The first time I tried Astroglide Sensitive Skin Gel, it was included in a goodie box from Tantus. Also, in the box was Tantus’ new Perfect Plug. I was so excited to get it in my ass and I decided to use the Astroglide to insert it. Of course, I had to run to Twitter to tell the world that I had the Perfect Plug in my ass and I also proclaimed that I really liked Astroglide’s new Sensitive Skin Gel. I loved the consistency of it because it sticks to sex toys really well.
That day I wore the plug coated in the lube for maybe an hour or so and I noticed nothing amiss. A few days later I decided to use the lube with my Eroscillator. Pretty quickly after applying it to my vulva, I began to feel a slight burning sensation. I hurried to get my orgasm over with (don’t you just love it when you have to do that) and got in the shower to wash it off. Once I was all cleaned up the burning subsided. I thought it was really odd that a lube formulated for sensitive skin would cause this reaction when no other water-based, glycerin and paraben free lube I’ve tried has done so.
I started looking at the ingredient list and Googled around a bit and they all seemed pretty harmless… until I got to the last ingredient – phenoxyethanol. My Googling had turned up some information1 that led me to believe that this ingredient might be the one I was sensitive to. Turns out, phenoxyethanol is an anitbacterial agent that is often used as an alternative when a company wants to tout that their product is paraben free. But I’m not so sure that it’s the best ingredient to use in a personal lubricant formulated for sensitive skin and I’m not entirely sure if it’s really all that safe to be used in any personal care product.
Apparently, studies have shown that it can be an irritant to the eyes and skin, which is ironic since it’s used in so many skin care products. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There was a nipple cream for nursing mothers (called Mommy’s Bliss) that contained phenoxyethanol and the FDA issued a warning against it because they found that phenoxyethanol can depress the central nervous system and may cause vomiting and diarrhea. That sounds just a little bit scary.
And since we know that the tissues of the vulva, vagina and ass absorb chemicals more readily than skin elsewhere on the body, we want to be particularly careful about the ingredients in our personal lubricants. Is it the phenoxyethanol in the Astroglide Sensitive Skin Gel that caused the burning sensation on my vulva? I can’t say with 100% certainty but I do know that I will avoid lubricants with this chemical in the future. And just so you know, phenoxyethanol is a glycol ether. Glycols are chemicals that are found in all sorts of stuff like paint, lacquer and jet fuel.
It is rather ironic that I’m going to have to recommend that those with sensitive skin stay away from the Astroglide Sensitive Skin Gel. It’s a shame really because, other than the burning genitals, I really did like this lube.
I have contacted Astroglide and I am currently awaiting their response. If I learn anything useful then I’ll update this post.
- Copy and paste this link: https://www.truthinaging.com/review/phenoxyethanol-is-it-safe They were redirecting to their storefront when I tried to link to it. ↩