Whether your relationship status is single, committed, or just plain complicated, you need to play safe. How fitting it is that next Monday (Feb 13) is International Condom Day. Yup, it’s a thing so we’re going to take this opportunity to remind you all that the main purpose of capping your partner is to twofold: prevent against STIs / STDs and to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Pretty obvi we know, but reminders are great ;) Plus, we’ll fill you in on who’s making the ol’ love glove right.
We were considering sharing some statistics about STIs and STDs but tbh, those statistics are negative and didn’t really make us feel good inside. So we’re skipping the data and keeping it simple: wearing protection is the bestest way to reduce the likelihood of a seemingly in-the-moment good idea have unwanted, lifelong consequences.
What’s in your wallet?
Condom ingredients; any idea what they’re made of? Us neither until we started digging. Unsurprisingly, the usual suspects (*cough* Trojan, Durex, Lifestyles) have some pretty vague descriptions of their ingredients. Not cool. Trust the big brands they say. Nah, we’re not buying it. Literally.
Once we found out that most big brands in your local pharmacy have ingredients like spermicide nonoxynol-9 (a type of detergent, ugh!), glycerin (absorbed in the vagina like sugar, leading to yeast infections, double ugh!) and parabens (questionably linked to hormone imbalances), we said no gracias.
Move Over Fair Trade Coffee
Thankfully, some great people are doing something great about this. Here’s to Sustain, a Vermont-based company, leading the charge for a sexual revolution by making great, sustainable products — including, Fair Trade latex condoms. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the heck is Fair Trade latex you ask?
Good question. We hadn’t thought about it either, but ya, it totally makes sense. Latex comes from trees and plants in areas of the world (like India and Brazil) where ethical labour practices aren’t always respected — if they exist at all. So by sourcing their natural rubber from one of the most sustainable tree rubber plantations on the planet, Sustain gets a big thumbs up from our team.
Plus, their products are free from child labour and nitrosamines (a type of carcinogen) and are vegan friendly*. Yay! (*if you can believe it, many condoms have casein powder, a milk product — ugh, nashhty).
Buy smart. Play smart. Love hard.
