Posted by red on March 2nd, 2005 in Articles

Continued from:
Lubricants, Demystified! Part 1- Greasy Lubricants.
Lubricants, Demystified! Part 2- Water Based Lubricants

Section 3 – Silicone Lubricants.

Why chose silicone? Well, for anal sex or hand jobs, you really can’t beat the slick feeling of oils – silicone oils are safe for use with condom. As we all know, oils are not to be used with condoms – have you ever wondered why?

You may remember form Part 1 of this lube-aganza that the main components of greasy lubes are mineral oil or petrolatum. The chemical structure of latex is similar to that of the greasy compounds in mineral oil and petrolatum. You may be familiar with the concept of “like dissolves like”; this is a perfect example. The greasy compounds in greasy lubes dissolve the latex, causing holes and tears.

But, if you’re like me and you love that slick oily feeling for anal sex, water based lube is really no substitute. Enter the silicone lubes. These babies are full of silicone oils. Just think of silicone oils as being regular oils, except with silicone chains instead of carbon chains (remember, carbon chains are what make greases greasy). Silicone shares a number of similarities to carbon, but the resulting silicone oils are not similar enough to latex to cause it to dissolve. Aha! Hold on a second however – you know those expensive SILICONE toys you own? That’s right – like still dissolves like. Silicone lubes will slowly dissolve and degrade your beloved toys, and that would be a tragedy.

Silicone lubes are made of three silicone oils. No thickeners, no preservatives, and no funny style ingredients. Just the slippery stuff: dimethicone, dimethiconol and cyclomethicone.

Slippery Stuff

Silicone oils are extremely inert and versatile. There are two common types of silicones used in cosmetic products – circular and chain silicones. Cyclic silicones evaporate quickly, leaving no reside behind. Although they are greasy, they are thin, and thus act to thin the lube and make it more easily spread over the desired area. Sexual lubricants contain cyclomethicone, as the second or third (of three) ingredients.

Straight chain silicones have a wide variety of properties based upon the length of the chain, in a way that is analogous to petroleum-based products with differing carbon chain length. In silicone oils, relative chain length is often differentiated by viscosity. The ultra-light and medium ones are often blended with cyclomethicone for a runnier product and a very quick soak-in. The ultra-high viscosity gums can be used to make a stiffer, thicker product, and are often used in hair waxes. Sexual lubricants contain dimethicone as their primary ingredient, and it is a thinner, runnier silicone oil. Dimethicone is listed as an ingredient in some water based lubes, where it helps make a slipperier product. The other constituent in sexual silicone lubricants is dimethiconol, which is similar in nature to dimethicone, but is a little more water-soluble. This helps with soap and water cleanup.

So, given that there are only three ingredients in all sexual silicone lubes, what the hell is the difference between them? Not much, my friend – go for the lowest priced option. For your benefit, here is the formulation and a description of the resulting product for the major brands of silicone lube.

·  Body Fluid by fun factory and Pur by Eros list their ingredients in the following order – 1) Dimethicone 2) Dimethiconol 3) Cyclomethicone. This roughly translates into more of the long lasting slippery ingredients, less of the �??spreading�?� ingredient.

·  Platinum by wet lists its ingredients in the following order – 1) Dimethicone 2) Cyclomethicone 3) Dimethiconol. Notice that the order of the second and third ingredients is different. This roughly translates into a lube with less long lasting slippery ingredients, but more “spread-ability”. Really, it’s a damned subtle difference from the Eros formulation.

Choosing the Lube That’s Best For You

Let’s stop and backtrack and look at the pros and cons of each type of lube.

·  Greasy lubes feel awesome for genital massage and anal sex. They are never to be used vaginally, and are NOT compatible with safer sex measures. They can be difficult to clean up.

·  Water Based Lubes dry out, but are safe to use anywhere, and are compatible with anything and everything. Clean up is as easy as rinsing with water.

·  Silicone Lubes are almost as good as greasy lubes for anal sex or external massage, and they even clean up with a bunch of soap. They are compatible with safer sex gear, but will degrade silicone sex toys.

Clearly, you choices in Lube will be dependent on your needs. If in doubt, start with a water based lube. I am of the opinion no one lube can or should meet all your sexual needs – I personally use different lubes for anal sex, vaginal sex and masturbation.

So what do I use?

I prefer greasy lubes for anal play; my favorite at the moment is “Elbow Grease”. Elbow Grease cleans up really nicely and really quickly, and it’s very slick and smooth, with quite a bit of staying power. It’s a blend of mineral oil and water, which makes it light while still being greasy. And because of the inclusion of water, it is easy as pie to clean up with soap and water, or just wipe off to soft feeling skin. Ding ding ding! We have a winner. And to think, I used to be a Vaseline girl.

For vaginal sex and toy play I use Liquid Silk, with astroglide as a close second. Now I really like astroglide, it’s much slipperier than Liquid Silk, but it annoys me when it gets sticky. Liquid Silk is wonderfully light and smooth, and when it dries it leaves a soft feeling behind. Because I don’t need a lube that has huge staying power for vaginal applications, I don’t mind that liquid silk doesn’t stay slippery for as long as astroglide does.

For external massage, silicone lube is top on my list. It cleans better than greasy lubes, and it’s really damned slippery. My brand of choice is Wet Platinum, because it is cheapest and widely available. I also opt to use it sometimes for anal sex, especially mid act when it is more convenient to reapply the lube by drizzling it on instead of smearing on the usual layer of thick oily cream.