Welcome to speaking of sex with a pleasure mechanics. I'm Chris, founder of pleasure mechanics dot com. Where we train your touch and level up your erotic skills, so you can experience more pleasure, joy and connection. Come on over to pleasure mechanics dot com slash free to get started with our free online course. So you can start on your path to more pleasure right away. That's pleasure mechanics dot com, the slash free.
On today's episode, we are in conversation with Melanie Crystal, Ceo and founder of laurel. 1 of my favorite pleasure products for more protection and pleasure during oral play. It was such a delight to try out Laurel for ourselves and then be in conversation with Melanie about her journey as a founder of... This incredible pleasure, positive company. And what she has learned about how people experience oral sex, and what we need to feel safe and comfortable in doing so.
When you are ready to level up your oral sex experience come on over to pleasure mechanics dot com slash oral and get started with our oral sex course. With a built in discount just for listeners of this podcast. That's pleasure mechanics dot com slash. Please join me in welcoming melanie to speaking of sex to talk about protecting the pleasures of oral sex. Melanie, thank you so much for joining us? Welcome to speaking of sex with the pleasure
mechanics. Can you please introduce yourself to our audience. Absolutely. I'm so happy to be here. My name is Melanie Crystal, and I'm the founder and Ceo of Laurel. Laurel, we make ultra thin, super sexy, latex that can be used for pleasure, comfort and S str protection. Mh. We just recently tried these and got to roll around in bed for a few hours, test driving them. And and we're so fond to play with, so sexy. I love snapping them and feeling hearing that's.
Against the Vu. Can you please tell us the story of how you developed these and why and why they are such an important product to fill a hold. That's been in the market. Ever since I was a pure sex educator, you know, 30 years ago, we have been waiting for this. Tell us how you develop it. Yeah. I was also a Pure sex educator. I I think it was 20... Like, around 25 years ago, and I was teaching about dental dams, and I thought, that it was very good that Dental dams existed.
But then to be able to describe that product to you know, people and try to encourage them to use it was always so difficult. People would ask, really, I have to hold it in place with 2 hands. And I have to worry about whether it flips over, and it's called a dental dam. Why is it called that? I learned later that, by the way, it's called the dental dam because it is derived from a product that is used during dentist tree to isolate a tooth during dental surgery.
And back then, I just knew that while it was great that the product existed 3 women and people with Vol deserve something so much better. They deserve something that was designed with their bodies in mind and would actual sex in mind rather than dentistry. So yeah. So I... You know, that
that teaching... Those teaching moments made an impression on me, and then over time, I continued to use dental dams, and again, was very glad that they exist it, but just the user experience left so much lacking. I... You know, I want it to be able to use both of my hands, and I wanted it to be able to not have to worry about it turning over. I wanted to be able to bring it up during a conversation about safe sex, in a way that wasn't like, let's roll our eyes about how silly this
dental dam is. You know, like, it needed it to be able to be brought into the conversation with more confidence and ideally more sex is. Mh. So I was using them really thinking that they're needed to be something better. And then at 1 at 1 point, I was on a romantic vacation, we found ourselves. Needing a dental dam and having trouble finding 1 because they simply weren't popular enough. And I thought, you know, if this product were
sexy and fun. It would also be popular and we would be able to buy them anywhere. And that was when I realized what if this were sexy Latex lingerie? You know? What if it were something that felt 50 shades, but it just happened to protect against us Tis. And my clinic at the idea out of my head, and I was just constantly ob assessing over this idea thinking about it. And eventually decided to quit my job as a corporate lawyer to create laurel,
I am so glad you did. Because as you said, we deserve something better than either scented dental dams or, you know, I remember teaching people how to cut gloves into a square and then use the thumb to insert. And, you know, is always like, is this, you know, crafty Diy safe said even things like saran ra turned out to not really be a safe option, and you have finally created a safe product that also adds pleasure
potential. Mh And Charlotte and I had a really fun I'm exploring this, but I really want to paint the picture for people of, you know how sexy it is to have a lover approach while you're still wearing underwear. And feel their breath, approach you and the warmth of their breath, and they're just there, but not quite fair this product allows us to really play on that edge. What are some other surprising pleasure potentials that you have, heard from your community or built freight into
