Fleshlight Fleshlube Water 100 ml: review

Fleshlight Fleshlube Water 100 ml in brief

Fleshlube Water is Fleshlights’ own water-based lubricant, and this review applies exclusively to the European 100 ml bottle with EAN 8428508034716. In our data, this bottle is sold by Fleshlight EU.

The product has an obvious audience: Fleshlight states on its FAQ page that the company’s sleeves should only be used with water-based lubricants, because other types can damage the sleeve over time, and it recommends its own brand first. So in practice, Fleshlube Water is the accessory for a masturbator. But it’s also a water-based lubricant among others, and then it should be evaluated as such: based on ingredients, on what the manufacturer publishes about pH and osmolality, on compatibility with condoms and toys, and on price per milliliter.

The short summary is that the manufacturer publishes a complete ingredient list for the 100 ml bottle but neither pH, osmolality, condom compatibility, nor any CE marking. The longer summary is more interesting: under the name Fleshlube Water, at least four different ingredient lists circulate, and none of the stores that publish a list reproduce it as the manufacturer states for this particular bottle.

Which Fleshlube Water is this? EAN, volume, and manufacturer

Fleshlight has two shops with different selections. The American one, fleshlight.com, sells Fleshlube Water in 4, 8 and 16 oz with the barcodes 810476013165, 810476013172 and 810476013158, for 11.95, 21.95 and 27.95 dollars. There is no 100 ml bottle there. The European one, fleshlight.eu, is owned according to its legal notice by Fleshlight International, S.L. with its registered office in Dos Hermanas outside Sevilla, and it is there that the 100 ml bottle is: the product data for “Fleshlube Water (100 ml)” has the item number 8428508034716 — exactly the same number that this review applies to. The price there is 11.95 euro.

The European shop also sells a 250 ml bottle with item number 8428508034709 for 21.95 euro, and a 500 ml bottle with the number 810476010478 for 27.95 euro. The last number belongs to the same number series as the American bottles, and that is no coincidence — as the next section shows, the 500 ml bottle also has the American ingredient list and the information “Proudly made in the USA”.

Across the product pages, EAN 8428508034716 is confirmed on multiple listings. Other sellers do not publish an EAN but explicitly sell 100 ml. All the retailers included sell the same variant, and none had to be removed from the price table. One of the retailers also publishes its own number for a 30 ml bottle, 8428508034730, which the manufacturer’s European shop does not list.

A detail about the pictures deserves to be mentioned. The manufacturer’s own product page for the 100 ml bottle shows a bottle whose label states 4 FL OZ / 118 mL, i.e. the American size. Another shop’s product photo, on the other hand, shows a bottle with a different label, marked 3.38 FL OZ / 100 mL, and with the Spanish text “Lubricante personal”. That image is the one used at the top of this page. A third shop’s product image, in turn, shows a bottle labeled 8.45 FL OZ, which corresponds to 250 ml. Three shops, three labels — same EAN.

Four ingredient lists under the same name

The most important finding in the review is that Fleshlube Water is not a single formula. This is how the published lists look:

• Manufacturer’s EU list for 100 and 250 ml: aqua, glycerin, methylpropanediol, hydroxyethylcellulose, caprylyl glycol, phenylpropanol, butylene glycol, tromethamine and lonicera japonica flower extract.
• Manufacturer’s American list for 4, 8 and 16 oz: water (aqua), propanediol, gluconolactone, hydroxyethylcellulose, sodium benzoate and citric acid.
• Manufacturer’s list for 500 ml on the EU page: water, propylene glycol, glycerin, tocopheryl acetate, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, cellulose gum, hydroxyethylcellulose, tetrasodium EDTA, citric acid, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate.
• Both shops' list: aqua, propylene glycol, glycerin, hydroxyethylcellulose, xanthan gum, diazolidinyl urea, sodium benzoate, disodium EDTA, potassium sorbate, citric acid, aloe barbadensis leaf juice powder, sodium acetate, isopropyl alcohol and cellulose.

