Melanie Cristol, founder and CEO of Lorals, joined Cailin McDuff on the Any Way You Want It podcast to talk about the history of dental dams, embracing taboos, and how her experience with Tourette’s Syndrome helped her take a leap into entrepreneurship and creating Lorals.
Her journey from lawyer to sextech entrepreneur was an unexpected one, with some unique challenges. After a condom company refused to work with Lorals because they were “uncomfortable with the nature of the product,” she said:
“I realized how much stigma exists [about pleasure for women]. It’s helpful to prepare yourself for a lot of ‘no’s, because when you’re an entrepreneur you’re going to hear ‘no’ a lot. And it may be for reasons you disagree with, but sometimes it’s better to accept it, move on, and try something else.”
After leaving her law career, Melanie spent 4 years developing Lorals, perfecting the shape, thinness, and style. Unlike fabric lingerie, designing latex panties like Lorals is more like the production process for condoms and gloves. This means precision is key if you want to get just the right silky texture that cups and curves in all the right places, for the perfect amount of pleasure.
“You can feel all of the sensations of oral sex but the material blocks anything that’s really holding you back from enjoying that experience - so if you’re worried about having someone up close and personal, you can just focus on how it feels and the fact that it feels so good.”
Lorals encourages us to say yes to oral sex more often, even if
- We’re on our period
- We’re uncomfortable with being completely bare or exposed
- We’re more sensitive on our vulva or our partner has facial hair
- We want to try out anal rimming but are worried about poop
- We want to try out latex but don’t want to commit to a full fetish set
Check out Melanie on the Any Way You Want It podcast here!
