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When spicing up our sex lives, many go straight for the toy section. But an affordable, small bottle of lube can truly help you have a more exciting and adventurous sexual experience without much effort, sex educator, coach, and founder of Froetic Sexology, Portia Brown, told Insider.

Lubricant (i.e. personal lubricant, sex lube, love oil) is a liquid that increases moisture for solo or partnered sex. "Lube reduces friction and makes it [easier] to achieve orgasm," Brown explained. No, really — studies show lubricant helps folks, especially women, have more pleasurable sex.

Many women don't naturally produce much lubricant, while others experience dryness due to hormones (especially post-menopause), medication, diet, and dehydration, Brown added. LPersonal lubricant has proven to be a great way to combat natural vaginal dryness while making sex less irritating and more comfortable. 

If something as simple as sex lube helps you better enjoy sex and achieving orgasm easier, why not try it? As a sex and relationship writer, I often have a variety of them on my bedside table, including my five favorites I've listed below. At the end of this guide, I've also included insight into the different types of lubes, as well as what to look for in a quality product.

Best overall: Shine Organic by Maude, $25 on Maude Shine Organic by Maude is a water-based lube that comes in lovely packaging for your bedside table, an easy-access pump top, and is compatible with most sex toys.

Best anal lube: Uberlube, $18 on Walmart UberLube is a classic silicone lubricant, the best lube for anal sex, and its pretty enough to sit out on your nightstand.

Best water-based: Pjur Nude Water-based Lubricant, $18 on Babeland The slickest and best water-based lube we tried, Pjur Nude is incredibly long-lasting so you may not have to re-apply until you get the job done.

Best oil-based: Woo Love Oil, $25 on Anthropologie Woo Love Oil has cute, modern packaging and uses a base of coconut oil, which not only lasts a long time as lube but makes your skin feel silky soft.

Best for sensitive skin: Good Clean Love Bio-Nude, $11.99 on Amazon Good Clean Love Bio-Nude is formulated for sensitive skin and backed by scientists, plus widely available at most drugstores.

Shine Organic by Maude is a water-based lube that comes in lovely packaging for your bedside table, an easy-access pump top, and is compatible with most sex toys.

Pros: Comes with multiple dispensing options, super slippery for a water-based lubricant

Cons: May not be compatible with polyisoprene condoms

Maude is a sexual wellness company that values inclusivity and simplicity, and its aloe- and water-based lube is a dream. 

For starters, this personal lubricant is long-lasting since it's water-based. With aloe as its main ingredient, it's also delightfully slippery, not to mention better for your skin than chemical-filled lubricants.

I particularly loved using this brand because the bottle looks good on my nightstand and comes with two cap options: a disk cap for safe travels and a pump for easy access. 

These facts, combined with the fact that Shine Organic is safe to use with sex toys, make it perfect for solo and partnered play. Overall, all these factors make it the best lube we've tried. 

However, one thing to note is aloe often can degrade polyisoprene condoms (usually non-latex ones, like SKYN), so check to make sure your products are compatible. 

UberLube is a classic silicone lubricant, the best lube for anal sex, and it's pretty enough to sit out on your nightstand.

Pros: Super slippery with sexy packaging

Silicone lube is the best lube for anal sex because it doesn't degrade latex condoms (like oil lube) and it doesn't dry out as quickly as water-based lube. 

Among the silicone lubricants we tested and researched, Chicago-based UberLube came out on top. That's because it's lightweight, fragrance-free, and doesn't leave much residue after use. 

The packaging is also beautiful. We particularly love that it has a pump, which makes it way easier to use in the moment. 

If you're looking to take it on the road, there's also a travel-case option, so you're always ready when you're ready.

The slickest and best water-based lube we tried, Pjur Nude is incredibly long-lasting so you may not have to re-apply until you get the job done.

Pros: Long-lasting, great ingredient list, no spermicide

Out of all of the water-based lubes we tried, Pjur Nude lasted the longest before drying and needing reapplication. That alone puts it in the running for the best water-based lube, and its clean ingredient list helped seal the deal. 

Pjur stands for "pure" in Germany, and that intention follows through with Pjur Nude. A family-run personal lubricant company out of Germany, Pjur was actually the first to create and market a silicone lubricant.

Pjur Nude is the company's simplest water-based lubricant with no additional additives. Pjur Nude is pH balanced and neutral to sperm (no spermicide) so if you're looking for a water-based lubricant as you're trying to conceive, this may be a good one to try out. 

Woo Love Oil has cute, modern packaging and uses a base of coconut oil, which not only lasts a long time as lube but makes your skin feel silky soft.

