Too large for me, but definitely entertaining!

Despite the Smartball's uncomfortably large size, I don't think anything could entertain me as much as jiggling downstairs. Unfortunately, I experience a good bit of pain and urethra-dragging when inserting and removing the ball, and I fear it's too large for my needs. I don't have to use my muscles to hold this in at all, so I've ordered a smaller ball for this purpose. I can continue doing kegels with it inside, and that's always going to add something extra, but the pain is dreadful.
Published:
Pros
Very entertaining!
Cons
Way too large.
Can't always feel the loose ball.
Rating by reviewer:
4
extremely useful review

Use

You are more than likely already educated as to what this is, what it does and how it works. You've probably read all about this Smartball more than once. However, just in case someone happens across my review and doesn't know these things, I will go ahead and include them. Since they have already been said many times or you're already aware, I will try and be brief. If you do already know how it works, what it does, and all that good stuff, you can jump to the more personal place of my review. Since I feel my experience with the Smartball differs from what most other women say, I thought it'd be important to share.

Now, here's where I tell you what the Smartball does and who it is for.

Fun Factory has the Smartball Duo & the Smartball Uno. The difference is that Duo is two balls and Uno is a single ball with a loopy. As you see here, this one I own is Uno.

These "kegel balls" serve the purpose of helping you work your pelvic floor muscles. Most women choose to purchase kegel exercizers in order to "tighten" their vaginas. However, there's a bigger reason for doing kegels, whether it's with a product's help or not. When the vaginal walls are weak, they pose risk for prolapse. This can happen as you age or after a serious injury, childbirth or a surgery such as hysterectomy. Kegel excersizes are done to prevent this from happening. If your walls are strong, there's less chance of your bladder or rectum falling out, which is what prolapse basically is. Cystocele is a condition where your bladder prolapses or slips out of place and eventually, the bladder can begin to protrude from the vagina. Rectocele is where your back vaginal wall becomes weak/too thin and your rectum literally bulges into your vagina. Some women see minor symptoms when rectocele is just in the very first stages. I personally chose to try the Smartball because I had a very minor symptom of rectocele.

Using the Smartball in the very beginning stage of rectocele (or even cystocele, so I read) can possibly prevent it from going further. Exercizing your pelvic floor muscles before you ever have any signs of this type of condition can possibly prevent you from having it in the future. Though nothing is guaranteed of course, but I like to be on top of things.

Whether you have a prolapse condition or just signs of one or nothing at all, every woman still benefits in the long run from doing kegel exercizes, since not only do they prevent those types of conditions, but also other things like bladder leakage. If your pelvic floor muscles are nice & strong, you have less of a chance of ending up with a leaky bladder. I've also read that exercizing these muscles diligently can even "reverse" an already leaky bladder.

Enough of that. I'll shut up. We all get it, kegels are important and we should all do them.

The Smartballs are not exactly a toy, but more of an aid to help you exercize, so I can't say these have any other use besides for a woman's downstairs health. It's nothing you should try to use anally, it doesn't vibrate, and it's not likely to get you to orgasm (although it does rub against my G-spot). It has one purpose, and you're free to use it anywhere you please.

Both the duo balls and the uno ball is worn like a tampon. Simply insert and go. Unless you're like me and have a lot of trouble inserting the large thing, but the point is, it's easy to use.
  • Who / How / What
    [ ? ]
    Who might this product be best for? How is it best used? What are the best circumstances or situations for using this product?
    • Solo
  • Features
    [ ? ]
    What kind of features does this product offer?
    • Travel friendly
  • Body / part areas
    [ ? ]
    What areas on the body can this product be used / what areas does it stimulate best?
    • Kegels

Material / Texture

This single ball is made of plastic and has a very thin silicone coating over it. It isn't fully silicone like some toys are. Given that it's only hard plastic with such a light silicone coat, do not expect it to have any give at all. It's rigid as can be.

The loop used for removing the ball is fully silicone. It's very stretchy and flexible. The ball is turquoise and pink, and the where you see turquoise, that is the silicone coat. The little pink slots you see are hard plastic. One end of the ball has a little finger slot, it's an indention (see photo) that gives your finger something to push with when you're slippery with lubricant. This makes insertion easier. I personally can feel the loop at all times.



