Some More Info About Flammable Silicone Lubricants

If you saw my post the other day about  how silicone lubricants can be flammable, you’ll be glad to know that we’re always looking out for you and getting the information you need to play safe.

The buyer at Good Vibrations contacted the manufacturers of our silicone lubricants and asked them about this issue and they were all very responsive and helpful. (As an aside, if you ever have a question about sex toys or any other products email us at education@goodvibes.com and we’ll do what we can to help you out.)

Every single one of them told us that silicone lubricants have a very high flash point, which is the temperature at which a substance vaporizes to form a flammable mixture in air. While it varies from brand to brand, it’s still high enough that you don’t need to worry about your lube spontaneously combusting if it’s near a candle because there won’t be enough vaporized lube to burn. Yes, if you stick a burning match in a pool of it, it can catch on fire, but that’s what it’ll take. And of course, the same thing will happen with many other substances, including condoms, jelly dildos, and oils. Common sense should be your guide.

As long as you don’t put your lube in direct contact with flames, you should be just fine. I still think it’s probably a good idea to be careful if you’re doing waxplay, fireplay or electricity play (if your toy produces sparks). But then, that’s true even if you’re not using silicone lube, isn’t it?


Since one person emailed me to ask about it, I’m still wondering what would happen if someone tried to put out a fire by smothering it with a towel that had been used to clean up silicone lube. Does anyone want to contact the folks at Mythbusters? They seem qualified to answer that.

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2 Responses so far.

  1. Jas says:

    Believe it or not, I’ve actually tried this, though it wasn’t silicone lube for people, it was the kind you use on precision machinery. Silicones just don’t burn very well. The small puddle of burning alcohol went out when I smothered it with the shop rag covered in silicone machine oil (very similar to Astroglide).

    When I needed several thousand gallons of gooey, lubricating media (don’t ask) I still chose water-based gel lube, however, just because it’s a bit safer in the lab and it’s *much* easier to get rid of when you’re done (we baked it in an oven until all the water was gone and then threw it out in the trash).

  2. Charlie says:

    Sounds like you have an interesting job. 🙂

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