The Best Lubricants For Intercourse

Thanks for visiting our site. We're Rod & Helen, a couple of professional sex therapists in a relationship with each other. We tried dozens of lubes - and, yes, we really did use them...what a great job that was! After endless  fun  research, we can now reveal our choice of the best lubricants for women (they're mostly all good for men), as well as explaining which to use if you're expecting a baby or trying to get pregnant, and helping you choose which lubes to use with condoms, or for anal pleasure. Enjoy!

Read on to find out which is the best lubricant for intercourse - and remember, lubes are all about having great sex!

What's it all about? Lubricants for intercourse.....why, how, when?

We aim to provide you with all the information you need on lubricants which can make intercourse more pleasurable. If you're a woman, you may need more lubricant if your natural juices are a little lacking, or you may need some help after the menopause.

Also, men and women who enjoy extended Tantric sex or prolonged lovemaking may find that G spot stimulation is a lot easier if they use a supplement to a woman's natural lube.

Finally, men who have been circumcised may find that sex is more pleasurable for both them and their female partner if they add a little lubricant for intercourse to the head of the penis before lovemaking begins. This is because the foreskin acts as a seal to preserve a woman's natural vaginal secretions, whereas the glans penis on a circumcised man can act more like a piston, and remove the secretions from the vagina as the man thrusts during lovemaking.

But whatever situation you're in, we will give you all the information you need and a variety of suggestions about which products may be most helpful.

Gone are the days when you had to struggle with greasy and ineffective lubricants for intercourse like Vaseline....an oil based product, which, like other petroleum oil-based products, can damage the lining of the vagina and lead to infection.

Nowadays, there's a whole collection of lubricants for intercourse, including ones made from plant oils, which claim to be natural, work in harmony with your body, and have long lasting properties. Trouble is - in the face of such choice, how do you find the best lubricant for women, or the best product for your particular needs, the one that gives the most enjoyable sensations during sexual intercourse?

It's not easy if you're starting from scratch, so our aim is to try and make the choice easier for you. First of all (remember we are disregarding petroleum oil-based lubes for the reasons given above), the fundamental choice you need to make is between silicone based products, water-soluble products (also known as water-based lubes), and plant oil based lubes.

If you're of the school of thought which believes only "natural" things should go into the vagina, then your choice is restricted to the water-soluble and natural lubricants for intercourse which we describe below.

But if you have an open mind about silicone, you might want to try one of the silicone lubes, simply because they do tend to be longer lasting than the water-soluble ones - the latter may dry out and require refreshing during intercourse. Silicone is also good for sexual activities which simply aren't compatible with water-based lubes - such as sex under water - where a water-based lube will just wash away.

In case this is getting a bit confusing, let's wind back a bit.

We've already established that silicone lubricant for intercourse has the advantage of being long-lasting, and not washing away with ordinary water. So if you're looking for a lube that has a persistent quality, and won't dry out, silicone is probably a good place to start. Because of silicone's long-lasting qualities, it is also good for anal sex, where greater persistence is useful. However, it's advisable not to use silicone lubricants for intercourse in conjunction with sex toys made of silicone, because the lubricant can dissolve the outer surface of the silicone sex toy and make it sticky. One way to get round this problem is to cover your sex toy with a condom before you use it with silicone-based lubricant.

Another advantage of silicone is that it is compatible with latex condoms (although of course the same is true of water-based sex lubricants).

If you decide to try a silicone product, then your next decision will be about which one to buy. This can be quite challenging, since there are many different brands of silicone lubricants for intercourse on the market. Our advice would be to go with a simple one that has no additives, and which also represents good value for money. Our favorite choice is to use own brand products from the sex toys store "Babeland." They sell a good one called "Babelubes silicone." Their products feel like they are designed for women's benefit and safety as well as men and women's sexual pleasure for intercourse!

By the way, in case you're wondering about safety, silicone lubricants cannot pass into the bloodstream and are quite safe (unlike silicone breast implants).

