Welcome to the wet, wild, and wonderful world of sexual lubricants.
In this ultimate guide, you will learn the secrets of the slippery solution that should live on every bedside table.
Lube isn’t just for quickies and dryness issues. Lube is the literal oil that turns the gears of great sex.
Remember: WETTER is always BETTER. Lube increases the wetness, slickness, and sensation for both partners.
Lube also makes sex SAFER by reducing friction, which can cause discomfort and damage condoms.
If you’re not lubing up, you’re limiting your sexual satisfaction and putting your health at risk.
And believe us, your partner can tell the difference between sex with someone who lubes up and sex with someone who doesn’t.
In this complete guide, you’ll learn the low-down on lube, including:
👉 How lube can up your game in bed
👉 Why lube is so important
👉 How to find your lube’s pH level (SUPER IMPORTANT)
👉 The various types of lube
👉 How to choose the right lube for your sex life
👉 Our favorite lubes for masturbation, sex, anal, and more
Let’s dive into the world of sexual lubricants….
What is Sex Lube? What You Need to Know (in 30 Seconds)
👉 Sexual lubricant is a liquid gel solution that reduces friction during sex and masturbation. Basically, it makes it easier to move in, out, up, down, and in any other direction that makes you feel good.
👉 Lube is made from many different ingredients, all of which have their own benefits. The most common types of lube are water-based lube, silicone lube, hybrid lube (water + silicone), and oil-based lube.
👉 Not all sex lube is body-safe. Avoid lube that contains ingredients like parabens, glycerin, and petroleum (e.g. vaseline).
👉 When using lube internally, it should have the same pH level as your vagina or butt (depending on where you use it). Putting a low pH lube in a high pH area (or vice versa) can cause irritation and increase the risk of infection.
👉 There are lubes made for different types of sex and pleasure, such as anal sex lube, flavored lube for oral sex, and masturbation lube.
👉 There are lubes that increase sensitivity and lubes that reduce sensation so you can last longer.
👉 Specialty lubes introduce new sensations like tingling, warming, and cooling.
👉 Using the right lube will increase your pleasure and unlock new kinks in your sex life.
👉 Using the wrong one may break your condom or cause irritation. Nobody wants that!
That’s the skinny on sex lube, but there’s a lot more to the story.
Keep reading to find out more about our favorite lubes, lube safety, and how to choose a lube that makes sex better.
Buy This Lube Now
Don’t have time to read our manifesto about lube? No worries! Here’s the best lube to buy right now:
Sliquid H2O Water-Based Lubricant
$10.99
$11.99
Sliquid H2O: The Premier Water-Based Lube Looking for a lubricant that's long-lasting and safe for your body? Look no further than Sliquid H2O Water-Based Lubricant. This adult lubricant is formulated with purified water and plant cellulose to provide a natural,… Read More
Sliquid H20 is a minimalistic water-based lube made from very few (and very pure) ingredients.
This stuff is the epitome of clean, and it’s slicker than many of its water-based competitors.
Sliquid H20 is perfect for vaginal sex, masturbation, and all toys for penises and vaginas.
More importantly, it has optimal pH levels and osmolality* for vaginal health. In English, this means Sliquid H20 is gentle on delicate vaginal tissue.
Many other water-based lubes are not!
For butt play and anal sex, go with Gun Oil, a premium silicone lube.
Silicone lube is much slicker and longer-lasting than water-based lube, so it makes non-lubricating parts of the body (like butts) much more comfortable during sex and masturbation.
However, you can’t use silicone lube with silicone toys, which include many butt plugs and dildos.
If you want to use a silicone toy for anal play, get the water-based Trojan H20 Closer.
This Trojan lube has an optimal pH balance for the interior of the butt (which is different pH from the ideal vaginal pH), and it has balanced osmolality to prevent dryness and infection.
Phew! Ok… so maybe lube is a bit more complicated than you thought! But if you buy the lube above, you won’t have to turn your brain on. Just have fun.
