate care brand Privates’ flushable cellulose wipes to be pH-friendly for vulvas and penises. They’ve become popular at fitness studios in California and New York such as Salt Drop, Good Day Pilates, Burn Pilates and Freya Movement Studios. “Intimate hygiene shouldn’t be frowned upon, and society’s made it seem so taboo,” says Breuer. “We wanted to break that barrier and make it super simple, clean and to the point.”

Intimate care critics argue that products in the category are money grabs from companies promoting products for intimate areas that don’t need them. Koestline counters by pointing to scientific literature on the unique microbiome and biological nuances of vulvar, perianal and adjacent skin. Last year, product certifier MyMicrobiome established a standard for the vaginal and vulval microbiomes in response to interest in intimate care products that respect the microbiome.

“Intimate skin tends to be thinner, more delicate and has a different pH balance compared to the rest of the body, making it more susceptible to irritation and imbalance if not treated carefully,” says Koestline. “With consumers becoming increasingly educated—and with the destigmatization of conversations around intimate health—people are seeking products that are both safer and more targeted. This cultural shift away from viewing intimate care as taboo has paved the way for a wave of brands innovating thoughtfully in this space.”

Eva Goicochea, founder of popular sexual wellness brand Maude pushes back on the idea that the surge of new intimate care brands is an attempt to make sex-adjacent products more palatable by eschewing pleasure.

She says, “We’ve always approached intimacy as everyday care, and it’s exciting to see more brands doing the same, offering a spectrum of support across topicals, ingestibles and rituals that reflect real, lived bodies. This isn’t a workaround. It’s a long-overdue course correction. A shift away from stigma, shame and categorization and toward a future where intimate wellness is treated with the nuance and seriousness it deserves.”