Condoms

Happy belated Independence day! To celebrate, let's talk about condoms! Condoms are essential with almost everyone having sex. Safety from STDs and and independence from pregnancy are great reasons to use them regularly. Who knew such magic was contained in a tiny roll of latex covered in shiny foil? Any way, I figured I'd share some of the things I've read, heard or experienced with condoms.

Condom Brands
It's interesting to look at the US condom market. The biggest condom brand is obviously Trojan, followed by Lifestyles and Durex. By the power of google I found the following:

For over the counter sales, market share in 2005 is estimated to be:

• 70.0% Church & Dwight (Trojan)       
• 11.6% Ansell (Lifestyles)   
•   9.2% SSL (Durex)                 
•   9.2% Others                   

Source: http://www.polytechsynergies.com/images/Global_Trends_in_the_Condom_Industry.doc

Truth be told, I hate Trojan condoms. Sure they may be everywhere, but they're thick so you lose more sensation, and the lube they use smells. Seriously, I used to use Trojans with an ex, and every time after we finished, things just did not smell that great down there. I've also heard plenty of stories of them slipping off, tearing and so on. Then again, they could be statistically average in their failure rate, since they are so vastly popular compared to their competitors but whatever. It's still pretty damn scary when you hear it from someone you know or it actually happens to you.

So which brand do I prefer? I actually prefer Crown Condoms (Previously called Crown Skinless Skin Condoms):

Why? Well, when it's voted the best condom for 9 years running, that's hard to compete with. It's super thin, very lightly lubricated, doesn't smell bad and supposedly even used in pornos! Leave it to the Japanese to come up with the world's best condoms.

Flavored Condoms
Obviously used for fellatio, flavored condoms offer different flavors to taste when you have man meat in your mouth. I've seen Mint, Vanilla, Berry and Banana flavors before. However personally, I prefer just using some flavored lube. This way you can control how much you use and how much flavor there is. Also, because I'm always a bit leery of gimmicky products, I prefer to switch to my preferred condoms for intercourse (Another reason why I would never use glow in the dark condoms). So that means using twice as many condoms.

Condoms made of other materials
If you're allergic to latex, there's other options out there, made of polyisoprene (a new material), or polyurethane. There are also lambskin condoms, however those are only for use against pregnancy, as they do not protect against STDs. You can find more information about these here:

http://sexuality.about.com/od/contraception/tp/non_latex_condoms.htm which is a great resource about these other options.

Condom Techniques
It's kind of interesting to see how people put on a condom. I think if you observe, you can tell pretty well, how familiar and comfortable they are with condoms.

• If they hand it off to you, they probably aren't that comfortable with them. 
• If they try and unroll the condom on you backwards, they're probably not familiar with them.
• If they open it and flip the condom back and forth trying to figure out which is the inside and the outside, they may have had the experience above. (pro trip: blow lightly on the condom, as the tip will naturally point out on the outside)
• If they hold it with their lips and unroll it on you with their mouth, she's probably pretty used to them.

 However no matter how much experience you have with them, those foil wrappers can be really tricky to open when your hands are covered with lube. Pro tip: Consider open the condom before breaking out the lube to avoid this.

So thank you condoms, and the great independence you grant us to have great sex with a lot less worries!