What is the vabbing trend that has taken over TikTok?

"Vabbing" is the latest trend taking over TikTok, and it's certainly gained everyone's attention after learning what the term entails...

TikToker Mandy Lee @oldloserinbrooklyn went viral when she explained how the vabbing trend was all about ditching your favourite fragrance in favour of your bodily fluids.

Basically, Lee said explained that the word which merges the words "vagina" and "dabbing" and is where women's vaginal fluids secrete pheromones and vabbing is where you wear those fluids on your neck, chest and wrists like a perfume to attract dates.

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"I swear if you vab you will attract people, like a date, [or a one-night stand.] Or you’ll just get free drinks all night," she said.

(Left) Mandy Lee went viral when she explained what vabbing is, while TikToker @jewlieah also gave an insight into the trend and said "it's been working out" for her.TikTok/@oldloserinbrooklyn and jewlieah

The video soon went viral with over 1.5m views and people were taken aback by the practice and made their feelings clear in their own TikTok videos.

What do people think about "vabbing"?

While plenty of people have also shared their disgust at the trend - with TikToker Kaitlyn (@alwyskaitlyn) hilariously washing her hands after she found out what vabbing was (5.9m views), @annnicoleng shared her reaction when she googled the term (70,000 views) and said she "just went through the 7 stages of grief in 30 seconds."

Comedian Em Rusciano made it clear she won't be trying vabbing after her hilarious reaction (447,000 views) where she jokingly came up with some vabbing-inspired fragrance names such as "Pink Door," "Impulse, Merrily Muff," and "Discharge by Davidoff."

Though there have been TikTokers who have vouched that vabbing works from their own personal experience of trying out the trend as @jewlieah shared her "Vabbing 101" tips (2.1m views) after noting it had been "working out for her" after doing it for a week.

As Palesa Moon (@palesamoon) also made a video where she explained how a man she was on a first date with "couldn't keep his hands off" her and the TikToker "kind of understood" why as she was "doing an experiment that night."

"I decided to use my coochie juice as like perfume," Moon said, in the clip that now has over 809,000 views.

Overall the #vabbingperfume hashtag has received 13m views.

Where does the term "vabbing" come from?

Once something begins to trend online, it can be difficult to trace the origins but the term "vabbing" first appeared back in 2018 on the Secret Keepers Club podcast with comedians Carly Aquilino and Emma Willmann when they chatted with a listener who said had tried it out herself.

The term then popped up on was included in Urban Dictionary back in 2019, before everyone learned about it this year on TikTok.

But the question is... does it actually work?

Over the years, it has been debated since the late 1950s as to whether pheromones play a role in human attraction, with no conclusive evidence to show for this, the BBC andScientific American reported.

"Bodily secretions such as vaginal fluids contain pheromones that can convey a range of information about a person, including their genetic makeups," Dr Andrea Wahling and Dr Alexandra James of La Trobe University explained.

"In the animal kingdom, different pheromones can do different things, such as incite a behavioural response.

"While pheromones play an important role in how animals communicate with each other, research is divided as to whether pheromones play a significant role in sexual and romantic compatibility for humans. The science is inconclusive as to whether humans can sense pheromones, and if this has any impact on dating or sexual behaviour.

Elsewhere, Professor Mark Elgar, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Melbourne told ABC's Triple J: "I think the whole idea of vabbing is hilarious, and I hope no one takes it too seriously," and added how humans look for other attraction signals such as looks, voice and charm.

We'll just stick to perfume, thanks...

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