the product itself. Yeah. So 1 of the things is something that you mentioned before. When you're wearing laurel, there's this cover so slight little amount of of pressure that it places on your cli is, and it's such a pleasurable
sensation. It just... It feels like this nice fullness and it's something that you don't really get with a lot of other products because, you know, with an oral dam or a dental dam, there there isn't necessarily a pressure unless you are pulling on it or your partner is pushing on it. When you're wearing regular lingerie, it kind of just sits there or, you know, if it has lace, it has like, elastic on it, then it might pull up, but not in a in an even smooth way. Like it does
with ultra thin latex. So Mh. That's absolutely 1 thing. You put them on and it already feels ro. And then we've discovered so many ways that people can use these products. And part of that was because were a very small business. And when we launched, we knew that we were not what, like, at launch time, we were not going to be able to have all of the funds necessary to get the Fda clearance. That we needed in order to be able to describe the product as a medical device and as
S ti protective. And we now have done that that was a really big important milestone for us. Yes. In 20 22. But prior to that, Laurel were on the market, for a variety of other reasons that folks might want some kind of ultra thin barrier during oral. So people use them as a way of exploring winning without having to worry about backdoor downsides.
People use them as a way to feel more confident and comfortable during oral, maybe if they're with a new partner or if they had experienced trauma prior and didn't want somebody up close and personal. People use them for gender to for as a way to feel more comfortable with their stirring oral. And also people will use them as just a sexy latex garment. So if you are going to, like, a a music festival and your outfit, like, would be heightened by having a fun sexy latex underwear item on,
people will use them for that purpose. People will wear them to play parties as a latex component. It's a way to be able to experience public encounters involving oral where you actually are kind of dressed. I know. Right. Interesting application. Yeah. So there's really so many ways that even prior to us obtaining our Fda clearance and
describing the product as S protective. People were already using it in this enormous variety of ways to, you know, be more fashionable to have more fun play playtime and to feel more comfortable and confident during oral. I love that. And I'm also heard you talk about how some people prefer to use them while they're on their period. And then, like, for the sensory, the sensory experience if some people like, find
scratch bids. About kind of challenging that there's just a little extra layer of protection or something or just sort of a bit more uncomfortable with their own genitals separate from the d warrior, just finding that layer, feeling a little bit more safe and comfortable and able to say yes to the experience. App and those are really good phone. Yeah. I mean, I would say that period
oral is a really big application. Of, like, why people will use Laurel, because, you know, some people are completely fine and uncomfortable with period fluids being exchanged during world, but some people feel a little bit less good about that. And and a lot of folks will just say, you know, no oral for me at all during my period. Like, I don't want those fluids to be exchanged at all.
And Laurel are a really great way to be able to have period oral without any fluid exchanger or any of that, you know, mess that might be associated with period oral generally. And then, absolutely, as you said, Charlotte, you know, people will use oral if they have gen sensitivity, and they just need, that sensation to be damp dampened ever so slightly. For most people, it really feels exactly the same when you're receiving oral with laurel as
without. But if you were having this experience of heightened sensitivity whenever anybody, you know, gets close to your cli or vu laurel are able to be just that ultra thin barrier that makes the ever so slight difference to make that not only a tolerable sensation, but an actual and enjoyable sensation. And then absolutely for sensory issues as well. If the give or the receiver, you know, is uncomfortable with, you know, the taste of oral, the scents that are associated with oral, or sometimes
the tech sure. So like, the texture of, you know, hairs getting into your nose and your mouth, sometimes that can be incredibly overwhelming. And Laurel allow the give to be able to focus on pleas their partner, rather than thinking, oh, my gosh. Am I going to sneeze? And like, is that stuck in my mouth? I'm... Now. I'm focusing on that rather than the giving experience? And then for a receiver as well being able to, like, relax and take it in and enjoy rather than getting sensory overload.