To find out more about lube—and how to use it to maximize your game in bed—keep reading.
*Osmolalaity refers to how much a lube can draw water in or out of cells. Unbalanced osmolality levels can cause dryness, irritation, and damage to vaginal or anal tissues.
Our Top Sex Lube for Better and Safer Sex
There’s a lube for every occasion. Find our top picks in the table below.
Category | Sex Lube |
Overall Best Sex Lube | |
Best Water-based Lube | |
Best Silicone Lube | |
Best Oil-based Lube | |
Best Hybrid Lube | |
Best Lube For Vaginal Play | |
Best Lube for Anal Play | |
Best Lube for Oral Sex/Foreplay (Non-internal) | Trojan Arouses and Releases (tingling/warming) Sliquid Naturals Tangerine Peach (flavored) |
Best Lube for Penis Masturbation |
Types of Sexual Lubricants
There are so many lubes out there that it’s impossible to count them all. So, we’ve broken down this lube guide into basic lubes and specialty lubes.
Then, we’ll tell you how to choose a lubricant for your specific sexual needs.
Basic Sex Lubricants
Water-based Lube
Water-based lubricant is the lube that everyone NEEDS to keep a bottle of. Why? Because water-based lube is the most versatile of all the lubes.
It can be used for all types of sexual play—vaginal, anal, masturbation, toys, hands, feet—whatever you’re into.
It can be used with all types of sex toys, including silicone, and all condom types, latex, and non-latex.
Water-based lube is also the cleanest lube. It washes off with water, it doesn’t stain, and it dries clean without leaving you sticky and crusty. It’s also easy on your skin.
You may prefer a slicker oil-based or silicone-based lube for certain activities, but it’s always a good idea to keep a bottle of water-based lube around.
Top Water-based Lubricants
Silicone Lube
Silicone lubes is much, MUCH slicker and longer-lasting than water-based lube.
It’s a premium lubricant that goest the distance, and it’s perfect for vaginal sex, anal, and masturbation.
If you’re looking for an upgrade from water-based lube (and you’re willing to fork up a little more cash), silicone is king.
Another benefit of silicone is that it’s the most comfortable lube. It’s so silky soft that it feels amazing on anything.
Plus, you don’t have to worry about osmolality issues because silicone does not absorb into tissue.
This makes it a safer choice for vaginal and anal play (as long as the pH is also balanced).
You can use silicone-based lube with latex condoms, so it’s a go for sex (unlike oil-based lube).
However, you can’t use silicone lube with silicone toys, as it can cause them to degrade.
Degradation happens quickly, even after a few uses, and can destroy toys or cause infection. Ouch.
For an extra slick lube to use with silicone toys, try oil-based lube.
Top Silicone Lubricants
👉 Gun Oil
Oil-based Lube
Oil-based lube is a slick and long-lasting alternative to silicone lube, in case you need an expta-slick lube to use with silicone toys.
Just a slippery as silicone, you’ll be lubed up and ready to go all night long.
Oil-based lube is popular for anal sex and anal play. Butts don’t produce natural lubrication like vaginas, so a lube that lasts longer is safer and more comfortable.
Plus, oil-based lubes are really good for your skin—even the tissue inside your body benefits from a high-qaulity oil lube.
This is why oil-based lube (particulalry a coconut oil lube, like Boy Butter) is the preferred lube of porn stars.
However, oil-based lubes are known to stain sheets and clothing. So while you don’t need to use as much of it, you have to be careful about where it ends up.
You should NOT use oil-based lube with latex or polyisprene condoms (e.g. Skyn). It can cause them to break.
Top Oil-based Lubricants
👉 Spunk Natural Vegan-Friendly Oil-Based Lube
Hybrid Lube
Hybrid lubricants feature a mix of two different bases—water and silicone. It’s kind of a best-of-both-worlds lube.
