We’re talking more about female sexuality and pleasure than ever before, but one company still thinks there’s a ‘gratification gap’ in the bedroom, and they’re aiming to close it. Meet Foria, a California-based company that makes products infused with THC and CBD including their raved about CBD lube, Awaken.
CBD is having a moment in the health world. You can now get it in smoothies in Philly, baked goods in New York, and countless online retailers in edible or topical form. But Foria was the first to think about using CBD in a product meant for below the belt. “We were the first company to propose using cannabinoids on the genitals — we’re visionary west coast weirdos, and out here we like to experiment with using plants on all kinds of body parts,” Foria Founder and co-CEO Mathew Gerson told Metro.
Other than a mention on Vanderpump Rules that got people talking, why are the sexual benefits of CBD so overshadowed by the mental health benefits? “Honestly, it’s still so new,” he explained. But “as people learn about the benefits of cannabinoids, they’re starting to hear about the sexual benefits too.” And the two aren’t completely separate.
So how does CBD help in the bedroom?
“Stress is the libido crusher,” Gerson tells me. CBD applied locally through a lube not only boosts circulation, leading to more arousal, but also eases anxiety. (Foria Awaken is formulated with 8 different plants known historically as aphrodisiacs.) That means it works double time to help people find gratification in the bedroom, especially women.
“People with vulvas have much more absorptive tissue than people with penises, so they experience the effects much more,” he explains. “But the effects aren’t just topical,” and there’s also plenty in it for men, even if they absorb less of the CBD from the lube. “There’s the aroma, too, which puts everyone in the mood — and makes ‘oral play’ a lot tastier,” Gerson says of the mint chocolate smell that their customers rave about online. “And everyone loves a great glide. Awaken feels great: silky, not greasy or lotiony.”
The reviews section of the Foria Awaken page is also packed with satisfied customers (pun intended), who rave that it has helped them with more serious conditions. They’ve reported that this product has been able to ease or erase their pain associated sex due to conditions like Lichen Sclerosus and Endometriosis.
But why a lube?
Since there are so many products that can deal you a dose of CBD these days, why is a lube the best solution for boosting your pleasure in the bedroom? Foria makes several CBD-only products, from oils you take sublingually (Basics, Get Centered) to a new vape launching this fall (Flow). Could someone simply take CBD any of these other ways before heading to the bedroom?
“When you inhale CBD it makes you feel better, happier, less stressed,” Gerson explains. “It also calms down your body’s aches and pains, and helps your muscles relax so you’re not too tense. CBD also relaxes blood vessels, which enhances blood flow.” So vaping CBD, like with their Flow product, could be a good option for you before you get to business. “When you rub CBD on your genitals, it does the same stuff, but it mostly happens in your genital area: less pain, more blood flow and relaxation,” he added.
But CBD supplements you swallow aren’t the best option. “Eating CBD does the same thing,” he says, “but slower and for longer, and you need to take more of it.” That’s because ingesting CBD means the compound has to go through your digestive system, a process that can take a while. That works if you’re planning ahead, but isn’t conducive for those spur of the moment sexual encounters.
Awaken is much more than CBD, though, Gerson points out. “We use a blend of plants, all with similar but slightly different effects, for a symphony of effects instead of a solo.” That’s where Awaken pulls ahead of Flow if you’re looking for the best product to get you in the mood.
How CBD helps women outside the bedroom
But don’t think for a second that this company that takes a “pelvis up approach” to CBD is a one-trick pony. While they’re passionate about closing the dreaded ‘gratification gap,’ their products help women outside the bedroom, too. “CBD’s effects on inflammation, muscle cramping, and pain are great for menstruation — whether you eat, vape, or insert it,” Gerson explains. In fact, their products can work together to combat PMS and menstrual symptoms like cramping and pain.
But your plan for a pain-free period might just be combining three of their products. Oral supplements like Foria Basics are “systematic and slower, Gerson explains. So they’re worked into your daily routine and lend a hand with pain constantly. A suppository, like Foria Relief, “is the most concentrated, localized way to treat this pain.” Finally, a vape like Foria Flow is the best for feeling an overall effect quickly.
How Foria itself is different from other CBD companies
But Foria is actively working to expand their product range so that, as Gerson puts it, “folks can choose the form that works best for them.” They admitted to me that they go slow, but that it’s purposeful movement. The goal is to make the best possible anything, to make it useful and effective.
In fact, their research and development process is unique. There’s a bit of back and forth between customer reviews and R&D, and back again. Customer reviews are actively read and actioned upon; they help not only potential customers make better buying decisions but also help the company make products the customers swear by.
It’s this refusal to compromise standards that allows Foria to forge new ground. Awaken works as an under-the-tongue microdose of CBD and Kava, which Gerson tells me is “an all-around mood-booster and tension-tamer.” But don’t think you can do that with any CBD lube on the market. “Most adult products — sex lubes and arousal sprays — are made with gross synthetic ingredients that you shouldn’t even get near your mouth, so we’re in this whole new category of multi-use botanicals,” he explains.
That’s only possible because they believe, and told me vehemently when we talked about their products, that there’s “no reason to compromise on ingredients.” I would say their customers will thank them, but if you check out the product pages, you’ll see that they already are.
