5 Lube Ingredients You Might Not Want To Put In Your Vagina

Lubricants can enhance sexual pleasure and reduce discomfort during sex, but not all lube ingredients are created equal. In this article, we will highlight five common lube ingredients that you might want to avoid using in your vagina to prevent potential irritation or infection.

  1. Glycerine

Many lubricants manufacturers like to incorporate glycerine. This compound enhances the taste of the lub while making it effective.

Glycerine tastes sweet and has gel-like property – condition that you would expect any woman to admire in her lubricant.

This compound is sugar. At a certain range, glycerine presence in a vaginal jelly isn’t bad. But any large concentration could wreak havoc.

So what’s excessive? Any lubricant with a glycerine volume above 40% is considered harmful.  

The sugary and sweetly flavored environment around the vulva is ideal for bacterial infestation. This condition propagates the explosion of yeast and other urinary tract infections.

According to the Women's Health Interactive, Glycerin is a sugar derivative that has the potential to undergo fermentation within the body. This fermentation process can serve as a food source for yeast, leading to an increase in yeast and urinary tract infections in women. Moreover, Glycerin can break down mucus membranes and cause damage to vaginal and anal tissues, thereby elevating the risk of irritation and transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

But the presence of glucose and sugar present in the lubricant is beneficial. Besides softening the vagina, it improves moisture retention and eliminates dryness around the vaginal opening.

Even with these benefits, glycerine is still creates a perfect breeding ground for all forms of bacteria. So avoid lubricants with high glycerine volume. 

After all, there is no need of enjoying sex only to suffer infections later. 

  1. Petroleum products

When petrochemicals are introduced in sex lubricants, they tend to elicit stinging or tingling sensation. The effect is good for sex, but harmful for the reproductive health of any woman.

These same petrochemicals are present in your car’s antifreeze, brake fluid and dishwashers. For machines and appliances, these chemicals are okay. 

But your vagina isn’t a piece of appliance. And so rubbing lubs that contain ingredients like propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol and petroleum is dangerous.

Still, uninformed women wrongly use lubricants containing petroleum products based on the smoothness of the lotion.

And here lies the problem. Lubricants with petroleum jelly linger longer on the vaginal cavity. Thus they set suitable moist condition for bacterial infection.

One study established that women who use petroleum jelly as lubricants are more than twice as likely to exhibit symptoms of bacterial vaginosis than women who use other forms of lubricants.

According to the study conducted by Healthline Media, while petroleum jelly is commonly used to moisturize lips, it is not suitable as a lubricant for intimate activities. Petroleum jelly is oil-based, and using it with latex condoms can lead to condom breakage, increasing the risk of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Sadly, the petroleum substances in these lubricants can shear the condoms.  

  1. Nonoxynol -9

Have you ever wondered why you experience vaginal inflammation and foul smelling “fishy” odor after sex? Does your groin itch or burn during urination?

Well, you have an infection brought about unprotected sex. But maybe you could be wrong in suspecting your partner? 

Instead of blaming your partner for the STIs you keep getting, perhaps it’s time to check the composition of the fluid you use. Better still, you should reduce on douching.

When you use a lub with nonoxynol-9, you are more likely to suffer from a condition called bacterial vaginosis.

According to the article published by SELF which is an American Women Magazine, Nonoxynol-9 is a spermicide that can have adverse effects on the vaginal biome. It has the potential to disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria in the vagina, leading to uncomfortable infections such as bacterial vaginosis. Additionally, using Nonoxynol-9 can cause irritation and inflammation, which can be particularly uncomfortable, especially during nighttime.

What is BV? Bacterial vaginosis is an infection that occur when your anaerobic bacteria outweigh the good vaginal bacteria. 

And lubricant that contains nonoxynol-9 can support this scenario. Rightly on, since it kills all the good bacteria in your vagina.

With the absence of the useful lactobacilli bacteria, bad bacteria grow exponentially. This imbalance tilts the delicate vaginal pH range, resulting in BV.