One shop gives the 500 ml list, and another shop publishes an additional variant with phenoxyethanol and ethylhexylglycerin. What can be established is that no store that publishes an ingredient list reproduces the list the manufacturer provides for the 100 ml bottle. The manufacturer’s own statement applies, and it is the one that is assessed below. But the person who has a known contact allergy should read the label on the bottle that is actually delivered, not the store text.

Ingredients: what the INCI list for the 100 ml bottle contains

The manufacturer’s list for the European bottle has nine components. Water is the base and comes first. Next comes glycerin, followed by a whole series of substances from the same family: methylpropanediol, caprylyl glycol and butylene glycol are all glycols, meaning moisture-binding alcohols. Hydroxyethylcellulose is the cellulose-based thickening agent that gives the gel its body; it is found in all four lists and in Pjur Aqua as well. Tromethamine is used to adjust pH, phenylpropanol is an aromatic alcohol, and Lonicera japonica flower extract is an extract of Japanese honeysuckle.

The manufacturer does not publish how much of each substance the bottle contains. For cosmetic products, the EU’s Cosmetics Regulation states that the ingredients must be listed in descending order by weight, and that components under 1 percent may be listed in any order after the other ingredients. If the list follows that principle, it means that glycerin is the largest ingredient after water — but the regulation does not specify how large the percentage is, and a lubricant can just as well be regulated as a medical device, where the same labeling rule does not automatically apply.

Glycerin and glycols — and why they control osmolality

For a water-based lubricant, the glycerin and glycol content is not a detail. Advice from WHO, UNFPA and FHI360 about lubricants from 2012 states that the main factor behind the osmolality in most lubricants is the concentration of glycols, which are added as humectants. Glycerol and propylene glycol are the most common. To keep the osmolality below 1,200 mOsm/kg, according to the advice, the glycerol content should not exceed 9.9 weight percent and the propylene glycol content should not exceed 8.3 weight percent, and when combining glycols, the total content should be kept below roughly 8.3 percent.

Fleshlube Waters European formula contains glycerin plus three glycols. It says nothing about the actual osmolality, because the concentrations are not published—but it indicates where the question should be asked. A formula with four humectant ingredients is exactly the type of product where osmolality is determined by the concentrations, and where the manufacturer’s silence therefore weighs more than it does for a formula with no glycols at all.

The fact box also states “Contains Glycerine,” which matches the manufacturer’s EU list. That does not hold for the American formula—there is propanediol but no glycerin.

Preservatives and parabens

The manufacturer lists “Paraben-free” for the 100 ml bottle, and no parabens compound is included in the published ingredient list. Nor is any classic preservative such as sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate found on the EU list—instead, caprylyl glycol and phenylpropanol are present. The function that the manufacturer assigns to each substance is not published.

There is an obvious contradiction in the retail listings. One retailer’s fact box states “Contains Paraben”, while the manufacturer states that it is paraben-free, and other retailers say that the product is free from parabens. None of the four ingredient lists contains any paraben. The retailer’s listing is therefore at odds with all the other sources, and the manufacturer’s claim applies.

However, retail listings include an ingredient worth knowing about: diazolidinylurea. According to the patient information from Hudkliniken in Malmö, it is a preservative that releases formaldehyde, which means that people with contact allergies to formaldehyde may react to products that contain it. The ingredient is not on the manufacturer’s list for the 100 ml bottle. But the fact that multiple retailers publish it for the same product is a concrete reason to check the label if formaldehyde allergy is relevant. In our data, this product is sold by Fleshlight EU in the EU/EEA market.

What the stores claim—and why it doesn’t add up

The pattern can be explained. One retailer’s list is word for word identical to what the manufacturer publishes for the 500 ml bottle, i.e., the American formula. Two other retailers’ lists—with xanthan gum, diazolidinylurea, and isopropyl alcohol—match no list that the manufacturer publishes today. Another retailer’s list also does not match any. The reasonable explanation is that the stores obtained their text from different supplier-side sources at different times, and that Fleshlight has changed its formula more than once—both the American and the European lists differ clearly from the 500 ml list.