I really want to pause on this experience of relaxing into the experience of receiving. With the assurance of this tool in place. And that is what's so amazing about some of these pleasure tools is they not only widen the range of what is possible for us in any given moment, like my heart lit up when you mentioned wearing them at a sex party.
Because usually, my rule is no oral in group situations because that's where my I kind of, like, hygiene boundaries are, but all of a sudden I was like, oh, I could have my friends faces between my thighs, and it's so important to member that the pleasures of receiving and giving oral are so much beyond that skin contact. And if that is not wanted or desired for any of these reasons, having this thin barrier, can open up so much pleasure potential for us.
Just like sliding on a condom that ease in our hearts the relaxation in our minds can then allow us to ride really beautifully and have incredible experiences, otherwise might be burdened with worry or doubt or resent or regret afterwards. Right? It opens up the pleasure equation for us. But to have these tools in our toolbox. So thank you so much for bringing this tool to all of us you nailed it. Thanks. Oh my gosh. It really is a a labor of love, I...
Once I thought of the idea and I couldn't get it out of my head, there were some physical responses, to the idea that I had that led me to really feel like this is why I'm here This is my is my purpose. So basically, I have T syndrome, and I'm a late onset person for Tour. I got it when I was 16, and then it has gotten progressively more significant over the course of my
life. And when I thought of the idea for Laurel I was working in a law firm, and I would say that probably I would ticked prior to thinking of the idea, I would take around 20 times a day. Once in a while, I'll, you know, how many times am my ticket it'll I'll start doing a little analysis. And so I think I had done 1 of those, you know, probably a year prior to see how often I was ticking. And and wow. Once I thought of the idea, my body just like couldn't handle it.
I started ticking... I was ticking 50 or 60 times a day with... And I and I started this new tick, which was, like, this really deep. Gut tick. Right And it was as though my body was yelling at me,
go for it. Do this, like this your path, and it was a hard decision to make because I, you know, had gone to law school and I spent several years at this law firm and, like, I thought that this was going to be my career and it was stable and, you know, well paid, and I kept thinking, am I really going to leave this job in order to do something that is so risky. Like, I'm a lawyer. I'm not a, like... I'm I'm a risk ave verse person by nature. But my body just, like, wouldn't
let me let it go. Like, I just knew deep down that this is what I need it to do. And I'm very, very, very grateful for having because I think that otherwise, I probably would have continued along the path of least resistance.
And I think that, you know, the awesome rewards of of this now and being able to hear all of these awesome stories about people's intimate life's changing, being able to not feel stigma about S, like herpes and Hpv, end a variety of others to be able to, like, to watch folks being able to be proud of who they are and see celebrate that while having tennessee intimacy is so special, and I just feel very fortunate, that that I'm here and doing this. We're grateful for it too.
What is that you for sharing all of that? By the way. Yeah. I feel like I was... I... Thank you. I really went off on that. I hope that's okay. So appreciate like, yeah. I'd love that you will like listening to the wisdom of your body and hearing it and hearing the messages and following its request. In a way. Yeah you know. And they feel like everybody else with their service site. I'm sure. And I know. Now. We are I'm talking you know, listening to the erotic and our bodies go so
far beyond sex. Right? And you were listening to a very strong yes speaking through you, and only you can answer that call. Right? Yeah. And it... You know, the the meaning of oral. Right? Like, did you love oral before this product? And how much or do you love it now and you're hearing from people. Right? Like, the the meaning and intimacy as you said that it opens up to be able to share this on our own terms. Yeah. Yeah. I absolutely love oral. How about. To always loved oral.
