Heads Up! Silicone Lube is Flammable
By Dr. Charlie Glickman • Apr 5th, 2010 • Category: BlogI have to admit that it never would have occurred to me to check and see if lubricants are flammable. After all, when I think about the question of whether lubes burn, I’m thinking more about allergic reactions and yeast infections.
Fortunately, Garnet Joyce ran across a sex guide that said that silicone lubricants are highly flammable and she wrote a blog post about her experiments. It turns out that, yes, silicone lubricants burn.
From a safety perspective, this is super important information. Lots of people like to use candles to make their bedrooms more romantic. Less common, but still relevant, some folks like to play with candle wax to give their partner a sensory experience. And if you wipe lube off on a towel, be extra careful to keep it away from fire. Open flames and silicone lube don’t mix.
I also wonder about the use of electric toys for sensation play or as part of a kinky scene. Many e-stim toys don’t create sparks, but some do and it seems to me that if the temperature of the spark is high enough, it could ignite any silicone lubricant it comes into contact with. Not that I’m suggesting that anyone runs out to try it (and I take no responsibility for the consequences if you do), but if anyone out there has personal experience with this, please let me know.
If you’re curious to see this for yourself, check out the video below.
UPDATE: we got some more info from our manufacturers. Check it out here.
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Dr. Charlie Glickman >> Dr. Charlie Glickman has been working at Good Vibrations since 1996, when he joined the staff at our Berkeley store. Currently, he is our Education Program Manager and (among other things) runs our in-store After Hours workshop program, our Off-Site Sex Education Program, trains our Sex Educator-Sales Associates and writes copy for our website. In 2005, Charlie received his doctorate in Adult Sexuality Education from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, he offers classes on sexuality for psychotherapists and workshops on teaching for sex educators.
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Do silicone toys go up in flames, too? Very interesting article, Charlie.
I’ve commented (with a link, of course) on my Naked at Our Age Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Naked-at-Our-Age-by-Joan-Price/200965361578?v=wall. Your posts are always worth sharing with others.
Joan Price
Author of Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk about Sex After Sixty
Join us — we’re talking about ageless sexuality at
http://www.betterthanieverexpected.blogspot.com
Thanks!
High quality silicone toys like the ones we sell don’t burn. We’ve even tested them by putting them on an electric burner to see if they’d get marked and they didn’t. Softskin, jelly rubber and some silicone blends do burn, though. And they make toxic gases when they do.