Tips for using a Condom
1. Choose a good brand of condoms
It is wisest to choose brands that are quality tested and state this clearly. Brands like Durex and KS are popular brands electronically tested. KS also comes in banana, strawberry and other
flavours.
2. Keep the condoms handy
Carry your condoms with you all the time even if you think you don't need them. Keep them in places you might have sex. You never know when you might need them.
3. Be careful with the condom
Condoms are made from latex / rubber, too much heat can damage them. So keep them in a safe and cool place. Don't keep the condoms between your keys and small change. The sharp edges can tear the package and the condom.
4. Condoms don't last forever
Always check the expiry date on a condom before you buy them. If you've kept them for a long time and don't know how old they are, throw them away and get a new one. Old condoms are just as unsafe as sex without condoms. Condoms usually have an expiry date of two or three years.
5. Open the condom carefully
Don't open the package with your teeth. Carefully tear open one side, taking care not to tear the rubber, and ease the condom out onto your palm.
6. Using the condoms
Hold the condom by the closed end and squeeze out any air. Add the water-based lubricant inside the condom to increase sensitivity. Don't use too much inside because the condom might slip off. Roll the condom right down the erect penis.
Note the word ERECT: If it's not hard yet, a condom won't go on
well. Get your partner to do it for you. Make sure you do this even before any pre-ejaculate comes out. Uncircumcised men may need to roll back their foreskin before putting it on. Smooth out any air bubbles inside the condom. Add water-based lubricant outside the condom.
Many men withdraw before ejaculation for extra safety. If you
do come inside him, hold the condom by the base as you pull out to
prevent semen from spilling or seeping.
7. Use Water Based Lubricants
Using lubricants is essential for penetrative sex because they cut down the risk of the condom tearing. Lubricants like KY Jelly (distributed by Johnson and Johnson) are available in the market. Whatever lubricant you buy, they have to be water based.
8. Don't use oil based lubricants
Vaseline, Vegetable Oil, Baby Oil, Skin Moisturisers, Margarine are not lubricants to be used with a condom. The latex reacts with the oil leading to rot and will make it tear.
9. Two condoms at once may not be a good idea
Putting a condom over another to double your protection may sound like a good idea. But it isn't. The condoms rubbing against each other will increase the chances of either or both tearing. So use only one condom and use water-based lubricant liberally
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10. Use each condom once
After sex, withdraw holding on to the base of the condom to make sure it doesn't slip off. Then dispose them. Latex condoms aren't made for reuse. If you've used a condom once, throw them away. Use a new one each time.
11. Dispose used condoms properly
The sewage system was not built to drain condoms. Don't throw used condoms down the toilet, they'll cause blockages in the drain. Tie a knot on the condom after use, put them into a small paper cover and dispose them in a garbage bin.
Buying a condom
1. Where do I get a condom?
One of the least discoursed issues when it comes to safer sex is not using a condom, but buying one - considering the embarrassment that men connect to it. Most men go to chemist shops to get them or prefer getting them from condom dispensing machines anonymously. But if you have decided to have sex and would like to adopt safer sex methods buying a condom has to be the next step. Chemist shops, most departmental stores, or even NGOs working with sexual health are some of the best places to get condoms.
Choose a place with which you are comfortable. If it is easier, go to a shop in an area that you don't live in. But understand and explain to yourself that is better to be embarrassed about asking for a condom and using it, than not using one and ending up with STIs like HIV.
2. I can't buy condoms, it is too embarrassing.
You have to decide whether protecting yourself from HIV and other STIs is important to you or not. Buy condoms from shops in areas that you don't live in. Or stock up and buy them when you are not in your city. Do something and get them. Its safer to be embarrassed being seen buying condoms than to learn you have STI later because you didn't use them.
Eroticising condoms
1. Condoms are too cumbersome to use
True, putting on a condom just when you've got yourself worked up over your partner can be irritating and trying on your nerves. But it is an important step to protect both of you. So try and eroticise using condoms in your sexual relationships. Include wearing a condom as part of your foreplay.
2. I don't know how to use a condom
Read up on all the available information on how to use a condom. Go through them very carefully understanding what you can and can't do. Try masturbating wearing condoms, using water-based lubricants to increase sensitivity if you wish, to make yourself comfortable using them.
3. What if the condom tears when I'm having sex?
Don't Panic. Gently bear down and ease the condom out. Try and figure out what went wrong so there is lesser chance of it happening again. Don't use bleach or detergents to wash yourself, you could end up doing more damage. Be more careful the next time.
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