And, like, both as a give and as a receiver, I think that it this incredibly special way that you can gift intimacy to your partner. And, of course, sometimes it can feel mutual if, you know, both are gifting at the same time, But I just think it's an incredibly special thing, to be able to as a give, connect with your partner in this very beautiful way and be able to watch them, enjoy this beautiful feeling of pleasure. Mh. Right in front of your eyes, you
have a beautiful view. What going on. And and you can also, like, feel the sensations of their body and their their legs and they're their, you know, pelvis and their stomach and like, all of that movement, the the sounds that they make will resonate throughout their body and you're able to feel that as well. And then just watch them for this period of time, receive this joy and love and pleasure and satisfaction
that you're able to provide to them. I think that's such an incredibly special experience. And I think that it's different than most other sexual activities, primarily because there is a give and a receiver.
When both folks are receiving pleasure simultaneously, it's very hard to be able to fully notice and embrace your partner's pleasure, and be able to celebrate with that with them and I think that Oral provides that experience of being able to watch your partner experience the joy along with them and help them have the best sensations that they possibly can. Nothing.
Yeah. And then as a receiver, very very special to be able to, you know, not necessarily be thinking about your partner's pleasure at this moment and instead be able to fully focus your mind on what feels good for you. And it's almost like a medi experience to be able to take all of that sensation in and focus on it and enjoy it. Rather than having to, you know, necessarily do something with your hands or do something with your body that is also providing pleasure to somebody else.
And there's also wonderful amounts of joy in, you know, 60 dining or, you know, grinding a wall world happening or, you know, doing something that's more mutual. That's also incredibly special, but I think that world oral provides this awesome benefit of gifting and intimacy that we don't get with a lot of other activities. We'd like to take a minute and thank
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For 30 days, all access free trial. Big thanks to Dip c stories for being a longtime friend and sponsor of speaking of sex with the pleasure mechanics. You will find this link. And all of the other links to our sponsors at pleasure mechanics dot com slash toolbox. That's pleasure mechanics dot com slash toolbox, and now back to our interview with Melanie Crystal of Laurel.
We've talked so much about the benefits and the way people can use the laurel for pleasure, but you also have this other line, the laurel for protect action. And, like, what S can people prevent. So I don't think we think enough about all of the S that can be shed and transmitted through oral sex. Yeah. Absolutely. You know, I've always thought it's interesting that
society has focus. On the S str that are transmitted via intercourse and has basically the like, the the discourse is often about intercourse and anal sex being, you know, the activities that transfer S is most frequently. But personally, I think that that is because of society's focus overall on the prominence of of heterosexual sex. And sex involving a penis.
Because when you really think about it, when you have a mouth and you have Ebola these are 2 mucus membranes that are connecting with 1 another for a very long time. And so it... Made sense to me that this could transfer a lot of disease. And I almost thought it was strange that it was considered to be so much safer.
And in just the last few years, more research has been coming out that is a lot that basically, you know, has conclusions along those lines that many S str can be transmitted via oral and some particularly bacterial S tis and also herpes, much more easily than during intercourse, there's so much more bodily contact and so much more fluid exchange. Now, of course, within an S str like like Hiv, which is transmitted you know, via the semen that's ejaculate it. Something like that is going to be,
less likely to be transmitted during oral. And in fact, like, the Cdc thinks of the of Hiv transmission risk during oral to be much, much lower than it is during inner intercourse and during anal sex. But for the other S, Chlamydia not gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes and Hpv. They can be transmitted easily during oral. So it's important to be aware of these facts and decide whether having protection during oral is the right choice for you.