The first day I had the Smartball, it had such a faint odor. Nothing bothersome at all, but if I put my nose to it, it was there. It's not pungent or annoying and it disappeared with one soap & water rinse.

Silicone is non-porous, which rates a 10 on EF's safety scale (1-10). The material rating scale here on EF labels these "non-porous," and silicone is non-porous, but the plastic pink parts, I can't be so sure would rate a 10. I suppose since they labeled it a 10 though, they mean the entire ball -- silicone and plastic parts.

This guy is made of food-grade material, is hypo-allergenic, latex & Phthalates free.

Some silicone is sticky and draggy and some is not. While the 100% silicone Matryoshka picks up a enough lint & hair to make your own full-grown kitty, the thin silicone coating over the Smartball doesn't pick up hardly anything. However, it should be cleaned if dropped in the floor because mine will pick up a hair or two when I drop it, but not near as much as a totally silicone toy will.

As for texture, you can clearly see that this ball has grooves all over it, which kind of makes me wonder why they done that. I ain't complaining, but the noticeable raised ridge on the tip makes inserting even more painful for me. The other grooves you see are hardly noticeable when inserting though. I do like the neat look of the turqoise with pink peeking through.
    • Not porous at all

Design / Shape / Size


This may not make a lick of sense, but to me, the ball reminds me of a design on a tennis shoe! It's the way the grooves let the pink peek through I guess. I love the colors.

You have the outer ball, which is the silicone coated plastic and a smaller loose ball that you can feel running around inside there. This is supposed to be what causes your muscles to work, feeling the ball move. The main thing I think it does for me though is feel fun.

The size. Oh boy. I had hunted for a very long time to find a suitable size for me. I don't do well with large sizes. All these years I've known of kegel balls, I've always pictured them to be much smaller. I was watching video reviews before making a decision and good heavens! They're very big. The double balls make me cringe just looking at them. There's no way those would fit inside of me. A penis is different than an object when it comes to putting it in your vagina. I can handle the size of my partner OK on most days, but try inserting an object of similar or even smaller size and it has me beat. I decided to stick with the single ball, and even still I've yet to use it without a good deal of pain. Being somewhat blunt at the end makes it much more painful.

My issue with this is the large size. I wasn't able to find balls smaller until two weeks after I bought it and EF starts carrying mini Luna beads and a dang mini Emigi! Wouldn't you know?

MEASUREMENTS:
*Length: 5"
*Insertable length: 1 3/4"
*Circumference: 4 3/4"
*Diameter: 1 1/2"
*Removal loop: 3 1/2" long

With the removal loop being 3 1/2" long, when wearing short shorts today, I could feel the loop on my thigh. I never wear short-shorts without boyshort panties, so the loop isn't going to come out and join the party, but panties will keep it from trying. However, I normally don't wear undies unless I have to, so the loop will just hang there without rubbing against my crotch. Today, wearing panties with it caused the loop to be pressed against my labia and shifting a certain way made the loop and seam of my jeans pinch the daylights out of my labia. I'm not fond of that.

The loop is long enough that you can hold it out of the way while urinating and it'll stay dry. However, I've peed on it before and it takes the same amount of time to dry it with toilet paper as it does wiping yourself, so it's no bother. Urine is sterile (unless you've an infection, in which case you should clean the ball before & after each use/bathroom visit) & the loop is non-porous, so if it does get something on it, it's not going to kill you. You can simply wipe it dry with toilet paper or hold it out of the stream. You should be fine leaving the ball in place while urinating without anything going wrong.

I haven't heard too many other women say they've had trouble inserting the single Smartball, but some of us do. If you've trouble inserting anything with a blunt-like end, then you may want to give some thought to using this. I don't see anybody not being able to insert this at all, but that's not to say it won't cause pain.