If you're still a little bit dubious about the benefits of silicone lubricants you might want to try a water-based lubricant for intercourse. Unfortunately, you will find the choice of these products even more bewildering than the choice of silicone-based lubricants.

First and foremost avoid products with glycerin or other sweetening agents which can seriously disrupt the acid / alkali balance of the vagina and promote yeast infection. You might also want to avoid any lubricants for intercourse which contain Nonoxynol-9, a spermicide and contraceptive jelly ingredient, which can be extremely irritating to the lining of the vagina and anus. It can actually cause tiny little tears in the lining of the vagina and anus and therefore may actually promote transmission of HIV.

Overall, once again we recommend Babeland as suppliers because their product range does not include any lubricants or condoms with Nonoxynol 9 as an ingredient.

Even after dismissing products with glycerin and Nonoxynol-9, you're left with a bewildering choice, but essentially the difference between the various sex lubes comes down to whether they are "natural", how thick they are, and whether or not they are flavored.

We would personally avoid any product that contained organic paraben molecules (compounds used as preservatives) because there is some evidence that parabens are carcinogenic.

So, if you're looking for something that is completely natural, then you need to buy a product that is branded as "natural" or "organic": these tend to be made from vegetable products that are known to be safe and have not been tested on animals. Note that this may include plant oils, and as such you may not be able to use a latex condom with them. Examples include Babeland Naturals Organic lubricant, and Sliquid Organics, and Firefly natural lubricant (which is an updated version of the first certified organic lube to be made in the United States, originally called Nude), and a product range called Yes!, made from Aloe Vera (Yes! also have an oil based range - made from natural plant oils, that is).

There are plenty of other lubricants for intercourse available which contain greater or lesser amounts of chemicals that promote slipperiness, water retention, or act as preservatives. Whether or not you object to these depends partly on personal choice, and, more practically, on whether or not these products produce an adverse reaction when you use them.

One of the most commonly known products is called Astroglide, which contains polypropylene glycol; there's nothing inherently wrong with this; as we say, it's a matter of personal choice, and it's a popular product which is both effective and safe (it uses grapefruit extract as a preservative).

Apart from the need to refresh some of the water-based lubricants during intercourse with a spray of water every so often, one of the facts that you might need to take into account when making your choice of lube for lovemaking is how much sensation you're able to achieve when you use any of these lubricants for intercourse. Vaginal lubricant, though slippery, is somewhat thin; the thicker the product, the more likely that sensation will be dulled: this may not matter during anal intercourse, where persistent and thick lubricant is probably a real bonus, but it may matter significantly during vaginal intercourse, where you don't want your pleasure to be dulled by an excessively slippery product.

Friction produces feeling! Slipperiness promotes pleasure - but only up to a point. When a woman is naturally "too" lubricated her man loses the pleasant feeling of sliding his glans penis against her vaginal walls - excessive lube can have the same effect. If this is a problem for you, then start with one of the thinner lubricants like Astroglide or Babelands Natural.

OUR SELECTION OF THE BEST LUBES FOR INTERCOURSE

Just in case you want to get your best lube for intercourse right now, without further ado, just click on your chosen link below and go to the product page from our chosen suppliers (needless to say, all very carefully selected).
All these products are SAFE to use internally.

1 The best lubricants for vaginal intercourse without condoms - click below on the links

• Organic lubricants for sex working in harmony with your body
• Lubricants for intercourse containing herbal natural plant extracts like Aloe Vera
• Natural oils - we recommend food grade grape seed oil
• Some pretty slippery artificial lubes (i.e. not oil or plant based compounds)

Notes: The link for "Lubricants containing herbal natural plant extracts" takes you to one of our favorite lubricant products - Aloe Cadabra - at Amazon.com, where it is available for sale. You can also get it from BetterSex.com (search for Aloe Cadabra lubricant.) For the purest natural lubes, we recommend food grade grape seed oil. This does not affect the vaginal tissue and is a great massage oil too! It gives beautiful sex with no vaginal irritation, and real pleasure.