The stores also disagree about skin testing. The manufacturer writes “Dermatologically formulated,” meaning that the product is formulated with skin in mind. Some retailers write “dermatologically tested.” Those are two different claims, and the weaker one is the one coming from the manufacturer.

pH and osmolality: the manufacturer does not publish them

Fleshlight does not publish either a pH value or osmolality for Fleshlube Water — not for the 100 ml bottle, not for any other size, and not in either of the two stores. None of the eight stores publishes either of the values. These are the two figures that say the most about how a lubricant relates to mucous membranes, and for a product marketed as “gentle on sensitive skin,” the absence is worth noting.

It should be said that Fleshlight is not alone in this. Osmolality is a value that very few manufacturers publish, and pH is often missing. But that means that two of the five criteria in the rating — mucous membrane friendliness and partially ingredients — must be assessed based on the ingredient list and not based on published measurement values from the manufacturer.

What WHO advice says about pH and osmolality

The reference most often used to assess lubricants is the 2012 advice from WHO, UNFPA, and FHI360 on lubricants used with condoms. It is written for procurement for health programs, not for individual consumers, but the values are the same.

Regarding osmolality, the guidance states that vaginal secretions normally lie at 260–290 mOsm/kg, that a lubricant preferably should not exceed 380 mOsm/kg to minimize the risk of damage to the epithelium, and that 1,200 mOsm/kg is recommended as a temporary upper limit because most commercial lubricants are at 2,000–6,000 mOsm/kg. The guidance also points out that high osmolality may be more significant for anal use.

Regarding pH, the guidance states that a lubricant for vaginal use preferably should be around pH 4.5, that a lubricant for anal use, or where the use cannot be determined, should be 5.5–7, and that lubricants with a pH above 7 are not recommended. For Fleshlube Water, this last case is the relevant one: the product is marketed for both masturbation and intercourse, and the use therefore cannot be determined in advance.

What this means in practice is that Fleshlube Water cannot be placed on that scale. It is not possible to say that the product is too high, and it is not possible to say that it is correct. What can be said is that the formula contains glycerin and three glycols, which are the substances WHO highlights as crucial for osmolality, and that the list includes tromethamine, a substance used to regulate pH — to which value is not published.

Is Fleshlube Water a medical device?

According to the WHO advice, lubricants in Europe are classified as medical devices in class I or IIa depending on what the manufacturer claims about the product. Class I can be marketed on the basis of the manufacturer’s own declaration of conformity, while class IIa requires review by a notified body.

The signs on fleshlight.eu point in that direction without saying it outright. The product’s address ends in “-md”, and the product data has the tag “collection::MD”—the same tag that the Fleshlight Wash cleaning spray (100 ml) MD has. However, no CE marking, risk class, or notified body is stated on the product page, and none of the shops mention anything either. The American page says the product is made of “medical grade ingredients”, which is a description of the raw materials and not a classification of the product.

The manufacturer also calls Fleshlube Water “our patented lubricant” on the EU side. Fleshlight’s own patents page lists patents in the USA, Australia, Canada, Russia, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, and China—all for a method to create a copy of an anatomical structure. There is no patent in the list that applies to lubricants.

Compatibility: Fleshlight sleeves, condoms, and silicone sex toys

The only compatibility claim the manufacturer makes is the one that relates to the main product: Fleshlight’s sleeves are to be used with water-based lubricants, and Fleshlube is, according to the Lube & Care page, ideally suited for the material Real Feel SuperSkin. The FAQ page describes the sleeve material as a mineral-based polymer made with white mineral oil of food-grade quality, and it warns that other types of lubricant can damage the sleeve over time. Fleshlube Water is water-based and therefore meets the manufacturer’s own requirement.

Can you use Fleshlube Water with a condom?

Fleshlight doesn’t say anything about condom compatibility for Fleshlube Water. The only thing the FAQ page says about condoms is that a condom can be used in a Fleshlight as long as it’s only lubricated with a water-based lubricant—so it’s about the sleeve, not about the lubricant itself.

