Would Ginger Oil Work For Figging?
Kinkster Franklin Veaux (you may know him on the web from his famous sex map) tweets:
Question for the Kinkyweb: Was asked about using ginger essential oils instead of ginger root for figging. I’m skeptical; thoughts?
— franklin veaux (@franklinveaux) November 20, 2012
My instant thought was “Sure, why not? It will work (for certain values of work). But I don’t think it would quite be a proper figging.”
All of my experience is with the root. The carved root has bulk and texture that stretches the anal membranes and enhances the effect of the ginger juice on the surface of the root. I’m not convinced that a smooth oily toy (or gloved finger) would feel at all similar.
What’s more, fresh ginger juice is very aromatic and complex. Whatever apothecarian process you use to capture those aromatics and bind them up in oil is likely to be incomplete; you’ll get some of the virtue, but I’d worry you won’t get it all. Will the resulting oil cause warmth and tingling and possibly (depending on concentrations and dosages, something that’s not a worry with the fresh root) pain? Sure. And in its broadest sense, the figging fetish encompasses just about any chemicals people put on their tender bits. But it won’t be the fresh-root sensation that true figging fans have learned to love (and hate).
I’ve not personally tried ginger oil, but I did have some strong “essence of rosemary” oil once that I’d used (a few drops at a time) to scent massage oil. It made my girlfriend smell like a cooking turkey (yum!) (and that’s a whole ‘nother fetish for ya) but it also had a substantial warming effect when the massage got personal, to the point where she was vocalizing and writhing (in a good way). So that essential oil (especially if not diluted in quite so much olive oil) would definitely have been entertaining in a figging-style anal application. Other people have reported very effective sensations with peppermint and cinnamon oil, although I think an appropriate level of dilution is probably called for:
“The one and only time we used the cinnamon oil I thought my clit was going to be seared off. It wasn’t but I have heard of cinnamon oil raising blisters.”
Hot pepper oil, too, is sold on grocery store shelves and has frequently been used in BDSM, although most accounts suggests it’s very intense and cruel, with no way to dial it back when enough fun has been had.
That’s a key feature of figging with ginger root. When you take out a ginger root, the sensation begins to taper off quite rapidly. Not instantly, no, but quite soon. Oils aren’t easy to wash off skin, especially tender skin that’s already quite sore. So when you “fig” with warming oils, you’re signing up for a much longer ride with no quick way to get off. Not a problem if that’s the game you both want to be playing, but not as convenient as regular ginger figging.