Annoyed with having to buy overpriced lube over and over, I found a better solution.
I found several different recipes online. I chose the flax seed recipe because it's the only one with easy to find ingredients. Flax seeds seem to be available at most health food stores.
I've tried it for a while and it works great. It's water based and therefore safe for condoms.
The recipe:
1 tablespoon of flax seeds
1 cup of water
1. Simmer the flax seeds in the water until the amount of water is cut in half. You can tell it's ready when it becomes somewhat sticky.
2. Strain immediately. Otherwise it will be too viscous to strain.
3. Put in a container of your choice. I use a mug because it can sit next to my bed unnoticed.
You can make smaller or larger amounts. Just keep the ratio of flax seeds to water the same. For example 2.5 tablespoons in 2.5 cups will make about 100ml of lube.
It can take a few tries to calibrate the recipe to get the desired thickness, but after that it's easy.
Advantages
Price – I found a 500g bag of flax seeds for about 2 USD. A 100ml bottle of lube is about 4 USD. Using the results mentioned above we arrive at a unit price of $0.103/100ml versus $4/100ml or 39 times cheaper. And that bag will last forever. Shows how ridiculous the store bought lube prices are. Seems like products related to mating/sex can simply be priced at 10's or 100's of times their value (eg. cologne).
Doesn't leave an unpleasant sticky feeling on your skin like store bought lube.
Disadvantages
You're supposed to keep it refrigerated. The articles said it will only last 2 or 3 days outside of the refrigerator. I think you can add preservatives such as citric acid to avoid this, but I couldn't find preservatives. You can microwave it to make it warm.
More info can be found by searching for "make your own lube" on google or youtube.
I found several different recipes online. I chose the flax seed recipe because it's the only one with easy to find ingredients. Flax seeds seem to be available at most health food stores.
I've tried it for a while and it works great. It's water based and therefore safe for condoms.
The recipe:
1 tablespoon of flax seeds
1 cup of water
1. Simmer the flax seeds in the water until the amount of water is cut in half. You can tell it's ready when it becomes somewhat sticky.
2. Strain immediately. Otherwise it will be too viscous to strain.
3. Put in a container of your choice. I use a mug because it can sit next to my bed unnoticed.
You can make smaller or larger amounts. Just keep the ratio of flax seeds to water the same. For example 2.5 tablespoons in 2.5 cups will make about 100ml of lube.
It can take a few tries to calibrate the recipe to get the desired thickness, but after that it's easy.
Advantages
Price – I found a 500g bag of flax seeds for about 2 USD. A 100ml bottle of lube is about 4 USD. Using the results mentioned above we arrive at a unit price of $0.103/100ml versus $4/100ml or 39 times cheaper. And that bag will last forever. Shows how ridiculous the store bought lube prices are. Seems like products related to mating/sex can simply be priced at 10's or 100's of times their value (eg. cologne).
Doesn't leave an unpleasant sticky feeling on your skin like store bought lube.
Disadvantages
You're supposed to keep it refrigerated. The articles said it will only last 2 or 3 days outside of the refrigerator. I think you can add preservatives such as citric acid to avoid this, but I couldn't find preservatives. You can microwave it to make it warm.
More info can be found by searching for "make your own lube" on google or youtube.