Anal play shouldn’t hurt. It doesn’t need to be challenging—after you know the rules for safety! Learning how to insert a butt plug is a key first step. Here are 5 tips for making your first anal plug insertion easier, pain-free, and non-damaging!
- Start with a small anal plug, or just a finger. 1 inch diameter or less is best for your first time. Top anal trainer plug sets detailed below!
- Use LUBE on sex toys. Lube, lube, lube. Pure coconut oil (scoop out with a clean spoon, slightly messier), Coconu easy-squeeze tube, and Sliquid Silk are great choices for anal. Here’s more info on safe anal lubes.
- Lubricate your anal trainer plug’s full body, rubbing the lubricant down onto it. Some lube will slide off as you ease the plug’s tip inside your anus. For more pre-lubed slickness when using water-based or hybrid lube, pick up a lubricant applicator & insert its super-slim shaft right before play.
- Don’t rush. Patience! Less than an inch of insertable plug / fingers at a time. Go slow, and stop if you feel pain. Your body will let you know if you’re damaging your butt canal; you just gotta listen.
- Wear the plug for 15–20 minutes max. the first session. Work up from there, to about an hour of comfortable wear. Experienced anal fans may plug for many hours (though they should relubricate at some point). But, when inserting a butt plug for the first time, remember: You’re just learning how to swim, you’re not an Olympic diver yet. Short sessions!
- Never jump up more than 0.3″ diameter (<1″ circumference) between toys. Moving up too big, too fast will be less comfortable, and might hurt your butt. Tears produced by too-fast play will leave you more vulnerable to infection, or hemorrhoids can even result if you’re too extreme (without proper training).
Contents
Top Toys for 1st Anal Insertion
These are our top picks for first-time anal play, after testing hundreds of body-safe & butt-friendly toys over the last 5 years!
#1. Mood Naughty Trainer Kit
Low-stress way to train your butt for penetration.
Pros: Size 1 is very small: easy for the total noob. T-bar base fits in your butt crack easily. (Doesn’t chafe like round bases.) Won’t get over-inserted like jewel plugs may. Slender neck, so the plug won’t pop out once inserted. The most wearable.
Cons: Some folks won’t need the smallest size. And the largest is 1.25 inches max. diameter, whereas 1.5-inches is a more average girth. If you’re a bigger guy / not tight anally, the Silicone Anal Trainer Kit’s better sized for you.
Mood N. Size info: 0.75″, 1″, and 1.25″ max. widths.
#2. Neo Elite small suction cup dildo
All-in-one first dildo; tapers for easy expansion.
Pros: Longer length than a plug (5″). Best size for 1st thrusting anal toy. Suction cup base. Dual-density silicone = soft outside for comfort + firm core for stability.
Cons: Not wearable.
Size info: From 1″ to 1.25″ width (expands from head to lower shaft).
#3. Ripple P-Spot Plugs
3-step trainers with prostate focus!
Pros: Suction cup bases, to rock back & forth on (flat surface needed). Smart sizing, from “small” to “average” as you progress. Textured ripples pop, for more feeling as you insert the plug’s full length. Firm body; tip presses strongly into the prostate. Size large may be used as a dildo (to thrust by hand), too. Prostate stimulation feels so good while jerking off.
Cons: For at-home play, not easy wear.
Size info: 1″, 1.25″, and 1.5″ max. widths.
Safely Flared Bases
The butt plugs and dildo recommended above ⬆️ share 3 traits that make ’em safer for your first anal insertion:
- Flared bases.
- Body-safe material. Silicone is the only softer sex toy material that’s functionally nonporous. Unlike like “jelly” and PVC toys, silicone doesn’t leach chemicals or harbor bacteria & fungus. Other safe anal sex toy materials (if they have flared bases) are glass and quality stainless steel.