This might be a "TMI" kind of thing, but I think it'll get my point across.
When I am about to insert the ball, holding it right up to my hole there, the width of the ball is even wider than my crotch. It doesn't seem like it'd be possible to get it in there at first. There's bones down there and mine are close together -- I'm narrow. The ball next to my hole is almost so wide that my bones are too close together to fit! I've had this happen, where the object was so much wider than that space that it wouldn't go in, not with bones in the way (Evolved's rose vibrator). So it is possible that others will experience this, but I'm sure there won't be anyone who absolutely cannot use it. It's not monsterous, but I can't understand why it'd need to be so large. It kind of defeats the purpose of the kegel ball.

I don't think this is a product to put into a specific group of "best for" users. It's best for anybody who wants to go a step further with pelvic excersizes. It's also a matter of your size downstairs too. If you're narrow down there, this ball isn't going to be any a great help since like in my case, it isn't actually forcing you to use your muscles to hold it in. That's the purpose of an excersizer ball -- to make you flex those muscles in order to keep it from falling out. Ain't no way in hadees this baby's going anywhere when it's inside me. I spend 10 minutes getting it out for Pete's sake!

However, I've heard people say this is perfect for beginners. I personally had been doing excersizes for years (since early teens) without a product's help, and it's possible that too could be part of why this isn't causing me to use my muscles. If you've never done a kegel, I'd first say you should locate the PC muscles and kegel a little before buying something to help. Then when you feel you're ready, find one that fits your needs. Your needs depend on what your downstairs condition is.

Would I take the cute ball with me to the beach? Absolutely. I plan to take my new Luna beads with me in a couple weeks! For my personal lifestyle, these are suitable for travel. I don't have the worry of others snooping my things or caring if they see it. If someone seeing your ball would bother you though, toss it into a cosmetic bag or somewhere more personal. Or heck, you could just wear it! They surely ain't going to find it there.

As for travelling via plane, I'm sure there are people who know what this is. That's why you'd be better off wearing it. Again, it depends on what you're comfortable with.

I would recommend not putting it where children will find it. It stands out to them! I simply stick mine in my office supply holder (holds pens and the like) at home. I didn't think it'd draw attention since it's just sitting in the holder with a bunch of boring papers and pens, but our 2 year old spotted it from a mile away today when she walked in to see me. "ZOOB! ZOOB!" She was yelling and I couldn't figure out what on earth she was screaming and pointing about. Then she said "I want the zoob!" And I realized that she saw the Smartball and thought it was a dang Zooble! Zoobles are these little kid toys and apparently, they resemble a kegel ball! I had to tell her that it was our dog's chewy ball! Then she wanted us to get it and let him chew it. So I definitely recommend keeping it out of their sight.

Performance

One of the reasons I wanted to try the kegel balls is because other girls describe using them as "a walking orgasm." What? Really? I had to know if this was true. It is very far from the truth for me. It does not give me an orgasm and it'd be very hard for a simple ball to do that. I'm easy too! I can get there from the tiniest stimulation. I also have a wonderfully easy g-spot. It's right there near the opening and the slightest movement can totally narrow my eyes. So I highly doubt this would be orgasm-causing for most women. I've yet to experience much besides a little g-spot grazing. And yes, it does do that.

As soon as the ball is insterted, it presses into my g-spot. It doesn't move though, so it does little for me. And since I'm narrow in there and my insides are very close together (literally), the ball immediately makes me need to urinate, even when I didn't notice the urge to before. This is because it's so large that it presses on my bladder. I don't mind though. A little pee-break never hurt nobody. I notice that I do have to go quicker when wearing the ball, whereas normally I'm able to hold it longer.

The loose ball inside the Smartball is nice. I've been wearing this thing relgiously for two weeks and I am actually wearing it right now. I keep it in every day for anywhere between 6-8 hours. Today I've had it in there warmin' up for about 9 hours at the moment. I can feel it at all times. It's not possible for me to forget it's there, but I'm not bothered by the sensation once it is inside me. Inserting and removing is what causes me so much pain. Hence the reason I have the mini Luna beads on the way. I enjoy using it so much though and I've been determined to see if this thing will truly be able to "enhance" my kegels. I was pretty skeptical about it honestly. I see these "tightener" products all the time and the companies alway say something along the lines of "you wouldn't excersize your arms by moving them up and down, with no weights. Same thing goes for your vagina." I kind of started seeing that maybe a ball would enhance the exercizes, but I can't say that this one causes me to do any more exercizes than I did before. It doesn't make me use my muscles at all. Once it's in there, it's in there! So something smaller would probably do more for me.