2 The best lubricant for vaginal sex with condoms

3 The best lubricant for anal sex with condoms

4 The best lubricants for anal sex without condoms

5 The best lubricant for making love when trying to conceive - PreSeed lubricant

PreSeed is generally recognized as having least effect on sperm survival and motility.

6 The best lubricant for sex for a pregnant couple

We suggest a water based lube such as Babeland Organic Lubricant.

Want to make sex better? Then get some of the great lubricants for intercourse we recommend above.

By the way, we researched this subject extensively and came up with a few surprises. The most interesting fact is that 25% of couples use lube regularly. In fact, so many couples use lube that we decided to write a short and simple guide to the best lubricants for women (almost any lube is a good lube for men!). We tried them all out ourselves and modified our suggestions based on what we enjoyed and what we didn't!

And remember - slippery sex is fun sex - easy for her, better for him. It doesn't matter why you need a lube - there are probably as many reasons for using it as there are women. Menopause, pregnancy, whatever...it's so easy to add that missing ingredient when a woman's natural moisture needs a little extra help. Whatever you want, whether it's natural, organic, artificial, oily, water based, silicone based, we can help you make a good choice. Read on to find out more about the best lubes for sex. 

Why Do You Need Lubricants For Intercourse?

The best answer is undoubtedly to use a lubricant for intercourse. They are the quickest, simplest and probably the most effective solution to vaginal dryness, no matter what the cause. This can be hormonal or mood related, or stress-related, or even just the way girl is made. Let's focus here on solution rather than cause: vaginal lubricants can ease your way to a great time whenever you need them. In addition, they can serve to prolong love-making when a girl dries up during extended sex, and they can make masturbation much more comfortable for a man who's been circumcised.

An unexpected benefit of lube - and plenty of it - is that the reduced friction of penis in vagina during thrusting can help to make a man control his ejaculation and give him the gift of preventing a man from coming too soon and lasting longer in bed than he normally would. You may find the idea that a lubricant can forestall premature ejaculation a little strange - surely, you may think, the more slippery the environment, the quicker he comes? Well, no, the fact is that reduced friction due to an abundance of natural secretions or excess lube can actually slow a man's ejaculation down. You may have experienced something similar when the female partner's vagina is extremely wet with her natural lubrication (produced by the vaginal walls) and the man complains of a loss of sensation.

Finally, even if you don't think you need lubrication for sexual intercourse, was asked you may well be delighted at the sensation if you try it. And that's not only when you're wanting a quickie with minimal foreplay – if you have a girl who takes a long time to get juicy, lubricants for intercourse can make the job much easier for both of you.

There are three main categories of lube today: water-based, silicon-based, and oil-based. It's obvious that you can never use an oil-based lubricant with a condom, since it'll destroy the fabric of the condom very quickly. Avoid things like Crisco or Vaseline, because they stick around too long and they are very hard to remove from intimate tissue. The only kind of oil based lubes we can recommend are gentle oils like sweet almond oil. In any case because of the properties we've already mentioned, oil-based lubes of any kind are strictly for intimate couples who are committed to each other and know each other's sexual history. Another factor to beware of is that oil inside the vagina is not helpful for some women – it can promote vaginal infection if she's a susceptible type. Otherwise, gentle oil based lubes can be very helpful in promoting great intercourse.

The most popular lubes come in the water-based category, because they don't affect tissue, and they're easy to wash off with, surprisingly enough, just a little warm water and maybe some soap. However, they do tend to dry out, although you can get over this by just having a little water at hand to reapply when they begin to dry up. Alternatively of course, you can just reapply the lubricant. However, interrupting sex to apply more water all lubricant might not be the most romantic thing for either you or your girl, so it's worth keeping that drawback in mind. Naturally enough, water-based lubricant for intercourse has the advantage being completely compatible with all condoms. You'll need to watch out for those that contain glycerin, because, like oil-based lubricants, that's a product that can promote infection in susceptible women.

