Everything You Need to Know About Natural Lube

Trying to get all of the information that you need about the products you’re putting onto and into your body is pretty tough. And that can also be the case with products that are marketed as natural, like natural lube.

While the “natural” label might feel comforting and promising to some people, maybe it shouldn’t feel so inherently good. Is natural lube regulated? Is there a risk for allergic reactions? Is a natural lube actually better for your body than the traditional kind? And does natural lube even work?

All of this depends on a number of different factors.

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Is the Word “Natural” Regulated?

Unfortunately, the word “natural” is not regulated for the beauty or cosmetics industry on a government level. Additionally, personal lubricant is generally considered a medical product that would be regulated by a completely different body. This makes it much more difficult for natural products and alternatives to be regulated in a way that is universally applied.

Is Natural Lube Better For Your Body?

This question needs to be answered with a “not necessarily,” mainly because of the aforementioned information that I just disclosed to you. Because the natural label isn’t really regulated on the level that it should be for beauty products or natural lube, it’s really difficult to make sure that anything marketed as natural is actually any better or safer for your body.

While natural lube is more likely to contain naturally derived ingredients, not all of these natural ingredients are necessarily going to be the best for your body.

The best kinds of natural lube will be chocked full of natural ingredients that are body-safe, meaning only those that are generally considered to be safe by the scientific community due to trials and tests that have proven this to be the case.

And just because ingredients are body-safe, that doesn’t necessarily mean that natural lube does the same quality work that the traditional lubricants do. But I’ll cover that in a little bit, because some natural lube does work pretty well.

Allergies and Negative Body Reactions

However, it’s also important to note that some ingredients may not be the best for your body in particular.

This is because allergies exist, and some natural lube is made with ingredients that are actually common allergens. In fact, one of the natural ingredients that works the best for a homemade lube is coconut oil, which is a tree nut.

Those with allergies to tree nuts or coconut, specifically, should keep this in mind and make sure that they are not using products with those kinds of ingredients. And it should be known that coconut oil is not the only potential allergen you can encounter in natural lube or other natural products.

If you know that you are prone to allergic reactions, discomfort, or flare-ups of any kind, always be sure to read through the ingredients lists of any products that you will potentially use. That should be the case no matter how long or short the ingredient list, just to make sure you’re as safe as possible.

Some Kinds of Natural Lube Actually Work

While some kinds of natural lube work very well and keep up with their promises, this is not necessarily the case for all of them.

Especially those that use scientifically proven body-safe and effective ingredients are likely to be pretty useful. Ingredients like aloe or coconut oil are generally going to be body-safe and keep your erogenous zones relatively slippery.

However, with this in mind, it’s important to note that some kinds of lube, natural or not, can have a negative reaction to some of the items that you plan on using in the bedroom.

Oil-Based Lubes

Oils will generally degrade many of your physical barriers in the bedroom, most commonly latex-based condoms and dental dams. Generally, condoms are the only form of non-hormonal birth control that protect against both STIs or STDs and pregnancy.

This means that it’s important to keep yourself as safe as possible if you’re being sexually active and want to protect yourself. Especially because these physical barriers are the only kind of protection that decrease the contraction of infections and diseases during sexual encounters, you’ll likely be better off avoiding oil-based lubricants in general.

The only case in which avoiding oil-based natural lube would be unnecessary would be if you already know that your partner or partners have tested negative for these STIs or STDs. As for avoiding pregnancy, it would be a good idea to use a form of hormonal birth control if you’re set on using an oil-based lubricant.

Silicone-Based Lubes

Silicone-based lubricants, while not most commonly associated with natural lube, are still products you should be familiar with. These are well known for being longer-lasting lubricants that are especially useful if you plan on having sex in the bath or shower, for example.

However, these can have a negative reaction with silicone toys, causing toy destruction and potentially causing you bodily harm.