Every day when I see the ball sitting there looking pretty I think 'oh my. I dread this!' because it just hurts every time. But I never can resist. It's not like it's so painful I want to scream, but I have to do some serious warming-up and my eyes always pinch shut and my jaws clench until it's slid in. I absolutely love that rumbly movement I feel when wearing it! It entertains me so much. I love when I bend over and stand back up and am like 'woah.'

Besides the fact that this is way too large for me, I do think I've had some benefits from it. Not enough considering the price and pain of this ball, but there's a little change. I think for someone who fits these better, they would see a major change in little time. I only wish so much that they weren't too big for me!

Care and Maintenance

Cleaning just about any toy I own is never much of a hassle to me, but these truly are as easy as it gets. What I've been doing is rinsing with scalding hot water & soap before and after each use.

I've worn this each day since it arrived & I don't take it out until I'm going to shower late at night. I'll just hang it from my shower hanger & add soap, then let the scalding hot water rinse it.

Those grooves all over the ball would make you think it'd require a toothbrush to get everything out, but there's only been one time when it didn't wash totally clean just by being held under running water. That was because I left it sitting out with lubricant on it and didn't wash it right away. It still came perfectly clean, but I had to use my hands to scrub a little.

You can boil this little dude (for a minute or two, not much longer) or simply wash with soap and warm water.

After I've washed it for the night, I just hang it by its loop wherever I feel fit. I've even left it hanging in my shower, but that's because I have a private restroom that nobody else uses. I don't keep it in the storage box because it was a lot bigger than the toy, took up more space and I tossed it instantly. I suppose once my Luna Beads get here, I'll put this in my little cosmetic case & store it away. I will be sad to do it though. It can be put in a small bag and tossed in a toy box with no issue. Just remember to keep it in some type of bag to prevent it from coming in contact with other toys!

Packaging

You may hate me for this, but when this arrived, the last thing on my mind was taking a photo of the packaging before tossing it. So I'm sorry to say I did not get a photo of it. It was a simple thick paper box with all kinds of Teneo Smartball, Fun Factory information on it. There was a small paper insert with such tiny text that my eyes could not read it. Thankfully, I knew what this baby was and where to put it.

Besides the box talking about kegels and such, it was discreet, which I was relieved to see. No trashy nude images to worry about. I was able to toss it right into the garbage without worrying about the kids or anyone seeing harsh text or images jump out and slap them in the face. So for me, it's discreet. It's obvious that there's a pelvic excersizer in the box since there's a clear window showing the ball & information about it, but it's not exactly anything to give grandma a stroke.

The box is as flimsy as a three day old macaroni noodle, so it's not going to hold up for storage & takes up too much space. A plastic bag holding the ball works better.
    • Minimal

Personal comments

Now, you probably wonder if I noticed any difference downstairs yet. My partner says no. I still feel the same amount of tightness as I always have. When I insert a finger, it feels the same as it always has -- I am able to feel all walls touching the finger. It doesn't mean it isn't making giving my pelvic floor muscles the strenght of Hulk though. I think that these do benefit at least a little because when I bear down, the grip feels tighter. When I do a kegel, it feels tighter. I'm not giving up though, even if it's just for that jiggle inside!

There have been days where I've hardly felt the loose ball jiggling. It seems like when the ball is further back, I cannot feel the loose ball jiggle! It usually stays where I put it--at the very entrance though. It shouldn't be inserted any further than that or it's not likely to do much good.

How about those orgasms? I don't know for sure. This could be the whole "placebo effect," but I think it's given me some extra sensation. Our late-night the other night was slightly more intense for me than it normally is, but I don't want to speak too soon. It could've been my mood and the time of month. There are certain times when things feel differently, better. Like a toy may feel 'blah' the rest of the month and that one certain week, it's like heaven. Maybe it was that day for me, but things were noticeably more intense in there. I'll see what Mr. Luna bead has to offer though.