You get the slickness of silicone lube and the easy clean-up of water-based lube. Plus, it tends to be a bit cheaper than pure silicone lube.
Hybrid is the sweet spot for cleanliness, comfort, and versatility.
Many hybrid lubes claim they are safe to use with silicone toys despite containing silicone.
We prefer to play it safe and only use water-based and oil-based lubes with silicone toys.
Top 3 Hybrid Lubricants
Specialty Lube
Specialty lube contains extra ingredients that deliver tantalizing sensations.
Tingling, cooling, warming, and sensitivity-enhancing effects can push your pleasure to the next level.
WARNING: Specialty lubes are not always pH-balanced for anal and vaginal sex, meaning they can cause irritation or infection. Always check a lube’s pH level before giving it a try. Find out how below in the “How to Find the Right Lube” section later in the article.
Warming/Tingling Lube
Warming and tingling lube is made with ingredients like menthol and ginkgo biloba to provide a warming, tingling sensation upon contact.
Warm and wet sensations boost levels of pleasure for both partners, increasing bloodflow and making nerves more sensitive to touch.
We recommend using warming lube with sex toys. Warm sensations can make a toy feel much more like the real deal.
Our favorite warming lubricants are:
👉 Sliquid Organics Sensation (water-based)
👉 ID Pleasure Tingling Lubricant (water-based)
👉 Trojan Arouses and Releases (silicone)
Cooling Lube
Cooling lube adds an icy sensation with ingredients like mint and menthol.
While warming lubes tend to be more popular, turning the temperature down can be fun on hot days.
Icy sensations are also a turn-on when applied to the most sensitive areas like the clit and head of the penis. Try Wet Cool Tingle (water-based).
Desensitizing Lube
Desensitizing lube is for when you want to feel less stimulation.
This can be helpful for men who want to last longer in bed and for women who are very sensitive to clitoral stimulation. It’s also popular for use on the rectum during anal play.
Our favorite desensitizing lubricants are:
👉 Boy Butter Extreme Desensitizing (oil and silicone based)
Flavored Lube
Flavored lube contains flavored ingredients that taste like fruit, mint, vanilla, chocolate, and more.
If you worry about your taste or just want to add another sensation to your sex life, then flavored lube can help.
Flavored lube is recommended for foreplay and oral sex only. It’s not safe to put most flavored lubes inside the butt or vagina.
Our favorite flavored lubes are:
👉 Sliquid Naturals Strawberry Pomegranate (water-based)
👉 Wet Tropical Explosion (water-based)
👉 Sliquid Swirl Tangerine Peach (water-based)
Organic/Vegan Lube
Vegan and organic lubricants are made with natural, plant-based ingredients and are produced with cruelty-free methods.
They are often easier on the skin, full of vitamins, and less likely to irritate. Most are made from vegan ingredients like coconut oil, shea butter, aloe, and avocado oil.
Natural lube is free from artificial ingredients like parabens and glycerin which can lead to infection, especially in women.
Try these Organic/Vegan sex lubes:
👉 SPUNK Natural Coconut and Avocado Oil Lubricant (oil-based)
👉 Sliquid Organics Natural Water-Based Lube (water-based)
👉 P.S. Organic Aloe + Plant-based Lube (water-based)
Spermicidal Lube
Spermicidal lube is a bit different from the others. This lube contains an ingredient that kills sperm cells to help prevent unwanted pregnancy.
The woman puts this lube inside her vagina 15 minutes before sex. It’s about 70% effective, so we recommend wearing a condom as well.
While mostly safe, spermicidal lube can irritate the vagina and increase the risk of infection.
For this reason, we don’t sell it at Condomania, and we recommend using other forms of contraception, such as condoms.
How to Find the Right Lube (in 3 Easy Steps)
Tthere’s A LOT of lube to choose from, and the lube you choose can have a huge impact on the quality and safety of your sex life.
To get the best results in bed, you have to choose the right lube for your body and the type of sex you’re having.
Here’s how to do it.
