Lubes & Your Vaginal Health Is Really Important

Women, which lube do you choose?  We review all the base types of lubes for your safe swinging pleasure: water, glycerin, silicone, petroleum, and oil.  You will learn about the ingredients, pH, and how this plays a VERY important role for the vagina.  Quality ingredients will reduce your STI risk and bacterial vaginosis (BV)!  This review should be shared with everyone, not just with your swinger friends!

SHOW NOTES:

1. Is Your Lube Expired?
2. Lube pH Matters!
3. Osmolality – Oh Yeah.
4. Vaginal Epithelium Layer
5. Ingredients
   1. Water, Glycerin, Silicone, Petroleum, Oil
6. Types of Lube Pros v. Cons

Referenced Articles:

• 42 Different Lube’s pH Value and Osmolality (National Center for Biotechnology Information)
• http://Are parabens Safe?
• “Structure and function of intercellular junctions in human cervical and vaginal mucosal epithelia”. Biology of Reproduction. 85 (1): 97–104. doi:10.1095/biolreprod.110.090423. PMC 3123383. PMID 21471299.
• Cute Little Bunnies No Longer Have To Die For Your Lube
• Hyperosmolal vaginal lubricants markedly reduce epithelial barrier properties in a three-dimensional vaginal epithelium model – ScienceDirect
• Lactobacilli Dominance and Vaginal pH: Why Is the Human Vaginal Microbiome Unique?
• Lube can alter vaginal pH. Here’s what to look for on the label
• Lube Reviews/Ingredients/Effects
• Lubricants by the Breast Cancer Organization>
• Most Commercial Lubricants Have Insignificant or No Antiviral Activity Against HIV-1

• Other water based preservatives:  sorbic acid, and sorbates, phenoxyethanol, benzoic acid, chlorhexidine gluconate and domiphen bromide. (World Health Organization (WHO) Article on Condoms & Lubes) 
• Smitten Kitten has posted an easy to read chart on the pH Levels of Water Based Lubricants which we will post in our notes
• Studies Raise Questions About Safety Of Personal Lubricants
• The Big Lube Guide — Dangerous Lilly: 
• Treating vulvovaginal atrophy/genitourinary syndrome of menopause: how important is vaginal lubricant and moisturizer composition?
• Use and procurement of additional lubricants for male and female condoms: WHO/UNFPA/FHI360 
• Vaginal Epithelium
• What are Normal Vaginal pH Values?
• World Health Organization recommends osmolality threshold of 380 mOsm/kg