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iQuestions Expert, Michael Sytsma 
 
 
Question: 
 
I'm often dry during sex and have been told to try a lubricant. Are 
some artificial lubricants more effective than others? 
 
Answer: 
 
Yes, some artificial lubricants are more effective than others, and there 
are some natural lubricants that some people feel very comfortable 
with, too, that tend to work quite well. 
 
A couple of examples of natural lubricants might be olive oil, which has 
been used for centuries as a sex lubricant, or vitamin E. You will have 
to, for each of these, try them and find out whether it works for you, 
whether you like the feeling of it, and whether your body tolerates it 
well. Some of them will change the PH in your system or may cause 
some irritation.  
 
Those are the natural ones. The artificial ones tend to fall into two 
main categories: silicone-based lubricants, and water-based lubricants.  
 
The water-based ones tend to dry out after a while. If you talk to your 
doctor, if you talk to a sex therapist, if you do some searching, you 
can find ones that tend to last about four times longer than the ones 
that you might find in your local drugstore. Places like Amazon.com or 
Drugstore.com, and other places online will carry these, so that you 
don’t have to get them from stores or online sources that you would 
be uncomfortable with. 
 
The other is the silicone-based lubricants, and those don’t tend to dry 
out. They will last for quite a while. Many couples find them to be their 
 
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favorite. Generally, they are formulated so that they don’t have an 
interaction, but again, you will have to try them and make sure that 
they work for you and your system.  
 
Many of the women that I work with who are post-menopausal or who 
have pain issues really like these, because the silicone-based will not 
dry out. 
 
But for any of them, try a number of different things. See what works 
for you. See how your body tolerates it. See what you enjoy as a 
couple. 
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