- Slow expansion. They all move from a smaller size to start, then get gradually bigger. Which brings me to my last topic, in case you’re thinking: I get it, I get it—Why you keep telling me to go slow?!? Well… ⬇️
Why Anal Stretching Matters
Anal training = stretching slowly, to avoid tearing in the rectal lining. But, when you do go slow, anal stretching is a true thrill: I’ve especially heard this from people with prostates, like my current boyfriend & co-tester.
Starting small for beginner anal play is sooooo much better than taking a normal-sized dick right away.
I know that’s true from experience: My ex-husband and I tried anal sex with no knowledge whatsoever about safety and stretching, a decade ago. It felt odd at first (that’s normal), but then it hurt. He and I weren’t the best at communicating either: also a big no-no for safe anal play with a partner. In only minutes, I went from zero anal experience to a 1.5-inch-wide, flared-headed dick in my ass. I bled from my butt afterward. You’d win some money if you bet we didn’t do anything anal for years after that.
Avoiding that trauma is easy, though; as long as you’re aware.
When inserting your first butt plug, first finger, or first safe sex toy, you just gotta:
Remember to stop immediately if you feel pain! Pain signals are your body sending you a message.
When trying new plugs, or new anal toys, you wanna avoid numbing lubes like Anal-Ese too. That way, you can hear if your body tells you, “No, too much!”
Other Anal Insertion Safety Issues
The more you know: the anal lining is an important barrier. It’s got its own microbiome. Healthy butt bacteria will fight off pathogenic (harmful) bacteria and viruses, too.
Douching might make you feel “cleaner.” But, douching washes out good, protective bacteria.
The butt’s the butt, it may be a little dirty! You do not need to clean it out. Especially avoid douching if you’re having anal sex with any new partner or non-monogamously, since anal douching is tied to increased risk of getting an anal STI (sexually transmitted infection). Viral STIs (HPV, herpes) can’t be cleared from the body by medical treatments, while some bacterial STIs (like gonorrhea) are becoming more antibiotic-resistant and difficult to treat.
Even if it’s just you and your butt toy, it’s better to not douch for health reasons.
It’s also best to steer clear of hyperosmolal water-based and hybrid lubricants that cause damage to the rectum’s epithelium (protective lining). My partner and I now use oil-based lubricant most of the time; or Sliquid Silk isn’t too bad osmotically and has a nice, thicker feel.
RECAP – How to Insert a Butt Plug, Safely
The fundamentals of beginner anal insertion are:
- Go slow. Start small.
- It’s normal for anal insertion to feel odd at first. But it shouldn’t be painful.
- Use a body-safe material only, for first plugs & all anal toys.
- Use a safe lubricant too. Pure oil-based lubes (that don’t contain petroleum products, no Vaseline) are great; silicone lube is fantastic if you’re not using it on silicone toys; while only some water-based and hybrid lubes are well-suited for anal insertion.
- Douching is not required, and can wash away your butt’s good bacteria.
With those basics down, anal stretching should be awesome! Just listen to your body, and pick quality products—and anal penetration will be a fun ride. Butt-plugging is also a fantastic addition to genital stimulation: either clitoral massage or penis stroking. Enjoy!!! 🍑
Yet another awesome Guide for me to refer my customers to!
Thank you!!
Wow! This is the first I’ve heard of no douching!!! (And I thought I had read a lot!) Anything you can recommend (other than just “eat lightly”) for less poop/ better options for those of us with a hiiiiighly sensitive nose?
Right, I’m taking a “very cautious” stance in that anal douching may be less harmful (than vaginal, which will always mess up a microbiome) especially if someone isn’t taking a number of new anal sex partners, but it’s definitely best to not *over*douche (like limit to a couple times a week max., avoid strong spray-jet hoses, and be sure to not irrigate the colon, only the rectum).
I’m not sure that there’s a way to avoid that ass does carry some odor if you have your nose close to the area. For removing butt odor from silicone, that I’ve definitely tested out alternatives; here’s a list of trials, let me know if you have any other options for smell-removal I may have missed!