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| Used as a sweetener, humectant, preservant, and is used in personal lube. | | Used as a sweetener, humectant, preservant, and is used in personal lube. |
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| ====Glycerol/glycerin in lube bad?====
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| Glycerol/glycerin is a common ingredient in personal lubricants.
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| And yes, it is not ideal in the vagina, as it could help yeast infections happen.
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| But there area lot of misconceptions here.
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| Some assume it's because it's sugar. But glycerol/glycerin is not a sugar.
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| It may have sweet taste, but none of the properties of carbohydrates.
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| Chemically it is an alcohol, though that's such a general term you should probably zoom in on what kind.
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| It is also not poison. Its use should to be monitored, it needs to be produced to good standards,
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| and it is a fact that some lubes (mostly cheaper ones) pay attention to neither.
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| But that does not make it a poison. Not even if you repeat that statement a lot.
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| It does raise osmolality, which ironically has an overall drying side-effect,
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| which may help a budding yeast infection along.
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| Note that the amount a lube does this varies a lot between lubes,
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| and while the effect is not too noticeable for most people and most lubes,
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| it is one real reason some lubes may be more comfortable for you.
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| Also, glycerol/glycerin, being made from oils, and may contain some fatty acid and other
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| leftovers that might not necessarily be controlled. There ''might''
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| Misconceptions:
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| * it does not ''cause'' yeast infections - but it may make an existing one take a little better. But the same is true of e.g. washing it too much.
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| * it does not cause STIs. It might be that if one's introduced it may take a little faster{{verify}}, but that's hardly the actual problem there.
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| * it is not sugar - it chemically does not act like one
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| * it is not poison - though like almost anything, high concentrations are bad. Some lubes could stand to use less.
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Revision as of 15:13, 15 September 2023
✎ This article/section is a stub — some half-sorted notes, not necessarily checked, not necessarily correct. Feel free to ignore, or tell me about it.
Chemically
Glycerol - a clear, viscous, odourless, slightly sweet, non-toxic, liquid
- used e.g. as a humectant, a solvent, a sweetener, a preservative, a thickening agent
- has some anti-freeze properties
- has a few medical uses
- A specific compound (C3H8O3), and technically a triol (with three OH groups)
Glycerol and glycerin (US) / glycerine (UK) refer to the same molecule,
but glycerin is a commercial term that typically refers to mixes that are mostly (>95%) glycerol.
See also:
More widely, you can look at diols and triols.
You may see the term glycol[1], which is the property/grouping of aliphatic diols, where
- aliphatic = non-aromatic
- diol = alcohols with two OH functional groups (triols have three)
Some compounds in this area include (but are certainly not limited to)
- glycerol (E422), as mentioned
- propylene glycol, somewhat similar to glycerol
- E1520 when used for food
- E490 when used for cosmetics
- ethylene glycol (used in classical antifreeze, and toxic)
Uses
Smoke machine fluids were often basically just glycerol (sometimes other glycols, but not ethylene glycol) and water,
though there appear to be some newer formulations that leave less residue(verify).
Vaping liquid has a base that is often a mix of part glycerin (smoother, cloudier) and propylene glycol.
Used as a sweetener, humectant, preservant, and is used in personal lube.