The shops fill the gap. One shop lists “Condom-safe” in its info box, another writes that the product works with condoms, and another says that it works great together with condoms. These are shop statements. General knowledge supports them for latex: the WHO guidance states that water- and glycol-based lubricants are generally considered compatible with natural rubber latex and therefore safe to use with latex condoms. The guidance also notes that polyisoprene is just as sensitive to oil-based lubricants as latex, which isn’t relevant for a water-based lubricant.

The difference compared with a manufacturer that actually publishes the information is still clear. Pjur explicitly states for Pjur Aqua that the product is compatible with latex and polyisoprene condoms. Fleshlight does not. So anyone using the lubricant with a condom relies on a general rule and on shop text, not on a commitment from the manufacturer.

Does Fleshlube Water work with silicone sex toys?

The manufacturer says nothing specifically about silicone sex toys. One retailer states that the product is safe for silicone, latex, and for use directly on the skin, and another retailer states that it is compatible with all toy materials—both store claims. The underlying rule is that silicone-based lubricants can attack silicone sex toys; a water-based lubricant like Fleshlube Water does not fall into that category. Fleshlights’ own sleeve material is not silicone, and that is the material the manufacturer’s instructions are about.

Packaging, cleaning, and shelf life

The manufacturer does not publish any measurements, any type of packaging, or any instructions for use beyond “Easy to clean.” The product images, both from the manufacturer and from the stores, show a transparent round plastic bottle with a transparent lid. One store describes the consistency as “light-flowing,” which is a store claim. Another store lists the weight as 139 grams. The manufacturer’s product data for the 100 ml bottle lists 227 grams in its weight field. None of the information says whether the outer carton is included, and the difference between them is not explained.

Cleaning is easiest with a water-based lubricant, and that is what the manufacturer states: easy to clean. One store writes that it is removed with water, and another store states that it is washed off from skin, toys, and textiles. For a Fleshlight sleeve, this is a practical advantage, since the sleeve is still meant to be rinsed with water after use.

The manufacturer does not publish shelf life after opening, and no store indicates any PAO symbol. Under the EU’s Cosmetics Regulation, a cosmetic product with a shelf life longer than 30 months must be labeled with how long it can be used after opening, with the PAO symbol followed by a time in months. If the bottle bears such a symbol, it cannot be read from the published images. A shop advises storing the bottle cool and dark, screwing on the lid after use, and checking the best-before date—everything are store claims. The country of manufacture for the 100 ml bottle is not published by the manufacturer either; “Proudly made in the USA” is printed only on the US sizes and on the 500 ml bottle.

Fleshlube Water compared with other water-based lubricants

Fleshlube Water competes on two fronts: against Fleshlights’ own larger bottles and against ordinary water-based lubricants from other manufacturers. In this market, it’s sold by Fleshlight EU.

Versus Pjur Aqua (100 ml)

Pjur Aqua is the most direct comparison: same volume and same base.

The difference lies in what the manufacturers publish. Pjur states the ingredient list—Aqua, Glycerin, Ethoxydiglycol, Phenoxyethanol, Hydroxypropyl Guar, Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Hydroxyethylcellulose, and Citric Acid—and explicitly comments on compatibility with latex and polyisoprene condoms. Pjur also states that the product is made without fragrance and added flavors. Fleshlight publishes an ingredient list but no condom compatibility. Neither of the two manufacturers publishes pH or osmolality on the product page. Both formulas have glycerin right after water, plus at least one glycol compound.

At the same price, then, Pjur Aqua is the better-documented choice at the only point where they differ. The advantage of Fleshlube Waters is that it’s Fleshlight’s own brand—relevant for anyone who wants to follow the sleeve manufacturer’s recommendation to the letter.

Against EasyGlide Waterbased Lubricant 150 ml

EasyGlide Waterbased Lubricant is sold in 150 ml. Compared with Fleshlube Water, that’s a larger bottle. Joydivision Aquaglide Neutral is sold in 200 ml, while Swede Original Woman Sensitive comes in 120 ml.

That means Fleshlube Water lands in the middle of the field for price per milliliter in the 100 ml size, but clearly more expensive than the cheapest big bottles. Anyone who’s just looking for a water-based lubricant for a Fleshlight can choose any water-based lubricant according to the manufacturer’s own FAQ; the brand is a recommendation, not a requirement.

