More Natural Lubes

Continuing with my natural lube reviews I have four more natural water-based lubes to review for you today, compliments of PinkCherry.com.  Note that the ingredients listed for each lube can be looked up in my Lubes 101 – Harmful Chemicals and Body Burden guide.

Muko Lubricating Jelly

I remember seeing Muko Lubricating Jelly in our bathroom medicine cabinet when I was a young girl.  I didn’t know what it was for and figured it was just some type of medical product.  Well, it is a medical product—a medical grade lubricant to be precise—whose clinical purpose is to ease in the insertion of urological catheters, rectal thermometers, enemas and tampons.  Its other purpose is as a personal lubricant.

This lubricant is pretty well your bare-bones lube.  The ingredients include Deionized water, Propylene Glycol, Hydroxyethyl Cellulose, Methyl Paraben, Propyl Paraben.  The ingredients to be wary of are Propylene Glycol (which can promote yeast infections in some women) and the parabens (which have been linked to breast cancer and can be irritants).  These ingredients are however the same as 99% of the personal lubricants on the market, as parabens are pretty much in every product we use including our toothpaste.

This lube is very thick, as its intended use is for catheters, so a thick gel will stay put more easily.  It is fairly slippery when rubbed in, but does not have the staying power of a more liquid lube and gets VERY sticky with prolonged use.  It is odorless and tasteless, and like every water-based lube is water soluble, so easily washes away.  It is also a bacteriostatic, which means it prohibits the growth of bacteria.

I would recommend Muko Lubricating Jelly for medical play, rather than for a personal lubricant, because it gets so sticky and that is its ideal use.  Its packaging also looks very medical, so would fit in well for a medical scene.  It could be used for catheters, gynecological examinations including speculum insertion, as well as for fire cupping play and candle play, or wherever a gel lubricant would be useful.

Comfort Sensitive Skin Personal Lubricant

Comfort Personal Lubricant for Sensitive Skin is a lube made by Wet, a leading company that manufactures personal lubricants.  About a year ago, Wet came out with an All Natural line of lubes, which I reviewed, and the new Comfort series is used to provide relief from dryness and are “medically approved”, ph balanced and hypoallergenic (for sensitive skin).

I went to the Wet website to find out more about this product and it stated that it was Glycerin and Paraben Free.  Oddly enough, when I looked at the ingredients both Glycerin and Methylparaben are on the list.  So, I don’t know if Wet has come out with a new formulation, or if this is just a mistake on their website.  Either way, it was a bit misleading.  What I found more disturbing is that it contains PEG which rated high (6-10) on the toxicity scale from the Cosmetic Database.  It also contains Imidazolidnyl Urea which is derived from urine and rates 5 in toxicity (yellow warning), Ethylenediamine (rated 9!) and has a very high hazard warning and is linked to cancer, allergies and is a Human immune system toxicant.

Yikes!  Okay, now I am terrified.  Strangely enough I didn’t look up the ingredients before using this lubricant.  One use is not likely to harm anyone, and most likely one bottle wouldn’t harm you, but over a sustained period of time any of these toxins can and will build up in your system.

So without going further than the ingredients list, I can’t recommend this lube even though it seemed to work well, and I had no allergic reactions to it.  For a lube that claims to be body-friendly, for sensitive skin, and a “healthy solution for vaginal dryness” I was pretty appalled at what it actually contained.

Ingredients: Deionized Water, Glycerin, Carbomer, PEG, Propylene Glycol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Imidazolidnyl Urea, Sodium Benzoate, Methylparaben, Tetrahydroxypropyl, Ethylenediamine, Tetrasodium EDTA, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice (Aloe Barbadensis), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E Acetate).

Lube de Luxe Hypoallergenic Gel Plus Lubricant

ForPlay is a new lubricant manufacturer on the market and makes Lube de Luxe Hypoallergenic Gel.  This is definitely a kinder, gentler and body-friendlier lube than the one above.  It still contains Glycerine and Propylene Glycol (both “sugars” that encourage yeast growth in women prone to yeast infections).  All of the other ingredients are extremely low (around 0) on the toxicity scale and body-safe.

Lube de Luxe is a very nice slippery gel lube that starts off rather thick, but gets slippery, silky and creamy once you rub it in.  It reminds me a bit of a hybrid-silicone lube as it stays slippery for a long time, but like a water-based, eventually rubs in, leaving no sticky residue.  Fairly odorless, it has a slight tang or citrus flavor which is palatable.  Lube de Luxe also contains Aloe Vera and Chamomile Extract, which are both excellent natural compounds for soothing irritated skin.

All in all, this is a very good lubricant.  I only wish they would come out with non-glycerine / glycol alternative.

Ingredients: Glycerine, Water Purified, Propylene Glycol, Cellulose Gum, Aloe Vera, Chamomile Extract and Potassium Sorbate (aka citric acid, a preservative).

Joy Jelly Lubricant in Natural

Joy Jelly (Natural) is a product from Doc Johnson, a larger sex toy manufacturer.  Like Wet’s Comfort, it contains a few not-so-body-friendly ingredients unfortunately including Diazolidinyl Urea (derived from animal urine and secretions with a level 5 toxicity), Methylparaben and Propylparaben (6 & 5 toxicity) and Triethanolamine (an emulsifier or PH balancer) (6), which are all “moderate hazards” and could be potential irritants.  Triethanolamine in particular has been known to create contact dermatitis in sunscreens.

As I’ve said before, many of these same ingredients are in most cosmetic products like moisturizers, sunscreens and mascaras, so on the whole are not problematic if you already use products that contain them.  However, because the mucus membranes of the vagina and anus are thin, chemicals can more easily penetrate the blood stream, and can more easily build-up to create body burden and health ailments.  So, if you can find better body-friendly lubricants, then it makes sense to use them instead.

Joy Jelly has a very fruity flavor, which is due to the fructose in the product.  Again, fructose is a sugar, so stay away from it if you are prone to yeast infections.  Because of the fructose it is also a sticky lube, so not highly recommended for that reason either.

Ingredients: Deionized Water, Glycerin, Fructose, Carbomer 941, Propylene Glycol, Diazolidinyl Urea, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, and Triethanolamine.

So, to conclude both Muko Lubricating Jelly and Lube de Luxe Hypoallergenic Gel are fairly body-safe, but Lube de Luxe has the best consistency and is longer lasting.  Joy Jelly failed my lube testing due to the chemical parabens and the fructose.  Comfort Personal Lubricant for Sensitive Skin was the worst lube of the bunch and probably rated the worst for toxins overall from all the lubes I have tried in the past, so stay clear of that one.

Thank you to PinkCherry.com for allowing me to test these various lubes for my Natural Lube Project.  PinkCherry.com carries these, plus many body-safe natural lubes in their online store.

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