Posted by red on June 9th, 2009 in E-stim, Kinky Gear, Review, Sex Toys

Back when I posted my review of the “Electrosex Beginners Kit” from Zeus, I commented that the included rubber pads didn’t seem to work nearly as well as the sticky TENS pads. Well folks, I was wrong – what I needed was electrode conducting gel. Fortunately for me, I was contacted recently by the good folks at Extreme Restraints (my all time favorite kinky gear store, my oldest affiliate partner, and the first sex toy store I ever linked to), who offered to send me some Spectra 360 so that I may better test drive some of these electrosex accessories I’ve been reviewing lately.

In A Nutshell: A thick gel that conducts very well, and also is slippery enough to use as a lubricant for insertable electrosex toys.

What’s Not So Awesome? The gel is really sticky, which could get annoying if you had a lot in use.

Rating:

Spectra 360 Gel, from Parker Laboratories, is really cool stuff. It has the consistency of a thick, somewhat sticky water based lube, but it conducts electricity. One might wonder how such a substance works….and I wish – oh how I wish – that I knew what was in it, but sadly, no dice. The ingredients are protected under some sort of patent or something, or my google-fu is weak, because I’ll be damned if I could find that info. However, the MSDS for Spectra 360 is available on the manufacturer’s website, and it reports that the substance is completely safe – no toxicity to speak of at all.

Spectra 360 Gel works by providing a conductive bridge between an electrode and the skin, making the interface between electrode and body more conductive and able to easily transmit electrical current. Recalling high school science class, substances that are able to conduct electricity are those that have free moving ions or electrons at their disposal – things like a solution of salt in water, a piece of metal, or even the human body (which – in essence – is a bag of ions floating around in a watery solution). The reason conductive gel is useful with electrosex accessories is that normally, the interface between the accessory and the body is skin – which is not really all that conductive, especially when dry or oily. As an example of this, TENS pads are recommended to be used on clean, somewhat damp skin to minimize the interference from dry skin, or skin oils. When Spectra 360 is used, the interface between the electrode and the skin becomes this highly conductive gel that stays sticky for a long time, meaning that it will stay wet and conductive and will require minimal reapplication. Wet and conductive are two good words in the land of electrosex.

Spectra 360 gel takes some of my E-stim accessories and ups their potency by what could easily be a five fold improvement, if not more. Conductive rubber pads that come with TENS units work awesome when this gel is used – simply squirt a small dollup onto the pad, disperse the gel over the pad, and place on skin. The gel is sticky enough that the pad will stay reasonably put all by itself, and let me tell you, with this gel the conductive rubber pads suddenly go from lame to awesome. The gel is also decently effective as a lube – although I would not wish to use it as a sex lube as it is quite sticky, it’s awesome when smeared all over an accessory that requires insertion (such as the Zeus Torpedo Plugs) or one that requires a lot of contact with sensitive bits (such as the Electrosex Penis Sheath). Another added bonus of the gel is that it cuts down on the “hot spot” sensations some accessories can give, because it allows the current to run over a broader area of skin much easier.

In short, this is a critically important addition to an e-stim toy bag, and one that’s just plain inexpensive. Spectra 360 Gel is highly recommended for anyone looking to play around with electrosex – I almost feel like a small sample should be included in any e-stim power box kit.