1. Pick your Pleasure
Every lube has a job to do. Some lubes are for vaginal sex, some are for anal, and some are for masturbation. Others can be used for all three and everything in between.
Here’s how to pick the right lube for every occasion:
👉 Lube for vaginal sex: Silicone lube, oil-based lube, hybrid lube, and water based lube are all great choices for vaginal sex (just rembemer not to use oil-based lube with latex condoms). The key is to choose a lube that has a balanced pH and osmolality. These include Sliquid H20 (water-based), Sliquid Silk (hybrid), Pjur Woman BodyGlide (silicone), and Boy Butter (oi-based).
👉 Lube for anal sex: Anal sex lube needs to be extra slick and long-lasting, so we recommend silicone lube or oil-based lube. Boy Butter (oil-based) and Gun Oil (silicone) are our top picks.
👉 Lube for masturbation: When lubing up for solo play, it’s all about your pleasure. Men don’t have to be as picky about irritants and ingredients, so we recommend masturbation lube like Stroke 29 or TENGA Hole Lotion (made for use with a stroker toy) These lubes cannot be used internally—just for penis play! For women, water-based lube is the best way to avoid irritation. Stick with Sliquid H20 (with silicone toys) or Sliquid Silk (with everything else).
👉 Lube for foreplay: You can go a little wilder during foreplay, especially when lubing up non-invasive areas like the breasts, balls, perineum (taint), and mons pubis. This is the perfect time to break out some specialty lubes like Trojan Arouses and Releases warming and tingling lubricants or a flavored lube like Sliquid Naturals Swirl Pina Colada. Yum!
2. Check the pH Level
This is VERY IMPORTANT. If you don’t use a lube with the right pH balance, you can end up with some pretty uncomfortable consequences.
For women, they include yeast infection and bacterial vaginosis (both are pretty nasty infections that could land you at the doctor’s office).
For men and women engaging in anal sex, lube with the wrong pH can damage anal tissue and increase the risk of STI infection.
What is pH anyway? And how can you find it when you’re shopping for lube? pH is a measure of acidity.
To remain healthy, you want to have a proper pH balance in your body.
But different parts of your body have different healthy pH levels, making things a bit complicated.
For example, the normal pH balance of a vagina is between 3.8-4.5. So, you want to pick a lube with the same pH level for vaginal sex.
Surprisingly, many sex lubricants do not have a healthy pH balance. If your lube has a higher or lower pH, things will start to go haywire.
Lubes by Sliquid are some of the best for vaginal pH. These include Sliquid H20 (water-based), Sliquid Silk (hybrid), and Sliquid Sassy (water-based).
The proper pH of the interior of a butt is around 6-8. That means your lube should have the same pH level for anal play.
The best pH-balaced lubes for anal play include Trojan H20 Closer (water-based), Boy Butter (oil-based), and Gun Oil (silicone-based).
To find the right pH, simply check the label of your preferred lube. If you can’t find it, contact the company.
If you still can’t find it, then something shady is going on and you should choose another lube!
Here are some tips for choosing a lube with a healthy pH balance:
👉 Lube for vaginal sex and female masturbation should have a pH of 3.8-4.5
👉 Lube for anal sex should have a pH of 6-8
👉 Many water-based lubes do not have vagina-safe pH levels
👉 Oil-based lube and silicone lube has a higher pH and is ideal for anal sex
👉 Flavored and specialty lubricants are more likely to have unsafe pH levels
👉 Vaginal pH rises post-menopause, so women may need to change lubricants
3. Check the Ingredients
pH isn’t all you need to know to find the best sexual lubricant. You also need to be aware of the ingredients in your lube.
Do you really want to slather something all over your junk (or inside your body) without knowing what’s in it?
We know the ingredient lists on lube can be pretty confusing and contain lots of strange words.
So, we’ll tell you which ones are good to glide and which ones to steer clear of.
