Heads Up! Silicone Lube is Flammable
- Apr, 05, 2010
- Charlie Glickman
- resources, sex toys, sexual health
- 4 Comments.
I 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: Here’s some more info about this. It’s not as scary as it seemed at first.
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I wonder if this might be causing the rash (pardon the term) of travelers who end up getting their bags searched during screening, who say that they’re carrying lube. I’m going to do a bit of digging & see…it’d be helpful to know if carrying silicone lube in your bag makes it more prone to TSA intervention.
Charlie, I guess that smokers who want to light up after sex have to be extra careful and clean up with soap and water first if they should have some residual lube on their fingers, mouths? Very important teaching here. Thanks!
I think it might just be that particular brand. It has added ingredients that might make it more flammable. It would be interesting to see if the results were the same for all silicone lubes.
I guess that lubricant must have some added ingredients or maybe it’s not silicone based at all.
I tried to set my silicone lubricant (pure silicone) on fire for two minutes until the lighter was too hot to handle – but still the silicone showed no signs of burning.