Pros: Great for oral and penetrative play

Cons: Because coconut oil easily goes from liquid to solid depending on the temperature, dispensing the lube requires a bit of finesse.

If you're looking for an oil-based lube that's as natural as can be, look no further than Woo Coconut Love Oil. This personal lubricant is 100% organic and its main ingredient is coconut oil. Because of that, Woo Love Oil soaks into your skin and leaves you feeling super moisturized. 

With vanilla extract and stevia included, Woo isn't overly fragrant or flavored but is still a great, clean, flavored lube option. What's more. Stevia is one of few sweetening ingredients that is non-fermentable — great considering fermentable sweeteners (glucose, sucralose, etc) are more likely to increase the risk of yeast infection in a vulva-owner. 

As a bonus, Woo also comes in individually packaged portions called Quickies, which are great for stashing in your overnight or weekender bag.

Good Clean Love Bio-Nude is formulated for sensitive skin and backed by scientists, plus widely available at most drugstores.

Pros: Tailored for sensitive skin, pH balanced, backed by scientists

Good Clean Love Bio-Nude's main selling point is that it's simple and clean. In a 2014 study looking at the chemicals in personal lubricants in Environmental Health Perspectives, Good Clean Love was one of only two lubes notably more chemically safe than other options on the market. This makes sense, considering Good Clean Love has its own scientific board to verify the formulas. 

This water-based lube is made for both sensitive skin and vulvas, making it one of the best lubricants for women. Vaginas are a temperamental place, and this lubricant takes all of that into account. It is pH balanced, isotonic (meaning it won't strip your natural lubricant away), and is blissfully fragrance-free.

We also love that you can usually find Good Clean Love at drugstores or Target, and it's one of the few drugstore-sold lubes that won't have icky ingredients like parabens or glycerin.

Personal lubricants are categorized by their "base," which is the main ingredient used to make the lube and is typically the first ingredient listed. Different bases have different advantages. Your three options are:

Water-based lube is one of the most versatile personal lubricants available. It works pretty well in almost all situations, is compatible with most sex toys and condoms, and won't stain your sheets. The downside is that water-based lubes tend to not last very long in comparison to other lube types, so they tend to require more re-application. They're also not ideal for sex (solo or partnered) in the shower.

Silicone-based lube is the longest-lasting, slipperiest of all the options. This makes it ideal for solo and partnered sex, but especially for anal sex. Silicone allergies are rare, so these are usually great for sensitive skin, too. The downside of silicone lube is that it cannot be used with silicone toys — even with a condom over top — as the silicone degrades silicone toys. Silicone lube can also stain your sheets.

Oil-based lubes are quite versatile, with many using bases like coconut oil or olive oil which then has the added bonus of leaving your skin feeling soft and moisturized. In addition to sex lubricant, oil-based lubes can double as a massage oil. However, oil-based lube cannot be used with latex condoms, and many cannot be used with polyisoprene condoms (like SKYN) as the oil degrades the materials and can cause condom breakage. They also can leave stains on your sheets, and some are greasy.

Others: There are other, less prominent types of lubricant, like aloe-based (made from aloe vera, not compatible with polyurethane condoms) and flavored lubes, which are typically water-based. It's important to check the ingredient in a flavored lube that provides the flavor/sweetener. Sugar in a lubricant can throw off the precarious balance of yeast in the vagina because yeast feeds off of sugar. This can lead to an infection.

As a sex and relationship writer, I have a lot of time in with various personal lubricants. When testing which options are best for this article, I considered how long each lasted, how easy it was to clean up, and how accessible the lube was in the moment. I also made sure each of the products had the following features of the best lubes:

Lube is short for personal lubricant and is a liquid or gel that helps lower friction during skin-to-skin contact. This can help make sex or masturbation more comfortable, more pleasurable, and less irritating to the skin.

Technically, you can use any liquid or gel that would help to reduce friction as lube, including saliva. But it needs to be skin-safe and non-irritating. Coconut oil and olive oil would work, but we recommend going with clean, branded personal lubricants like those included in this guide, all of which are formulated to be healthy for the skin of your genitals.

The best lube is one that has a short and simple ingredient list, that is compatible with your condoms or sex toys, one that doesn't disrupt the pH balance of a partner with a vulva, and one that is compatible with your needs (long-lasting, non-irritating, etc.) To find out more, read up on what to look for in a personal lubricant above.

Silicone lube will last the longest compared to water-based lube or oil-based lube. That's because, unlike the other bases, your skin doesn't absorb silicone so it stays slippery. However, silicone lube can't be used with silicone toys and will stain your sheets.

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