100, 250, or 500 ml—what size is worth it?

At Fleshlight’s European store, 100 ml costs 11.95 euros, 250 ml costs 21.95 euros, and 500 ml costs 27.95 euros. Per 100 ml, that’s 11.95, 8.78, and 5.59 euros, respectively—so the 500 ml bottle is less than half the price per milliliter compared with 100 ml. The same pricing tiers exist in the USA: 11.95, 21.95, and 27.95 dollars for 4, 8, and 16 oz.

But the sizes are not the same product. 100 and 250 ml have the same European ingredient list, while the 500 ml bottle has the older list with propylene glycol, aloe vera, vitamin E, and potassium sorbate, and it’s labeled “Proudly made in the USA.” So if someone buys 500 ml to get a lower price per milliliter, they’re switching formula along with the purchase. The 250 ml bottle is the only one that gives a lower price per milliliter with the same recipe.

In this market, the product is sold by Fleshlight EU.

In this market, Fleshlight EU sells Fleshlube Water 100 ml with EAN 8428508034716.

In this market, Fleshlight EU sells Fleshlube Water 100 ml.

In this market, Fleshlight EU sells Fleshlube Water 100 ml. The manufacturer’s own price in the European shop is 11.95 euro.

Shipping can play a major role for a purchase. In this market, it’s sold by Fleshlight EU.

When the shops contradict the manufacturer

A review of the eight shop pages produced more contradictions than for most products, and they’re about things the buyer actually cares about.

Ingredients. Four different lists occur — the manufacturer’s EU list, the 500 ml list, the list with diazolidinylurea, and the list with phenoxyethanol. No product description reproduces the manufacturer’s list for the 100 ml bottle.

Parabens. The product description states “Contains Paraben.” The manufacturer states that it is paraben-free, and no list contains any paraben.

Skin testing. The manufacturer writes “dermatologically formulated”; other retailers state “dermatologically tested.”

The bottle in the picture. One retailer’s product image shows a bottle labeled 8.45 FL OZ (i.e. 250 ml) on a page that sells 100 ml. The manufacturer’s own 100 ml page shows a bottle labeled 118 mL.

None of these contradictions means that any shop sells the wrong product — the EAN number matches where it is published. But they mean that the shop text is a worse source than the manufacturer’s product page, and that it’s the label on the delivered bottle that applies.

Who is Fleshlube Water for—and who isn’t it for?

It’s for you if you own a Fleshlight and want to use the manufacturer’s own lubricant. It’s water-based, which is what Fleshlight requires for its sleeves. It’s also for you if you want a published, complete ingredient list without parabens.

It’s a poorer fit if you want documented mucous-membrane friendliness. pH and osmolality are not published, and the formula contains glycerin and three glycols. It’s a poorer fit if you want an explicit promise about condom compatibility — that only appears in shop texts. And it doesn’t fit you if you have a known contact allergy and want to be able to rely on the shop’s ingredient list: here, it’s the bottle’s label that applies.

Anyone who buys lubricant in larger quantities gets a lower price per milliliter in the 250 ml bottle with the same formula, or from competitors such as EasyGlide. A water-based lubricant from another brand meets Fleshlight’s requirements just as well.

Complaint, right of withdrawal, and the hygiene exception

No manufacturer’s warranty states anything for Fleshlight Fleshlube Water, and that’s normal for consumables. What applies are your statutory rights. In the EU, the seller is liable for defects that exist at delivery and appear within at least 2 years (the legal guarantee)—for example, a leaking bottle or a cap that can’t be closed at delivery.

In the EU and EEA, consumers buying online generally have a fourteen-day right of withdrawal, starting when the goods are received. There is an important exception for lubricants: sealed goods that are not suitable for return for health or hygiene reasons are exempt from the right of withdrawal once unsealed. An opened bottle of lubricant typically falls within that description.

Some shops offer more than the legal requirements. For opened hygiene products, what’s covered depends on the shop’s terms—read them before you buy, not after.