Most of the widely used vaginal lubricants in the U.S. and Europe are strongly hyperosmolal, formulated with high concentrations of glycerol, propylene glycol, polyquaternary compounds or other ingredients that make these lubricants 4 to 30 times the ...
Looking at any interesting effects of propylene glycol in vaginal lubricants I stumbled upon this study. Then I found it isn't the only one pointing to hyperosmolal lubes causing damage to the epithelium either.
IMO the title should always reflect the article being linked to, and editorializing it does the community a disservice on multiple levels, but a “plain English” description certainly belongs in the post description.
I honestly didn't expect a thoughtful response. My faith in humanity has slightly increased until I go to work and have to write up a complaint regarding two dumbass coworkers.
We just use baby oil or, more commonly, coconut oil. Coconut oil is so juicy and lubey and stays lubed for a long time, even when exposed to air. One tablespoon is enough for a very large area as well. 😏🍑
Lubricants too. From what I understood, most common over the counter lubricants are bad for the cells in the vagina and can lead to increased risk of STIs. Also, regulatory agencies test on rabbit vaginal cells which are nothing like human vaginal cells and they should probably change their testing requirements.
Most of the widely used vaginal lubricants in the U.S. and Europe are strongly hyperosmolal, formulated with high concentrations of glycerol, propylene glycol, polyquaternary compounds or other ingredients that make these lubricants 4 to 30 times the osmolality of healthy vaginal fluid. Hyperosmolal formulations have been shown to cause marked toxicity to human colorectal epithelia in vivo, and significantly increase vaginal transmission of genital herpes infections in the mouse/HSV model. They also cause toxicity to explants of vaginal epithelia, to cultured vaginal epithelial cells, and increase susceptibility to HIV in target cells in cell cultures. Here, we report that the osmolality of healthy vaginal fluid is 370 ± 40 mOsm/Kg in women with Nugent scores 0–3, and that a well-characterized three-dimensional human vaginal epithelium tissue model demonstrated that vaginal lubricants with osmolality greater than 4 times that of vaginal fluid (>1500 mOsm/Kg) markedly reduce epithelial barrier properties and showed damage in tissue structure. Four out of four such lubricants caused disruption in the parabasal and basal layers of cells as observed by histological analysis and reduced barrier integrity as measured by trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER). No epithelial damage to these layers was observed for hypo- and iso-osmolal lubricants with osmolality of <400 mOsm/Kg. The results confirm extensive reports of safety concerns of hyperosmolal lubricants and suggest the usefulness of reconstructed in vitro vaginal tissue models for assessing safety of lubricants in the absence of direct clinical tests in humans.
Interesting. As women tend to combat vaginal dryness later in life, guidelines like these are especially needed there. Pretty sure you very easily fall into a vicious circle of lubing, ruining cells which produce any remaining lube -> lubing even more. I guess the bottom line is to buy water-based lubes with some sort of an organic "gel" source and avoid propylene glycol/tons of glycerine/detergets (though those are harder to detect by name).
Totally. I'm not even sure it's the glycol or whether it's the ratio of soluble in the solution. Perhaps it would be too watery if they change it. In any case, they list a few options that don't have this problem. We'll go with them till we find the next problem! 🥹
^ This is the hybrid lubricant, our holy grail. It has a little silicone in it, which keeps it from drying out and getting gummy, while still feeling natural and not leaving us with a greasy clean up.
The Sliquid Silk hybrid lube was also tested and is silicone toy safe. We have personally tested it with every toy we have, including Bad Dragon soft and medium, leaving it on the test pucks for a few days with no change in the material.
Also here is a lovely list of lubes tested for ph and osmolality: