One thing you get hammered into you when learning about sex toys is that lubrication is one of the most important parts. Sex dolls are no different and need just as much lubrication as a butt plug or pocket pussy. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from using our sex toys though, it’s that one kind of lubrication doesn’t fit every situation. Different materials are more suited to different lubricants, and some lubricants are better for certain situations.
People try all sorts as lubrication. From saliva, to coconut butter, to Vaseline, literally nothing is off limits, especially if you’re desperate. One thing people often try is baby oil.
What is Baby Oil?
Baby oil is something often sold to help keep the skin soft and supple. It’s creates a protective barrier for your skin which prevents you from losing moisture and drying out. Typically, baby oil is used on a baby’s bottom to help prevent nappy rash and other nasty side effects that go along with not being able to control your poop, hence the name.
Most baby oils are made up mainly of mineral oil, and a small amount of fragrance. The reason mineral oil is so useful, is that it doesn’t change or react with other substances it touches. This lets it create the protective barrier I mentioned.
It’s also very cheap, so it’s a popular product to help maintain your skin without having to spend a fortune on specially formulated products.
Despite its widespread use, baby oil isn’t without its own controversy. There are many horror stories online claiming that baby oil causes anything from blocked pores to premature aging, or even cancer. These stories are largely just made up, as scientific studies have been done on baby oil and the overwhelming conclusion is that it is not toxic, and safe for external use.
There are still cases when you should avoid it however. If you already have particularly oily or sensitive skin it can have the opposite to intended effect and cause you to retain too much moisture. It’s also not a good idea to use it before heading into the sun as it increases the chance of getting sunburnt.
Can You Use Baby Oil as a Lubricant?
So, what does any of this have to do with lubrication. Well something that creates a barrier of moisture on top of your skin should surely be perfect to keep everything nice and slippery during sex. Shouldn’t it?
Well in theory, yes, it should work fine. In practise though it works a little differently.
The first thing to consider is that baby oil is, unsurprisingly, an oil-based product. Any oil-based lubricant is completely incompatible with latex as it breaks it down. This means that if you did use baby oil as a lubricant, you definitely can’t wear a condom with it as it will break down and be useless.
So, we can’t use it during penetrative sex, but it’s still fine for my sex toys isn’t it? Well, again, in theory the answer is yes. In reality though, there are still problems. Due to the nature of the protective barrier the oil creates around your skin, it’s actually incredibly difficult to wash off.
Even when you think it’s all gone, there’s probably some left and it can stick around for days. Later, when you go to have penetrative sex three days later and put on a condom, there’s still a good chance that the oil can break down the condom and render it useless.
Baby oil can also cause some real problems in your body. Due to its moisture retaining properties, it will generally stay wherever you put it for an extended period of time. While this doesn’t seem necessarily bad, there’s one thing that loves warm, damp environments.
Bacteria! When the baby oil sticks around in your vagina or anus after using it as lube, you create the perfect environment for bacteria to flourish. This greatly increases the chances of contracting infections in both the vagina and the anus.
Similarly, if you later decide to engage in oral sex, there’s a high chance some of the baby oil will still be present. When ingested, baby oil will gradually make its way into your intestines, being broken down by the liver on its way. When it reaches your intestine, the pure mineral oil can absorb many of the vitamins it finds, depriving your body of many nutrients that you need to stay healthy.
Are Other Oil Based Lubricants Safe?
So, it's a big no to using baby oil as a lubricant, but does that rule out all oil-based products? Luckily it doesn't. Some people swear by using coconut oil, Vaseline, and other oil-base products as lubricants. It's not specifically proven that all of these are bad, but not also proven that they are good either. As a general rule of thumb, you should avoid anything that is based either on mineral oil, or petroleum jelly.
There are many oil-based lubricants out there that are perfectly safe to use. In general, the best thing you can do is to only use things that are actually marketed as lubricants. You also still needs to avoid condoms.
So unfortunately for us, baby oil is not the best thing to use when deciding what to lubricate our sex dolls with. There are many, many safe to use lubricants though, and a lot of them have additional effects to make both sex and masturbation even better. Just be sure to check the labels and know exactly what you're putting into your body. Who knows, in a few years maybe sex dolls will be able to lubricate themselves and we can avoid these questions entirely!