well, there’s why I rarely eat breakfast: It’s 1:30, and I’m not even remotely hungry yet. Damnit. All I had was a freakin’ scone!
I want to read my book, darn it.
I was discussing this in the comments of a friends livejournal, and I figure I’ve got enough new readers who may not know this yet and it made my life SO much better that I have to mention it once in a while. I’d say “men, don’t read, girly things mentioned” but fuck it, men should know this too. Read on.
Most lubricants have sugar in them. Astroglide, for example, has sugar in it. So do all of those silly flavored lubes. In fact, MOST lubes have sugar in it. Go, grab a bottle of lube. Look at the ingredients. The second or third is frequently “glycerine” or something along those lines.
Women’s coochies are little tiny ecosystems. Some of them are very delicate ecosystems. The natural yeast that lives down there loves sugar. Feed ‘em sugar, and they multiply. When they multiply… hello, yeast infection.
I used to get yeast infections almost monthly for years. It sucked. I was spending way too much money on monistat and various other fixins’. (Note: a clove of garlic is a reasonable cure, although for symptom relief, nothing worked for me like canestan, the stuff that comes with monistat. Second note: don’t forget that you’ve put the garlic in there for a few days, it’s icky. Third note: Yeah, that was more than you needed to know. Suck it.)
Anyhoo. Once I learned about the sugar/lube connection, I got rid of all the bad lubes, or at least didn’t use them vaginally any more. And surprise surprise, I haven’t had a yeast infection since. My cooch is happy. I’m happy. My wallet is happy. The garlic is happy. The lube companies who fill their products full of sugar aren’t so happy, but fuck ‘em.
My recommendations for a great, sugar-free lube? Hathor Aphrodesia. This stuff is fabulous — non-sticky, great texture, not so runny that it doesn’t stay where you put it… I love it. The only downside: It tastes awful. Well, can’t have everything. A close second is Liquid Silk. Not quite such an awful taste, but not quite the perfect consistency as Hathor either. However, it’s sugar free and non-sticky, which are my two main requirements.
So there’s your public service announcement of the day. Enjoy.
Listening to: “Bad to the Bone” – George Thorogood
The dude and I got the sample pack at Womyn’s Ware and we have been testing them out. We did not like the smell of Liquid Silk.
So far, we give good marks to Probe (but don’t like the name) and Astroglide.
We still have to try Hathor, but the dude doesn’t like the idea of “goatweed”.
Anyway, the sample packs are a good deal if you ever want to try them out.
Just re-read your post. Was not aware that Astroglide had sugar in it.
Hmmm.
astroglide is the devil. THE DEVIL! :)
probe, I didn’t like the way it smelled. Go figure. :)
Believe me, the fact that it has something called “horny goatweed” in it is not enough to keep me from using it. Whatever, it’s a plant, I’m not that picky. It’s grand. If it tasted better, it’d be perfect, but I imagine taste is what you give up with the lack of sugar.
Note: None of the above takes silicone lubes into account. They’re lovely, but I have a lot of silicone toys, and you can’t use silicone lube with silicone toys. Bad news.
How can you stick some garlic into your cunt and forget that it’s there for a few days? Gack.
atter: well, it takes three things: One, a bad memory. Two: A stuffed nose. Three: Being an idiot. :)
Technical note: glycerine isn’t sugar. It’s chemically CLOSE to sugar, so it reacts in the same way. And silicone lube is being tested and it might be bad for coochies as well. I highly recommend Slippery Stuff gel. It’s pH balanced, glycerine and sugar free, no taste and because it’s a gel it stays where is put (great for anal!)
Uh…not that I know from personal experience…I mean… I schlep dildos. I have to know this stuff. ;)
Karin: Picky bastard. For all intents and purposes, glycerine is sugar. :) I’m not a chemist, so the differences don’t matter to me.
However: I *really* disliked the texture of slippery stuff. Intensely. I can’t even explain it, it just … felt icky.
Sadly, in this day & age, schleping dildos doesn’t mean much. I’ve “educated” far too many “experts” for it to matter. (Yes, you know what you’re talking about. It’s just that most “professionals” don’t.) :(
I personally don’t have a problem with goatweed, the dude does. I think he was turned off by Hathor’s marketing because it looks pretty “hippie”.
That doesn’t mean we won’t try it out ;)
*takes notes* Things I never knew. Thanks for the tip
Here’s what I wish I’d known years ago: you don’t need medicine from the doctor to clear up a yeast infection. Do a search for something like “yeast infection” and “natural remedy” or “home remedy” and you’ll come up with tons of ideas. My favourite is yogurt, because it’s cool and soothing, always in my fridge, and it isn’t garlic. Of course, there’s the problem of how to get the yogurt to stay where you want it, and the web answered that for me, too. Put lots of yogurt on a tampon, then insert.
This is something every teen girl should learn about. If I’d known this way back when, it would have saved me a lot of agony and some inconvenient trips to the doctor.
Searching the web for natural remedies works for other minor ailments, too. Yay internet!
Oh, one more thing, Donna. You wrote:
>I’d say “men, don’t read, girly things mentioned” but fuck it, men should know this too.
Yes indeedy. This kind of information will make them into better Sensitive New Age Guys. And men, get this: if you pass a tip (like the one about yogurt, above) on to a woman who is in agony from a yeast infection, she will be so very glad to know you. :-)
Thanks for the info. I’ll check my lube for glycerine.