Lube for vaginal sex should not contain chemicals that can upset the delicate ecosystem that is the vagina. These include:
👉 Parabens: These preservatives can cause vaginal irritation (aka, not good sex).
👉 Glycerin: Glycerin is a by-product of sugar that can cause yeast levels to skyrocket.
👉 Chlorhexidine Gluconate: This disinfectant can do more harm than good by killing off healthy bacteria in the vagina.
👉 Cyclomethicone: This ingredient, and similar ones like cyclopentasiloxane and cyclotetrasiloxane, are extremely long and difficult to say. They may also cause cancer. Look out for them in some silicone-based lubricants.
These ingredients are NOT harmful for male masturbation and anal sex, so you can be a little more liberal when shopping for masturbation lube or anal lube.
It’s also important to look for specific ingredients when buying flavored lube.
If the ingredients on the package simply say “flavoring” or “aroma,” then something fishy is going on.
Your best bet is to buy an organic flavored lube like those made by Sliquid.
Is Lube Really that Important?
YES!
While lube isn’t a required ingredient for sex, it is a critical ingredient for GOOD sex.
You may be thinking, “Well, I’ve had plenty of good sex without lube.”
That may be true. But was it good for your partner? Could it have been better?
If you’re a man, you might not notice when your partner feels uncomfortable. Many women can lose their natural lubrication for many reasons before or during sex.
During anal sex, penetration can get very uncomfortable or even dangerous for the receiver without some extra lube.
But many people don’t mention when they feel uncomfortable because they want to please their partners. This results in one-sided sex, which isn’t healthy or satisfying.
And lube is not only important for pleasure and comfort. Friction during sex can break condoms or pull them off, boosting the risk of pregnancy.
Friction can also cause pain and small tears to the tissue inside the butt or vagina.
These micro-injuries increase the risk of STI transmission and infection for both partners.
Lube ensures that each partner feels comfortable and stays safe for the duration of sex. After all, safe and comfy sex is more fun and satisfying for everyone involved.
So, is lube important? If you want to have fantastic and safe sex… then YES!
When Should You Use Lube?
Always.
Yep, we went there. You should always use lube! Use it for sex, masturbation, foreplay, etc.
Lube isn’t just for women who have trouble getting wet and anal sex. Lube ensures that each partner enjoys maximum comfort and pleasure during sex.
It makes it more fun to explore each other’s bodies. Want to try something new? Feet? Tits? Anal? Toys? Just lube up and you’re ready to go.
And when it comes to masturbation, lube makes hands and toys feel way better. Plus, it keeps your skin soft and nourished. Nobody likes chafing and rashes down there!
Don’t forget to lube up with a condom, too!
Many people think that lube and condoms don’t mix, but you should always apply lube (water-based or silicone) when wearing a condom.
It makes condoms feel more comfortable and prevents tears and slips.
Sexual Lube is Wetter and Better at Condomania
Now that you're a lube guru, you’re ready to stock your bedside table and experience a wetter and wilder sex life.
Remember, you need to choose the right type of lube depending on the sex you’re having.
It’s especially important to keep separate lubes on hand for vaginal and anal play (if you engage in both).
Condomania has one of the largest lube selections on the web. We’ve been selling lube and educating the public about its benefits for over 30 years!
We’ve carefully chosen lubricants in every category and from top brands so you can be sure you’re getting the slipperiest and safest lube on the market.
We have dozens of water-based, oil, silicone, hybrid, organic, and specialty lubes, as well as a few kinky secrets in stock that you don’t want to miss.
Buy your next sex lube at Condomania and get:
👉 FREE shipping on orders over $49
👉 FREE discreet shipping and billing
👉 FREE condoms and surprises with your order
👉 The BEST deals on lube, condoms, and sex toys you can trust
Remember, wetter is better—shop sex lube now at Condomania!
Want to explore more lube? We’re just getting started! Check out our guides to anal lube, flavored lube, and silicone lube for deep dives into top sex lube styles!