Ode to the C-Ring

You know, for someone who was constantly writing papers and essays in college, you’d think I’d be better at updating my blog regularly. In times like these, when I go weeks between updates, usually that means nothing of note has happened. That’s still true.

I did get back into dilating a little bit though. I was doing a pretty spectacular job at avoiding it, but with the upcoming Botox (it’s next Tuesday, aaahhh!), I figured I should probably figure out whether going off the Elavil had a negative effect or not.

The jury’s still out on that one. Dilating was a bit rougher than usual; while on Elavil, I could eventually get dilator #6 in to the point of being “only a little uncomfortable,” but this time, #6 was putting up a fight. It eventually relented and accepted its position, but it was not happy about it. And when I tried for #7, which previously I’d gotten in a couple times, it wouldn’t even enter at all.

Until I had a little idea… and pulled out my C-ring.

So, C-rings 101: A C-ring is, let’s be honest here, a sex toy. It’s often the texture of a rigid jelly, in the shape of a ring. It can stretch to accomodate a penis (or a dilator) inside it. Men sometimes use C-rings to constrict blood flow to the penis, which apparently is pleasurable for them…? (I really could stand to take Men’s Sexual Anatomy 101. Health classes in high school were woefully lacking in information about the opposite gender. But I digress.)

So what’s so special about C-rings for women? Well, you can buy them attached to a vibrator. This is the one I have, from Pure Romance (NSFW). I may be opening up an uncomfortable can of worms for women here by talking about vibrators, so let me just say this: vibrations massage your muscles, as evidenced by the great number of back massagers out there. And what happens to your muscles when they’re massaged? They relax. So if you insert something into your vagina that vibrates… The vibrations should help relax your muscles, right?

Well, it seems to work decently for me! Mind you, this is no magic cure for vaginismus. Just like one visit to a masseuse isn’t going to cure you of all that muscle tension you carry around from stress, using a vibrator isn’t going to make your vaginismus disappear.

But I can say this: I tried for 5-10 minutes to get dilator #7 in naturally, with no luck. I put #7 inside the C-ring, turned it in, and was able to insert it several inches in just a minute or two, and it was only a little uncomfortable. (Plus, potentially useful but TMI: the vibrations tend to benefit everywhere in the ladypart region, not just the vagina. And it’s a bit easier to relax the vagina when your labia/clitoris/etc. are feeling a bit “relaxed,” too.)

So there you go. Feeling stuck with your dilators? Maybe investing in a nice C-ring might give you a bit of a boost. Plus, it has many other enjoyable uses too.