Safe Tips To Keep Things Under Wraps

There is more to the condom than meets the eye (or any other part of the body, for that matter). Putting one on correctly could mean the difference between a clean bill of health and a nasty infection or pregnancy. And the difference is startling: According to the Food and Drug Administration, heterosexual couples using a condom consistently and correctly can expect about a three percent rate of pregnancy while couples who use condoms inconsistently or incorrectly - or both - can expect nearly five times that rate.

Putting a condom on correctly is just one key element in keeping yourself safe while having sex, according to Health Education Coordinator Joleen Nevers.

Preparation

The first and seemingly the most obvious step to putting on a condom is to obtain one, whether by buying it, receiving it or checking out your partner's stash in the bottom drawer.

Once you have a condom or two, it's time for a thorough inspection even before you open the package. Check to see if the condom was approved by the FDA. The FDA tests condoms rigorously and if just four in a group of 1000 are defective (break under pressure), the rest of the batch is destroyed, Nevers said, adding that all condoms given to students by Health Education - whether at their offices in South or from CAs' goodie-bags - are FDA-approved.

Other things to look for are tampering and the expiration date.

To make sure the condom hasn't been tampered with in any way, squeeze the packet to be sure that the seal is still airtight. If you can create an air pocket, you're good.

The expiration date of a condom is printed on the package and condoms should not be used after they are expired.

"All quality condoms should have an expiration date," according to the LifeStyles Web site. "LifeStyles Brand Lubricated Condoms have a five-year expiration date from the time they were manufactured; our spermicidally lubricated condoms, three years."

Another common error is using the wrong size condom.

Nevers advises male students to know their condom size by measuring their penises.

"It's uncomfortable if it doesn't fit correctly," she said. And an incorrectly sized condom can have bigger consequences than pain - condoms that are too tight can tear and break while condoms that are too large can slip off during use.

While the condom basket outside of Health Education doesn't include larger or tighter fitting condoms, Nevers said that students only need come inside the office and ask.

Another condom necessity is lubricant. Men using latex condoms should steer clear of oil-based lubricants as they can break down latex and cause condoms to break, Nevers said. Water-based or silicone-based lubricants are far safer.

So now you have this perfect condom and lube. FDA-approved, undamaged, still current, the right size - you're on Cloud Nine.

But you're still not ready to rip and roll yet.

Nevers advises that both partners should urinate before - and soon after - sex to prevent painful urinary tract infections.

Now, for the hard step (pun intended). A condom cannot be put on a soft penis, so the man's penis must be erect first.

Rip and Roll

Rip open the condom package with your hands - Nevers said that biting open the package may seem sexy, but using one's teeth could lead to very unsexy tears and damage to the condom.

Carefully remove the condom from the package and dab a drop of lube on the inside to make it go on more smoothly. Nevers reccomended putting on just a drop or two because, with too much lube, the condom can slip off during sex. However, with too little lube, friction can build up.

Alternatively, instead of putting the lube inside the condom, Jeffery Gluckman, an HIV Prevention educator with Washington D.C.'s Metro TeenAIDS advises men to dab lubricant on the penis itself to decrease friction.

"Friction is the natural enemy of the latex condom," Nevers said. "The top two reasons for condoms to break are friction and being put on incorrectly."

Once the condom is in hand, squeeze a half-inch portion at the top to allow for ejaculate. If you don't allow for the space at the top, the condom could break at orgasm from the force of ejaculation.

While rolling the condom down the head and shaft of the penis all the way down to the base, roll with the roll of the condom rather than against it in order to prevent struggling and tearing. Be sure to ease out air bubbles along the route. Air bubbles can increase friction.

Nevers said that some of the most common errors in putting on condoms come here - at the actual unrolling. Leaving air bubbles, rolling against the roll and forgetting to pinch off space for ejaculate are common errors that can have big consequences yet are easily avoidable.

The Deed and Cleanup

Nevers advises men to hold on to the base of their penises during insertion, but that there is no need to maintain their grip during the rest of the act.

According to Nevers, men should stay inside their partners for no longer than a minute after ejaculating, as they start to lose their erections as soon as they ejaculate and a lost erection can mean a lost condom.

Men should once again grip the condom as they pull out of their partners.

With heterosexual couplings, men should move away from their partners to remove the condom to prevent any semen from going anywhere near the woman's vagina. In the same vein, men should wash their hands after removing the condom and before touching themselves or their partners.

To remove the condom, men should roll the condom upward in the direction of the roll.

After the condom has been removed, it should be discarded. Nevers advises men to wrap the used condoms in toilet paper or a paper towel and throw them in the trash. Leaving them around and uncovered on top of the trash could lead to uncomfortable conversations later with parents, roommates or siblings.

A pamphlet provided by Durex reminds men to not flush condoms down the toilet and to never re-use old condoms. Use a new condom each time.

Miscellany

Nevers also discussed proper storage of condoms. Condoms should be stored at a temperature that doesn't vary much - so the alternately freezing and sweltering temperature of a car's glove compartment is not the best place to keep them.

But the body's 98.6 isn't very good for condoms either - too warm. This eliminates the wallet, which many men put in their back pockets, as a long-term storage place. Nevers suggests keeping a spare condom in one's jacket pocket, backpack or purse and in an area where other things such as pens and pencils with sharp points aren't likely to damage it.

Nevers didn't give up on the wallet as a storage place, however, saying that it could be okay for short-term storage, like before a night out.

And for those who have had bad experiences or mess-ups with condoms, Nevers encouraged students to not give up on the method altogether.

"If the condom is torn, expired or put on wrong, it's still better to use one than to not use one if you're going to have sex regardless," Nevers said, "But of course it would be better to wait until you have a second, undamaged condom … in my ideal dream, students would use them correctly every single time," she said.