Product Reviews

I’d rather be bald!

When I went to the Infusion Room last month, the nurses all looked at me with surprise and excitement.

Nurse: Your hair is growing so fast!

Me: I know.

Manager: It looks great.

Me: Thanks! But, I’d rather be bald than have short hair.

And, I honestly would. I appreciate that an overwhelming majority of women feel differently from me on this issue, but I’m always going to be upfront about my views.

I’ve received compliments on my hair from friends and strangers. To my friends, I respond:

Thanks! I hate it, though.

Friends: You do? I think it highlights your face and looks sexy! Why don’t you like it?

Me: It’s not me. When I was bald, no one assumed that I chose that look. With short hair, people think I did. I like short hair on other people, but I don't like it on me. Never have. My long hair is part of my identity.

When strangers ask me where I get my hair cut, I reply:

Umm…this is from chemo.

They look at me with worry in their eyes, and I assure them that I wasn’t offended in the slightest by their comment.

Me: No worries! I appreciate the compliment. (Hey, I've never denied being vain.)

But, I still don’t look in the mirror or at photographs of myself and see me. It might be my mind’s way of coping with a change over which I've had no control, or it might be that I don’t consider my recuperation finished until my old long locks are back.

The goal is this:

  

Photo Credit: Guest of a Guest at Hudson Restaurant

But, I promise to stop rolling my eyes and whining when my hair reaches my shoulders. For those of you who know me, do you really see me with a modern pixie or a soccer mom bob? Really? It's going to be a rough two years between my current Sheena Easton 'do and long hair!

Since this post is all about what I’m missing, I’ll also add eyelashes and fingernails into the mix. My eyelashes had finally started growing back, but I lost half of them last week taking my mascara off. And, just this week – more than SIX months after my last round of chemotherapy, my last dead fingernail fell off. I never imagined that losing fingernails would be so painful, but it still hurts a bit to type or text.

There are many things that I will never take for granted again. Ponytails, frizz, long lashes and healthy nails are all high on that list!

Thanks for indulging me during my Cancer-versary Week! I’ll get back to dating stories, product reviews and sex advice posts tomorrow. xoxo
 

Anal play for the straight guy

An Arlington Boy Guest Post:

Months ago, I emailed City Girl with a burning question. I read some of her comments about anal sex and, as a result, was honestly curious about anal self-pleasuring and wanted some good advice on going about trying it out for myself. She gave me some absolutely incredible tips, and I’ve been enjoying anal play for some time now.

A few weeks ago, she asked me if I’d be willing to write a guest blog post about it, and I was more than happy to oblige.

You see, I’m a straight guy. Depressingly so. And a lot of straight guys have a lot of preconceived notions about anal play. Mostly that it’s either for gays, or if you derive pleasure from anal stimulation, you must somehow be gay.

Didn’t see that one coming, did you?

Well, I’m here to say that I’ve been enjoying anal play for some time now, and I can assure you that I still have the raging heterosexuality of an NFL offensive line. Sexual orientation doesn’t change based on pleasure zones. And did you know that a lot of gay couples don’t engage in anal play? Ever?

There’s nothing about your anus, or any other of your erogenous zones, that’s unique to your sexual orientation. I’m going to guess if you’re a straight male that you probably like blow jobs, right? Well, so do most gay men. So using the logic of anal sex = gay, blowjob = gay, hmm?

“Waaaaaaaaaaitaminute!,” you might scream. “I like blow jobs, and I’m 100% straight.”

Oh, really? Gay guys like blow jobs too, so by *conventional* wisdom, if you like blow jobs, you clearly *must* be g…

See where I’m going? Pleasure spots aren’t something that’s solely determinate on whether or not you like girls or guys. And your anus has *lots* of pleasure spots.

So what I’d like to do, if nothing else, is to demystify anal self-pleasure for straight guys. That’s not to sound exclusionary to anyone else curious about anal sex. In fact, I hope anyone who reads this post gets something out of it! But there’s an awful lot of psychological baggage involved with straight men and anal play, and it’s to this particular demographic that I’d like to prove to that butt play can indeed be fun and, dare I say it, enjoyable?

So let’s get started!

I personally recommend starting anal experimentation by using a small butt plug. Go to any sex toy website and you’ll see an absolutely bewildering array of anal toys. Different sizes, different materials, different prices. How on Earth are you supposed to choose the *right* toy for your needs?

I’m not gonna lie… you may be in for some trial and error. And truth be told, some websites are better than others in helping you select your first toy. A website I particularly like is Eden Fantasys. They have product reviews, some of which are done by John/Jane Q. Public, while others are done by more frequent reviewers who are vetted by Eden Fantasys. So the likelihood of being influenced by industry shills who are *cough* plugging their own company’s goods are considerably reduced.

I checked toy reviews (on more than one site) and I happened to luck out and get what I consider to be the perfect first-time toy, and I’m going to recommend it to you because I think it’s the perfect starter model: the Little Flirt by Tantus.

The Little Flirt is a butt plug, which is perfect for anal newbies. Upon opening the box, you’ll notice it’s hardly intimidating. Even if you opt for something else, do yourself a favor and ensure that it’s clearly marketed towards novices. You can always “size up” later, but you really want to start out small. Your ass isn’t going anywhere!

The only other recommendation I have for a first-time plug is this: your plug (and pretty much any anal toy, really) needs to have a flared base at the end. This is to avoid embarrassing trips to the ER and awkward conversation along the lines of “Gee, Doc, I was reading this blog post a few hours ago and…”

A flared base prevents your new goodie from having so much fun with your ass that it doesn’t want to leave (think of this as the sex toy equivalent of your derelict in-law that moves in one day and never takes the hint to move out. Only your butt plug is more likely to pay the rent than Cousin Bob). And you may think you can drive, text, smoke, and eat a Whopper at the same time, so why should something as simple as keeping a sex toy from sliding up your ass pose any more of a challenge? I’ll explain it further on in this post. But trust me on this one. And keep your eyes on the damn road already!

In fact, let me explain why you don’t want to cut any corners, and why you need to select a toy that’s safe (and thus generally more on the expensive side). I remember reading in some men’s health magazine years ago (probably… wait for it… Men’s Health) that you should treat your penis like a new Mercedes.

You probably didn’t need to be told that.

But what you *do* need to be told is that, if your dick is a new Mercedes, your ass is your dad’s liquor cabinet, and DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH MAH LIQUOR BOY, CAUSE I GOT A SHOTGUN AND A SHOVEL AND AIN’T NO ONE GONNA MISS YOUR ASS.

I jest, but you really, really do not want to (ahem…) fuck around with the health of your ass. And that means don’t cheap out on your new toy. You want safe. You want the sex toy equivalent of a Volvo, not a Porsche.

You’re also going to want a good quality lube. There are special lubes made just for anal sex that are nice and thick and gloppy. I honestly don’t have a preference for lube. A good one City Girl recommended to me is ForPlay. I use the Gel Plus version, and it’s a great lube for anal play.

Note: some gels contain desensitizers. You may also see separate anal desensitizers. I haven’t used them personally, but from what I hear, you should stay far, far away from them. The logic being that they desensitize a very sensitive, delicate part of your anatomy. To the point where you may end up using more force than is necessary (or wise), when you go to play, only to be in pain (or worse!) later. To put it this way: would you take a painkiller and ask someone to proceed to rack you in the nuts? Damn right you wouldn’t! So don’t do anything equally silly.

What should you do once you get your toy? We’ll get to that in our next post.