Health Issues - A SideBar

Please, if you have any health issues, get them cleared up - that way you will enjoy sex much more. Sadly, when I developed gout  I did nothing about it for quite some time, and of course it got worse. Yet the simple - and in retrospect obvious - fact is that if I had done something about it in a timely way, the build up of uric acid crystals in my big toe joint would never have got so bad - and then of course I would never have been so distracted by the pain that my partner and I simply couldn't focus on lovemaking (or anything else!). I seriously recommend that if you have gout you click here, and if you have any other health issue, you seek appropriate medical help.

There are a number of water-based lubricants had been on the market some time, and the most popular amongst them is Astroglide. This is a little bit thin but it's certainly very slippery and its long-lasting, and it's widely available. In fact, if you've never tried lube before, this is the one to start with. For those who want something more long-lasting and thicker, there's a product called Maximus, which is probably a good one to use if you're into anal pleasure and you need plenty of lube that has lots of staying power.

There's a product called "Yes, Yes, Yes!" – a name which doesn't leave much to the imagination, I guess! However it has aloe vera in and therefore its popular with holistic health fans. Another one we recommend is called "O'My", which may be a corny name but the product has the advantage of being completely organic whilst still maintaining good slipperiness and comparatively long-lasting lubrication power. If you are worried about artificial chemicals and additives, this is certainly the product for you! Overall, it's probably just as good as Astroglide. Another popular product is called "Wet", which is again like Astroglide quality and comes in  various flavors, which makes it great for oral sex.

Have you heard of "Slippery stuff gel"? It falls somewhere in the marketplace between Astroglide and Maximus: again, whether it's right for you as a lubricant for intercourse is just personal preference, so it's worth trying out if you have any doubts about any of the other products.

We don't recommend the old favorite KY jelly, simply because it dries out far too quickly. In any case, it was designed for medical use such as gynecological examinations, not for sexual intercourse. If you use a lubricant for intercourse, choose one that was made for that purpose!

So finally, what about silicone-based lubes? Well, there much longer lasting water-based lubes, but they are also much greasier. They're safe with condoms, and you can even use them underwater. However, some people really don't like them because they have such a greasy quality – again, it's a matter of personal preference. The most common varieties are "Wet Platinum" and "Eros Body Glide".

Why Are Lubricants Important?

A new study by Indiana University found that women reported higher levels of sexual satisfaction and pleasure with lubes.

The study of 2,400 women, is the largest ever conducted, despite the wide availability of lubricant and little research about how personal lubricants contribute to sex. Debby Herbenick, of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion said: "Use of lubricant is linked to sexual pleasure and satisfaction and low levels of symptoms." Participants reported fewer symptoms of irritation (and presumably of yeast infections)* and genital pain when they used a water-based lubricant compared to silicone lubes.

Director of the Center and co-author of the study, Michael Rees said lubricants are an important safer sex tool, used with latex condoms. Lubricants important to safer sex and contribute to the quality of sex."

Here are some of the findings:

• More than 70 percent of the time participants indicated that they used lube to make sex more pleasurable.
• When lubricant was used for vaginal sex, anal sex or masturbation, women said it was "more fun".
• Lubricant is also used to reduce the risk of skin injury or tearing, especially in anal intercourse.

For the study, women between 18 and 68 took part in a double-blind review of the use of six lubricants during solo masturbation and partnered sex. Women used one of six lubricants, four water-based and two silicone-based, for two weeks.

From more than 10,000 episodes of vaginal intercourse, and 3,000 episodes of masturbation, sexual pleasure and sexual satisfaction were greater with any lubricant compared to sex without a lubricant. Anal intercourse was rare, but again sexual pleasure and satisfaction were higher when lubricant was used compared to sex without a lubricant.

