Welcome to Pints & Pelvic Floors: The Podcast. In Episode 31, I took a deep dive into the different types of personal lubricants and how to pick the right one for you based on how you plan to use it.
The different types of personal lubricants:
- Water-based
- Pros: great for sensitive skin; safe with dilators, wands & sex toys; easy to clean and does not stain the sheets/couch/etc; safe to use with condoms
- Cons: not great for water play; need to reapply due to it being absorbed quickly
- Silicone-based
- Pros: long lasting making it ideal for marathon sex; able to last in water (shower, pool, etc); hypoallergenic; safe to use with condoms
- Cons: can damage silicone-based toys and dilators as it will break down the material over time creating places for bacteria to hide
- Oil-based
- Pros: longer lasting; can use with silicone based toys and tools
- Cons: will stain the sheets/couch/etc.; can trap bacteria so you need to be sure to clean them well; can cause damage to the latex in condoms making them more likely to break
Other considerations:
- Additives to avoid: flavored, edible, sensitizing, and numbing lubricants
- Household products not to use as lube: baby oil, mineral oil, vaseline or petroleum jelly products, vegetable or canola oil, essential oils, or lotion
- With water-based products it is important to consider pH and osmolality
- pH: ideally use a product with a pH around 4.5 for vaginal use and 5.5 to 7 for anal use
- Osmolality: this means how much one substance is dissolved into another water-based substance. In this case, if a lube has an osmolality that is too high it will draw water from your vaginal or anal tissue creating itchy or irritated feeling in the skin.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends lube with an osmolality of less than 1200 mOsm/kg.
- KY Jelly - O: 2007, pH: 4.55 (that osmolality is too high!)
- Slippery Stuff - O: 26, pH: 6.8
- Good Clean Love Almost Naked - O: 282, pH: 4.5
- Good Clean Love BioNude - O: 276, pH: 4.4
- Sliquid H2O - O: 144, pH: 4.2
Some Pelvic Pride favorites:
- Silicone: Uberlube (no parabens, glycerine, or flavors) and you can use if for chafe protection too
- Water: Slippery Stuff (no parabens, glycerin, or flavor) or Good Clean Love Almost Naked (no parabens or glycerin), vegan and gluten free - use PELVICPRIDE20 for 20% off
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