There’s good news in the world of STD prevention: The number of condoms sold in the United States rose by 25% in 2011. So either one lucky guy who practices safe sex is having a lot more of it, or more men are smartening up about their sexual health.
Unfortunately, many of those men (maybe even you) are making crucial mistakes when it comes to condom use. Strapping it on and giving ‘er a go doesn’t fit the bill anymore– You need to make sure you’re doing it right!
These are the top 5 condom mistakes guys make without even knowing it, and what you can do to make them right:
- You’re not leaving space at the tip
Sure it looks a little odd having extra latex space between your weenier and the end of the condom, but that small bit of space is going to be what keeps the condom working. That space is crucial for the seamen to have a place to go. Your little fellas swim so fast out of your body that if you don’t leave enough space (at least quarter of an inch), they’re likely to break the condom. 24.3% of unplanned pregnancies caused while wearing a condom were reported to have been caused because of this issue.
- You’re putting it on too late.
Men’s Health Magazine reported that up to 51% of men put on a condom after they’ve already begun intercourse. Not only does this not help with pre-ejaculation (you’re coming in her before you actually cum), but you’re completely defeating the purpose of preventing STD’s. - You’re not using lube.
Unless the condom specifically says that it’s lubricated, you’ve got to do that yourself! Men’s Health says that between 16 and 25.8% of people don’t use lube while using condoms. Condoms have a 14% rate of breaking without the aid of lube because of friction. A broken condom is as useful as no condom! - You’re storing them improperly.
19% of men in studies stored their protection incorrectly. There are specific storing instructions on condom boxes that outline weather and lighting conditions, but most men store them in a wallet or in an area that gets too much light which wears the latex. - You’re not removing the extra air.
Something as simple as squeezing the extra room at the tip of your condom can help prevent it from breaking. 41% of men admitted that they didn’t squeeze the tip during their last sexual encounter. If you’re not going to squeeze, you shouldn’t smush!
In the absence of syommtps, you need to wait 3-6 months before you can have a special blood test. Then you need to get a type-specific herpes blood test.There is no test you can have sooner the blood test looks for antibodies to the virus, and it takes time to develop these. Any sooner than 3-4 months at the earliest and you would get a false negative even if you had caught it.If you don’t get syommtps, I wouldn’t go worrying too much in the meantime. Herpes isn’t actually that easy to catch. I am assuming the girl did not have current syommtps. Transmission rates in the absence of syommtps are LOW. If you had UNprotected intercourse several times a week with this girl, for an entire YEAR, and only avoided contact when she had visible syommtps, your risk per year would only be 10% or less if she had hsv-2, and about 2% if she had hsv-1. And that is over 100s of exposures.Look at it this way. My boyfriend had oral herpes hsv-1, which is actually more infectious than genital herpes. We avoided kissing and oral sex when he had a cold sore, but had frequent contact in between. It took me seven full years to catch it from him.Although it is possible to not develop syommtps when you have actually caught it, normally syommtps would appear within a week. Mine were pretty unmistakeable and painful.
Sexual health