For all types of sex using lube, symptoms of friction and infection were rarely reported and were less likely to occur with the use of lubricant. Women mostly applied lube to their own or their partner's genitals.

* check out this Yeast Infection No More Review if you have a yeast infection. And use a lube!

The Best Lubricants For Intercourse

Personal lubricants (lubes) are used during sexual activity to reduce friction between penis and vagina or any other body parts that may be employed for stimulation during foreplay, intercourse, oral or anal sex, and masturbation. They may also reduce friction when applied to sex toys and can ease penetration. Water-based personal lubricants are, as the name suggests, water-soluble and seem to be the most widely-applied sexual lubricants.

The highly advanced products available today include ingredients designed to aid dispersal, retention of water, and sterility. The viscosity of these products depends ion the amount of water added - this alters the concentration of the main gel-forming hydrophilic ingredient. Water-based personal lubricants can be absorbed into skin or may even evaporate, which means they have a tendency to dry out during sexual activity. Adding more water or reapplying the lubricant will reactivate it, though a sticky residue may be left behind. More modern lubes are formulated with harmless natural skin moisturizers, including carrageenan, which can prevent residue being left behind after evaporation. Carrageenan inhibits human papillomavirus infection. Carraguard, an aqueous gel with carrageenan as a main ingredient functions as a bacterial- and micro-bicide, and may therefore be useful in preventing transmission of HIV as well as HPV. Water-based lubricants tend to be incompatible with sexual activity which takes place in bathtub, pool, or hot tub, as they (obviously) dissolve in water.

A 2011 study by the Population Council found that many water-based lubricants tested damaged human rectal cells and those containing polyquaternium-15 actively increase HIV replication in cell cultures. This appears to increase risk of HIV transmission. Evens so, safe sex requires water-based lubes to be used because they do not denature condoms as oil-based lubricants may do, and it is the condom which protects users from HIV. Without any lube, condoms are likely to break, and trauma to the rectal lining will still occur. Silicone-based lubricants may be an alternative; while lubricants and creams containing the spermicide nonoxynol-9 are known to damage cells and make users more vulnerable to HIV.

Oil-based lubricants increase the likelihood of condom breakage and slipping and may create tiny holes in the latex. Oil-based lubricants are therefore only good for people who are in relationships where they do not need to use condoms, and who wish to avoid compounds found in other lubricants.

Fertility lubricants, a.k.a. sperm-friendly lubricants, are designed to be safe for couples trying to conceive. Fertility lubricants match the body's pH and osmolality so they are safe for sperm. They are also free of chemicals that may harm sperm. In total, fertility lubricants do not harm viability or motility of sperm. When the lube contains calcium and magnesium ions and has a pH and osmolality range that is similar to that of the vagina, the chances of conceiving are maximized.

Couples trying to conceive need to choose a lubricant carefully. Most personal lubricants, may damage sperm and keep them from swimming normally, and are not recommended for use if pregnancy is the objective of sex.

Many personal lubricants today are "organic", such as Yes!, Intimate Organics, and Sliquid. Many of these lubricants are "natural" and do not contain paraben, glycerin, DEA or animal-based ingredients. Some contain compounds such as aloe vera or other plant extracts.

Silicone-based lubricants often have less than four ingredients, no water, and a different sensation from water-based personal lubricants. They are not absorbed by either skin or mucus membranes, so last longer than water-based lubricants. Silicone-based lubricants do not increase the risk of HIV transmission in the course of anal intercourse, unlike some water-based lubes have. However, silicone-based lubricants are not suited for use with sex toys made from silicone because the formula dissolves the surface, so it becomes sticky to touch, and disintegrates over time, allowing bacteria to breed. Silicone-based lubricant is also applied to pre-lubricated condoms, because of its long-lasting properties and latex compatibility. Such properties may be useful for a man who needs to find a reliable and effective treatment for retarded ejaculation that will enable him to ejaculate normally. Advice for men who are unable to ejaculate during sex can be found here.

Great sex!

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