BDSM Temperature Play Guide: Why Your Anus Doesn’t Want Peppermint Oil & What Actually Works
- Amanda Sandström Beijer
- Dec 6, 2025
- 3 min read
If you’ve been Googling “menthol BDSM safe?”, “tiger balm anal?”, or “can I put peppermint nose spray in my butt?”, congratulations: you’ve arrived at the only guide that will tell you the truth without babying you. Temperature play can be incredible, but it’s also one of the fastest ways to learn that skin you don’t think about often is actually extremely sensitive and extremely capable of screaming.
1. The Actually Sexy Side of Temperature Play
Temperature play works because your skin is dramatic. Cold heightens touch. Warmth relaxes and dilates. And the contrast is basically a neurological jump-scare in a good way.
But there’s a difference between “cold steel dragged down your thigh” and “my butthole feels like an exorcism.”
The safe, functional, non-apocalyptic tools are boringly straightforward.
Stainless Steel Toys
The gold standard. Chill them in the fridge, not the freezer. They hold cold like a grudge and glide perfectly.
Silicone Toys
Slightly softer impact, slightly gentler cold. Good for beginners or anyone who wants sensation without theatrics.
Ice (Used Like Someone With A Brain)
Ice cubes wrapped in a cloth or used externally. Direct ice-to-anus contact is how micro-tears happen.
Jade Rollers and Skincare Tools
Yes, the same roller that’s supposed to fix your lymphatic drainage. They become decadent, precise cold wands.
Cold Cloths
A classic. Underwhelming, but safe, and sometimes you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
2. Restaurant Supply Stores Are Secret Temperature-Play Edens
Walk into a restaurant supply store and you’re basically walking into a stainless-steel fetish expo. Cooks have known forever what kinksters find out eventually: metal is a gift.
Stainless Steel Portion Scoops
Weighted, cold, smooth. They chill beautifully.
Ice Cream Spades
Not the cutesy scoop — the serious industrial spatula. Incredible for gliding cold across the body.
Steel Mixing Bowls
Fill with ice water. Dip toys. You now have a cold arsenal.
Salt & Pepper Shakers
Shockingly useful for handheld cooling implements. And very easy to explain if someone accidentally finds them.
3. Menthol, Camphor, Peppermint Oil, Tiger Balm, Chili: The List of Things That Will 100% Betray You
Here’s the part you keep hoping someone on Reddit will validate.I won’t.Your holes don’t want aromatherapy.
Menthol Crystals
Absolutely not. They are wildly concentrated and belong nowhere near mucous membranes. Even diluted, they can cause burning, nerve irritation, and chemical trauma.
Camphor
Camphor is great for grandmothers and terrible for genitals. Irritating, burning, potentially neurotoxic. Hard pass.
Peppermint Essential Oil
This is the nuclear option. One drop diluted in a tablespoon of carrier oil can still cause chemical burns. Genitals and anus have no protective barrier against this. Never.
Tiger Balm
This is menthol + camphor + bonus spice. If you want to roleplay “doctor says I need a cold compress and antibiotics,” sure. Otherwise no.
Chili Flakes or Anything Capsaicin-Based
Congratulations: you’ve invented your own personal war crime. Absolutely not.
Peppermint Nose Spray
You’ll destroy your mucous membranes. The alcohol and essential oils alone are enough to cause intense burning and possible tissue damage. There is no fantasy hot enough to justify this.
4. What You Can Actually Use For Warming
There is warming that feels like “slow, decadent heat,” and then there is warming that feels like “my soul is leaving my body.” Aim for the first.
Warming Lubes Made for Genitals
Look for ingredients like vanillyl butyl ether or ginger derivatives. These offer warmth without trauma.
Warm Water–Heated Toys
Think bathwater temperature. Not coffee. Not kettle.
5. Safe Cooling Products
Cooling doesn’t require you to break into a chemistry lab. And cooling done right is actually more thrilling than any essential-oil fever dream.
Cooling Lubes (Genital-Safe Only)
Look for menthyl lactate — the gentle, adult version of menthol.
Cooling Sprays Labeled for Genitals
They exist, they work, and they don’t destroy your skin barrier.
6. The Rule That Will Save Your Night (and your butthole)
If a product was not explicitly manufactured for:
– genitals– anus– mucous membranes
– it does not belong inside, near, around, or in the vague emotional proximity of those areas.Nature does not mean safe. “Feels cool on the finger” does not mean “feels cool internally.” And your body does not care about your curiosity when it’s in fight-or-flight.
