A few years ago, I was on my annual girls trip with my friends Tina, Cheryl and Aneesha, and as usual, we were blowing through several topics in the rapid fire style that is our signature, when we arrived on the topic of workouts, and then Tina blew my mind. She revealed that she doesn’t wear underwear when she works outs.

“WHAT?” I said. “What do you mean you don’t wear underwear when you work out”

“What do you mean you do?!” she replied.

We talked about the fact that most workout pants already have a build in cotton gusset and how terrible (and uncomfortable) thongs are when you’re working out, and I was pretty convinced that they were completely unnecessary. I went underwear-free at my next workout, and I was an immediate convert!!

HOW HAD I NOT KNOWN THIS BEFORE? Turns out, I am not alone. In a recent, completely unscientific survey in my Instagram stories, 74% of respondents said they wear underwear when they work out. A few direct messaged me to say it depended on the amount of sweat expected at the workout, and they left it out when they expected to get super sweaty.

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But do you REALLY NEED to wear underwear when you work out? To answer this question and settle this debate once and for all, I reached out to my friend Jenin, a highly qualified medical professional and all-around awesome human being to answer the question. Her take is that is that you need to have a natural fabric covering your vagina so it can breathe. Synthetic material accelerates odor causing bacteria, so if the workout pants have a natural gusset, there’s no issue going commando. However, if they are all-synthetic, you need a natural material separating you from the synthetic material. And also, please shower as soon as possible.

So there you have it: Do you need to wear underwear when you work out? It depends on what your pants are made of. But either way, you should have a natural fabric touching your skin.