  1. Parabens

Another lubricant that you should shy away from is the one that contains preservatives. Parabens, benzyl alcohol, and citric acids are all preservatives.

Preservatives in these lubs can itch, burn or create some sticky situation around your vagina. This is unpleasant feeling.

The vagina has its way of swelling and moistening the walls before penetrative sex. Hence the artificial burning isn’t supposed to occur. 

Synthetic stabilizers may act as an endocrine disruptor. They It mimic the effects of estrogen.

In so doing, parabens compounds in lubs you use can interfere with the natural feminine hormones.

Accordingly, using paraben-laced vaginal jelly causes myriads of reproductive health issues. They distort fertility levels as well as interfere with the smooth development of fetus.

Pieces of research confirm that cosmetics that contain paraben increase candida growth on vaginal epithelial cells when applied vaginally. 

But paraben-induced yeast infestation isn’t so bad. These lubricants can even propagate the onset of breast cancer.

  1. Chlorhexidine gluconate

Chlorhexide has been shown to be effective against normal vaginal bacteria. Hence women who are susceptible to genital bacterial infection in an on-off situation may prefer to use lubricants that contain this substance.

Infections like streptococcus, E. Coli and enterococci are common and usually harmless. So, it’s ideal to protect your genitals, by applying lubs with this antibacterial property. 

Any treatment that has chlorhexidine with low alcohol (4%) content is effective. And using chlorhexidine gluconate (2%) is highly recommended.

But chlorhexidine should be used as a vaginal surgical antiseptic. Unfortunately, this is not that case.

High dose of this antibacterial agent is evident in most lubricants. This mix alters bacteria levels in the vagina. Thus disrupts the delicate pH balance within the vaginal cavity. 

Some women still experience mild inflammation and irritation on the delicate tissues around the vaginal opening. This is despite a low concentration of the chlorhexidine gluconate in vaginal lubricants.

In a nutshell, people must consider all pros and cons before inserting anything in their vagina. Lack of awareness has been the primary reason why people are putting things in their vaginas, and it can be avoided if you use these lube ingredients.

Augment Low Female Libido Naturally Or By Holistic Treatments

Low female libido can be treated in many different ways. The markets are full of libido enhancers that a female can use and they are also found in local stores as well as on the internet. The typical strategy to enhance female libido includes the right reason that is accountable for the decrease in sexual feelings and desires in females.

In general, libido enhancing therapies for a female is made up of different aspects as expressed below:

Medication pills: Drug Manufacturers have come up with medication pills for low female libido that is focused on stimulating the flow of blood to the genital organs of the female, whose outcome is better vaginal lubrication and well toned vaginal muscles.

Estrogen gels, patches, and capsules: The most important female hormone that assists in maintaining the lubrication in the vagina and an increase in sexual feelings and desire in libido activity is estrogen. This hormone is also helpful to sustain the vaginal tissue health and its whole structure.

Estrogen therapy boosts the flow of blood within the vagina for probably helping in improving the low female libido. However, the use of such hormone for female libido is contentious. Estrogen gels, patches, and pills are accessible in the market.

Natural supplements for female libido: Women have also started using herbal libido enhancers that are natural and safe products. The benefits of using natural herbal pills do not only stimulate the circulation of blood in the female genitals as well as supports healthy sexual hormones to revitalize the female reproductive organs.

Those females, who desire to enhance their libido, might go for different tropical gels, lotions or creams as well as the new sprays that have been scientifically designed to perk the female sexual comeback. However, it is advisable to go for water-based and pH balanced tropical products because this formula generally suits your body and helps to the input of the development of harmful micro-organisms.

There are various indirect reasons related to low female libido, which are:

In the case of low female libido, lots of holistic treatments can be utilized and tackled with to enhance your sexual desire. Several holistic exercises are Yogasanas and Pranayama. Taking these breathing exercises regularly will bring out the entire negativeness in your body and fill it with life. Other options are acupressure as well as acupuncture and acupressure, which are found to be extremely helpful. Even massage therapy and aromatherapy can be added to enhance female libido.