UPDATE: The owner of The Butters was found to have been making incredibly vile misogynistic comments on his personal twitter accounts. While I’m leaving my reviews up, I am removing all links I make to The Butters’ products, as well as adding this disclaimer to the top of all of them.
While I have used oil based lubes before, I’ve never actually reviewed one before. But lockdown has- for me- been a time of experimentations and firsts, and that includes trying and reviewing the Palm Grease lube from The Butters.
The Palm Grease lube is an oil based lube made from a few simple ingredients- sustainable sourced palm butter, grapeseed oil, and vitamin e. It is vegan, and although I’m not personally vegan, I play with enough vegans that a lube being vegan friendly is a plus in my book! One thing I really love and want to highlight is that The Butters’ website gives the reasoning behind their ingredient choices, which is something I really appreciate!
For those of you who don’t know the difference between different kinds of lube, I wrote a whole Lube 101 guide a while back, but I’ll also give a tl;dr of the features associated with oil based lubes like Palm Grease. Oil based lubes aren’t compatible with latex barriers like latex condoms, latex gloves, latex internal condoms, and latex dental dams, as they cause these barriers to break. However, they are compatible with nitrile, lambskin, and polyurethane, which are other common materials that barriers are made of. These limitations aren’t an issue for me, as the kinds of sex I was interested in using Palm Grease during didn’t require condoms (internal or external) or dental dams, and I prefer using nitrile gloves over latex gloves for fisting anyway, but if you’d want to use Palm Grease during sex that requires another kind of barrier, this is something to bear in mind.
Aside from the general incompatibilities of oil based lube, the one thing I want to highlight is that the tub shape that Palm Grease is provided in does have the risk of cross contamination. This is an issue that’s easy enough to overcome- don’t double dip without washing your hands- but it is something to be aware of. Another thing to be aware of is that I found during days when temperatures were particularly warm I found the lube had started to melt, in the same way it melts when in contact with the body. This was easily fixable by popping it in the fridge for a bit, but is something to be aware of if you live in a warmer climate.
Palm Grease is specifically made for ‘fist fucking, dick stroking, long play, & other high viscosity needs’ and while you can use it for other kinds of play, I figured trying it out for these specifically gave Palm Grease a chance to shine. My main initial interest in Palm Grease was as a fisting lube- I’ve used Sliquid Sassy for vaginal fisting for a while, but been frustrated at having to continually top up it up. For the same reason, I was also interested in potentially finding a new go-to lube for use with butt plugs, especially ones I wear for longer periods of time. And finally, while it wasn’t one of the things I was initially interested in Palm Grease for, the description give by The Butters made me want to try it with sleeve toys.
As a disclaimer, I haven’t used Palm Grease for vaginal fisting, as I’m not isolating with a partner and not personally interested in bottoming for vaginal fisting (or vaginal play at all, tbh). However, The Butters does provide information on the pH of Palm Grease- it’s pH 4- which is vagina friendly. I can’t speak to the experience of using it vaginally.
One thing I quickly found when using the Palm Grease is that a little goes a long way. The mantra ‘there’s no such thing as too much lube’ has imprinted itself in my brain at this point, and because I’m used to water based lubes I definitely overestimated how much lube was needed the first few times I used Palm Grease. After coming into contact with the body, Palm Grease melts into a transparent and glossy layer over the skin which doesn’t feel gritty at all, unlike some oil based lubes I’ve tried in the past.
I did self-fist anally with Palm Grease, and it was an absolute dream. I didn’t have to reapply lube at all, and my fingers just slid in with no friction at all. I’m so excited about using it for vaginal fisting when I can see my partners again, because the idea of a lube that means I don’t have to pause part way through to reapply lube? Dreamy.
The ‘long lasting’ part of Palm Grease’s description also really shone when I used it for anal play. I sometimes get discomfort when removing a plug after wearing it for a while, and while I could use a silicone lube with my metal toys, I also have silicone plugs that aren’t usable with this kind of lube. It was a definite improvement over water based lubes- I found I didn’t have to reapply lube at all, even for very long sessions. Normally I use a lot of water based lube, which gets messy very quickly. Getting the same results from an oil based lube required a lot less product, and was a lot less messy.
What really surprised me was using Palm Grease with sleeve toys. I hadn’t realised the impact of lube consistency when it comes to sleeve toys before- I’ve generally just stuck to my old reliable Sliquid Sassy. However, having now used Palm Grease as well, I can definitely tell there’s a difference- I feel the texture of a sleeve more intensively and with a little more nuance if I use Palm Grease with it compared to a water based lube.
With all this experimenting, I’ve found my two favourite toys to use Palm Grease with are my Sh! Metal Plug, and my New York Toy Collective Jack.
There is only one real not incredibly positive thing I have to say about The Butters Palm Grease, and that’s I found it to have a smell and aftertaste that I’m not particularly fond of, and I think is the result of the vitamin e. However, I do think it’s worth pointing out I’m particularly sensitive to tastes because I’m autistic, and that I don’t think it’s necessarily something others would notice as much as me- my flatmate couldn’t pick up on any scent when I asked for her opinion.
There are obviously limitations to The Butters’ Palm Grease because of its nature as an oil based lube. But other than these and the fact I wouldn’t personally use Palm Grease for any kind of oral sex, I have no issues with it. In fact, it’s quickly made it to one of the top two spots in my favourite lubes list (I can’t pick an absolute favourite because everything is situational). I haven’t even named the price point yet, which is $6 for 4 ounces! I wholeheartedly recommend Palm Grease, and I am genuinely very tempted to buy myself a full gallon when this tub runs out.
Buy a tub of Palm Grease from The Butters’ website from $6
This product was sent to me by The Butters, in return for a fair and impartial review. No affiliate links were used in this post.
