Self-love in Quarantine
Are you going crazy yet? Social distancing coupled with working at home can be challenging for many of us. And yes we’re not the first brand to encourage you to take advantage of this time… ya know… learn a new language, work out, practice your soufflé making skills.. Blah blah blah blah…
At Ash we believe that sexual wellness is essential to everyone’s life. So while in quarantine we wanted to encourage you to make sexual wellness a priority with some easy and fun ideas.
Practicing Sexual Wellness during COVID19 with yourself or with a partner you currently live with (no leaving the house to get sum #stay home).
Guide:
A. Self Love — Alternative Masturbation Techniques
B. Partner Love — Spicing it up with a partner
C. Porn & Lube Alternatives
A. SELF LOVE
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To quote the NYC Health Department’s memo on safe sex during COVID-19, “you are your safest sex partner.” So to help you be your own best sex partner, we’ve put together a list of alternative tips here at Ash.
A. Alternative Masturbation Techniques:
- For those of you with a vulva, take a look at this article from Healthline that outlines techniques to switch up your masturbation routine or to start from scratch — bottom line as they say “Do whatever makes you feel good — and enjoy every minute of it!”
2. For those of you with a penis, take a look at a similar article from Healthline and remember that it’s okay to explore other areas of your body other than your penis. Whether that be your testicles, prostate, nipples — whatever.
- If your prostate is something you want to explore — slip a finger down there, and read through this article.
Warning: if you’re using DIY toys or things that you’ve found around the house, be sure it is something that can’t get stuck inside of you, can’t break inside of you, and can’t give you an infection. The Emergency Rooms of America don’t need someone with an easter egg stuck in their anus — so please be safe if you’re experimenting at home.
B. Partner Love — Spicing it up with a partner:
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Things to try:
- Make a Yes/No/Maybe List — share it with each other
- Talk about fantasies
- Watch porn together
- Try out a new sex toy (or try a toy in a new way ;))
- Try it in the kitchen or on the bathroom floor…
C. Porn & Lube Alternatives:
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Alternative Porn
Audio porn — Let your imagination do the work, while you listen instead of view porn to masturbate to and enjoy.
- Quinn — “The internet’s best kept secret”.. close your eyes, put your headphones in and get in the zone with an audio adventure. (Fun fact — started by Snapchat’s Founder’s sister).
- Dipsea — a female-friendly audio porn collection is running a free trial during COVID-19 with a sea of female-friendly audio porn with a free trial until April.
Written porn — Reddit — is a great resource for stories on a host of subreddits where you can pick your ‘poison’ — catering to many sexualities, fetishizes, kinks. Here is one article highlighting some of the best stories to find on Reddit.
Amateur / Homemade Porn — MakeLoveNotPorn — $5 videos from real humans with real bodies — right from their website → MakeLoveNotPorn is Pro-sex. Pro-porn. Pro-knowing the difference. We’re the world’s first user-generated, human-curated social sex video-sharing platform, celebrating #realworldsex as a counterpoint to porn, with the aim of socializing sex — making it easier for everyone to talk about, in order to promote good sexual values and good sexual behavior. We’re what Facebook would be if Facebook allowed everyone to socially sexually self-identify and self-express (which sadly, they don’t).
Free Pornhub premium (for limited time and countries) — Pornhub is offering all of its premium content for free with a trial for those in lock-down countries. See the details here.
Alternative Lubes ~ some like it dry, but some don’t ~ lube alternatives if you forgot to pick up before COVID-19. (recommend to test out whatever you are using on a small area of skin, maybe a part of your arm before going to town with it to make sure you don’t have an allergic reaction or irritation).
- Coconut Oil or Olive Oil — this should be lying around every household, and can work just fine as a lubricant alternative; a little bit should go a long way. We don’t recommend either of these to use with condoms as they can break down protective barriers, but they can be a quick alternative for some self-love until you get another lube. We would not recommend either oil for long term use, as they can increase the chances of yeast infections.
- 100% pure Aloe Vera — It’s slippery enough, very soothing, and can even help prevent yeast infections as opposed to increase the likelihood of getting one. However, it is important to make sure it’s 100% pure Aloe, as it can have added ingredients that can cause irritation. Also, some people are naturally irritated by aloe, so test it out as well on a small area of skin first.
Please DM us on Insta or Twitter with your favorite self-love techniques — @meetashwellness
And some Mike Pence humor to finish it off…
