"It's a male myth about feminists
that we hate sex.
It can be a natural, zesty enterprise."
- Julianne Moore as Maude Lebowski
in The Big Lebowski
Full Disclosure: This is an unpaid review. Reviewers were each given several sample packets of Zestra for testing purposes. No other compensation was received.
When the call went out for some dried up old biddies like me menopausal women who are too tired to have sex anymore experiencing a reduced sex drive to test drive Zestra Arousal Oils, I immediately threw my hat into the ring.
Zestra doesn't make you mix metaphors, I proudly accomplish that all on my own.
"Pick me! Pick me!" I pleaded. Not only am I menopausal, and a long-time user of anti-depressants, I have been taking prescription pain medication for about a year now to help with chronic back pain.
Anti-depressants, at least the ones that keep me up and walking around, can cause "reduced libido." Like menopause. They are like the anti-Viagra, making THAT little pill kind of a cruel joke for some of us, I imagine.
The pain medication side-effects warning speaks not of "reduced libido," but leaps all the way to "sexual dysfunction," as in, "I KNOW I had a clitoris here, somewhere. Did you check under the couch cushions? Maybe I left it at the library...hmmm."
So you see, I wanted to know if Zestra could help overcome (heh, heh) that last, rather large hurdle. I told Grace, "I still have sex with my husband for his sake, and it's nice enough, but it sure would be nice to want to again."
Alas, dear husband is in the throes of a bacterial bronchitis infection, so I tested Zestra on...a solo run, shall we say?
Application of the product is simple. It's a clear liquid, about the same viscosity as shampoo. The little sample packets tend to be a bit messy, a problem I feel is probably alleviated with dispensing from a normal container. The instructions say to massage the oil into the labia, clitoris, and surrounding area five minutes before commencing sexual activity.
Simple enough, though I imagine that having a partner do the application would make the experience part of the foreplay, and a bit more entertaining than oiling up one's own lady bits.
Once lubed, I went back to the extremely sexy activity of working on a 12X12 Sudoku puzzle. I know! Aren't you turned on just thinking about it? By this point, I decided I wanted to experience only the arousal that Zestra would provide. No dirty pictures for me, or passionate erotica by Anais Nin about the girl, and the artist, and....oh. Pardon me.
So! The Zestra. After a few minutes it started to get warm, or I did, I suppose, I don't think the Zestra changed temperature. And then, that was it, really.
I suspect the pain medication was more than it could handle. The makers of Zestra did clinical trials with women who used SSRI's, Select Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors, the anti-depressants that so many of us benefit from, but at no point do they make claims regarding Zestra and the use of opiate-based pain medication.
I found that Zestra added a warm, pleasant feeling that would be beneficial in a lubricant for me, and I would recommend it on that basis, alone. Someday, I hope to no longer need pain medication for my back, at which point, I hope to be able to experience the Zestra tingle!
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We're having a Zestra Essential Arousal Oils giveaway!
Check out the Zestra website.
Go to this post and leave a comment with a little factoid about Zestra such as -
"Zestra is safe, hormone-free, has no known drug interactions, and works in minutes."
We'll pick a comment by random and send a sample set of Zestra Essential Arousal Oils to the lucky commenter!
"Zestra is safe, hormone-free, has no known drug interactions, and works in minutes."
We'll pick a comment by random and send a sample set of Zestra Essential Arousal Oils to the lucky commenter!
Contest ends January 31, 2010.
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Mary Wyatt lives and writes in Metro Detroit. Her blog, Unmitigated, can be found here. On-line, she selected the screen name Middle-Aged-Woman before it was actually true, a move she now sometimes regrets. She is proud to be a Zestra reviewer for More Women, and she firmly believes that "Blogger" does not begin with "Mommy."