And what we do at Laurel is we provide folks with a choice for protection that doesn't limit their experience and instead, perhaps enhances their experience and makes it even more fun than it would otherwise be. So it doesn't have to feel like a bummer to have to protect yourself during oral, because you're gonna have a really fun time and be able to go from, like, funneling us to anal us and back again. You're gonna be able to do fun sucking motions
against the cli. You're going to be able to see your partner or be seen in hot sexy latex. You can do the snapping motions. There's so many fun things that Laurel will bring into an interaction. So you don't have to be thinking about, like, I need to be extremely careful during this, so I don't so I, you know, I don't transmit 1 of these S str. We we want people to be able to relax and enjoy
themselves and not have fear. It's also, I think important to talk about the experience of a partner particularly a receiver who has an S and who doesn't want to transmit that S str to their partner, there are so many couples that are in non comp relationships where 1 of them has an S str and the other 1 doesn't. And you know, most S tis are not the worst thing in the world, there things that
can be managed. But when you've had the experience, you know, as I have, trans transmitting an S to your partner and having them go through that initial outbreak, which can often be extremely painful depending on what the S str is. Like, if you can avoid doing that to your partner, would generally much much, much prefer for that to be the case.
And so we've also designed laurel with those folks needs in mind so that they don't have to be embarrassed or self conscious or feel ashamed when bringing up protect action to their partner and inserting protection into their sexual activities. What is the thing that has most surprised you along the laurel journey. That's a good question. I think 1 thing that is really surprised me along this journey is... The the range of folks who have been welcoming laurel
into their lives. They're appealing to people across all spectrum. We early on or heard from customers who were in their eighties who some of them had never experienced oral sex. And with Laurel, they were able to let go of these concerns that they'd had for decades, and to be able to enjoy all of those sensations. It would send us, like beautiful letters talking about how meaningful it was them to be able to do that.
We also, are realizing that we have for you know, a lot of customers within religious communities who, you know, have sometimes we'll have... Like, you know, negative messaging growing up about non pro pro creative sex, but you know, now that they are in marriages, they want to really be able to please each other and to have as much pleasure as possible.
And Laurel have allowed them to break through this messaging that they had faced and be able to experience more pleasure because of that, also hearing a lot from folks in the kent community who love Latex products and how cool is it to be able to have latex ids that they you can then have oral sex through. That's been really amazing as well. Also, folks in the autistic community as well being able to not be concerned about sensory differences and embrace oral sex But really, like,
we have... We now have customers in every age range every demographic. We have customers in 83 countries around the world, and it's just been so exciting how many folks we've been able to read I didn't... I think that that has been so surprising to me because as a queer woman when I created the product, I really did have queer women in mind and than to be able to reach as so many more people beyond that and also be able to reach queer women and people Vu has been so incredible to me. I think.
They thought be paused once in a while to think about how much... Pleasure you have helped generate in this world. I think to to live and be a human in this world, whether we're thinking about really broad difficult topics. Or we're just having a very stressful life with our job or our, you know, family or children or friends or like, so many different things in life, can lead to conflict and stress. And pleasure is a way that we can first of all, temporarily forget about those things, and
enjoy something within our own bodies. And connect to another human in a really beautiful way. But even outside of just that experience itself science shows that having pleasure and having interactions, especially with, you know, another human being, or multiple other human beings lead us to live healthier and happier lives. And I feel very honored and grateful to be within a career in a community. That is so focused on helping people
enjoy as much pleasure as they can. And therefore, live as healthy and happy of lives. As they can. In a world that can be really hard. And Bother gonna be on feeling pleasure with you. Thank you so much. Yes. I look links some the show notes to equip yourself with Laurel or oral intimacy in your life. Thank you so much for joining us on speaking of sucks. We will be back with you next week for another episode. Melanie only thank you you so much for joining us.
My pleasure. Thank you. Thank you for being with us for this conversation. Here are on speaking of sex with a pleasure mechanics. You will find a link to Laurel in the show notes or go to pleasure mechanics dot com slash laurel, L0RALS. And when you are ready to up level, your its experience of oral sex, come on over to pleasure mechanics dot com slash oral, and level up your skills with us with our immersive experiential course on oral, pleasure for all bodies.
We will see you next time for another episode of speaking of sex with the pleasure mechanics. I'm Chris from pleasure mechanics dot com wishing you a lifetime of pleasure, cheers.