Almond oil for Lubricant - Sexual Health - General Message Board

Greenoctopus18 · 03-16-2003, 03:08 AM

I was told to use almond oil as a lubricant because of a possible allergy to silicon lubricants, and also given the female condom to try incase there was an allergy to latex. (non-latex condoms are not yet available in Australia).
We ended up using normal latex condoms with the almond oil as extra lubricant and it seemed to work ie. pain-free.
I hadn't thought about the possibiliy of the oil causing the latex to deteriorate until today after having three condoms break in a row (I guess it was in a different position... but nothing crazy to cause a breakage).
I have been feeling quite ill and thinking of possible pregnancy for about 2 weeks now.. before I even knew this. I haven't mentioned to anyone because I had thought I was being protected by both the pill and condoms.
The condoms haven't actually burst apart until today, but is it possible that the oil has previously caused them to thin so much that sperm could get through without realising?
What I am most worried about now is pregnancy. I am on the pill, but I haven't ever really been able to trust it completely.
Thanks for any replies and opinions.

wrin · 03-16-2003, 02:13 PM

Yes it's possible, but since you're on the pill the chance of pregnancy is not that great.

I've been in your position before, using condoms, thinking I was protected, and had a condom break on me and us not notice. (It broke in like, mid last-stroke. Insane.)

Unfortunately there's not much you can do but to finish your pill pack and wait for you to get your period. You won't be able to do tests for pregnancy until after you've missed your period so there's no harm in continuing your pill regimen for now.

As far as using almond oil for a lubricant that's not such a great idea. Oils tend to make latex condoms deteriorate -- look for something specifically formulated for condoms, something WATER SOLUBLE, water-based doesn't do it good enough, and avoid anything with 'glycerin' listed in the ingredients list. It's hard.

You can also order polyethylene condoms off of the internet -- do a search for condomania -- or even just 'order condoms' and 'australia' to find companies that ship to australia. Polyethylene condoms don't stretch as much as latex ones, so you might want to get a variety of sizes, but they are OK to use with oil-based lubricants.

Greenoctopus18 · 03-16-2003, 07:16 PM

Hi.
Thankyou.

So would that include something like KY Jelly?

DanaJ · 03-16-2003, 08:08 PM

KY is water soluable, and competley safe with condoms

Steer clear of oil based lubes if used in conjunction with latex. As stated above. Once you get to know which ones are old or water based , it's no sweat. Just be careful, and make a mental note about which ones to use and avoid.