What's got me hooked on these balls for good is the jiggle inside. That's so neat! I heard all of you other ladies say how awesome that rumble is and I can say, it really is something you just have to feel for yourself before you understand. No, it does not give me the orgasm of the century, but I love that weird feeling.

The first time I felt the jiggle of the loose ball rolling around, it startled me. I had it in there and didn't feel a jiggle until a while later when I bent over in my parent's kitchen. I was like 'whoa! What? Diahrrea?' Strange, but the jiggle felt like it happened from my backside! Imagine my relief when I realized what it was.

After that first jiggle, I've not been able to stop moving my hips. I kept rolling my hips around so I could feel the jiggle. It's such a strange feeling. It comes as a surprise because there'll be hours where I move and never feel the jiggle and then suddenly, whoa! It's not intense though, which disappoints me. It seems like the inside of the ball is somewhat padded/thick and doesn't cause a large jiggle when the loose ball rolls, unless my movement is big. I'd say the most movement I've felt from the inner ball is when I'm on my fitness pole. The jumping, climbing and spinning really causes the ball to roll. If anything, it definitely makes you want to move your hips. Or it does me at least. But I am hoping the Luna beads, since they look hard plastic, will give a more intense jiggle.

There are some days where I can just sit down and feel the jiggle. Like today, for about an hour after inserting it, I felt all kinds of jiggly-boom-boom. Even in the car, we were driving down my sister's huge bumpy driveways and talk about some rumble! My lovie kept slamming on the breaks. "I bet that's feelin' good ain't it!" It's really fun though. Maybe I'm just easily entertained by my own crotch, but the jiggle never gets old. I'll probably have to be buried with some kind of kegel balls in there. Too far?

If you do decide you want a kegel ball and are a beginner, I think at this moment, I wouldn't say to stay away from this one, unless you really think it'd be of no use. I think it'll have at least some benefit as long as you remember to do your regular kegels with it in there. If you don't know whether or not you're doing a kegel while the ball is inserted, simply hover over a toilet or something and focus on moving your crotch. Keep a watch on the string. If you're doing the kegel right, you'll see the string/removal loop move upward and back down when you release. You could also hold the loop, slightly tugging on it and focu on moving your crotch. You'll feel a big tug on it when you do a kegel. This is kind of fun to me.

Experience

Lets start with my very first use. Well one word would sum it up: pain! My bottle of Liquid Silk is an inch lower due to daily use of this ball. It's a pain to insert and I absolutely dread taking it out, to the point of leaving it in until it must come out.

I knew it was going to be somewhat large since I'd looked at photos of the ball before ordering. It was the smallest one I could find at the time though. I first held the ball next to my crotch hole to see how this was going to even work. Before trying to rip myself an extra hole, I took a handful of Liquid Silk. Slowly easing this thing in and the dang thing was taking my urethra in with it! It's so big that trying to get it inside means scraping horrifically over my urethra as well. So my pee-hole hurts for a few minutes and once it's safely inside, I'm fine and the pain subsides. Unfortunately though, it hurts every time I insert or remove. It doesn't seem to get much easier as I use it. Some days where it doesn't hurt as badly, but that's not much.

As for removal, this flexible string concerns me. When I try to remove it by pulling the loop, the loop just stretches until it looks/feels as if it'll break. I have to wrap the loop around my fingers and tug. I'm thinking this loop will break at any time because this baby is glued inside. It doesn't want to come out easily.

The first day I used the ball, I experienced some severe cramp-like sensations for a long while until I had to remove it. This could very well be only because I have endometriosis and often have these intense cramp-like sensations already, and when this large ball is inserted, putting pressure on several different organs of mine, it's likely to be due to that and the fact that my organs are close together. I also have a tilted cervix and have had a girl tell me she could not use a kegel ball due to a tilted cervix. Strange because that does not affect the ball at all. In fact, the ball really doesn't go hardly ever touch my cervix, since the ball is only supposed to be inserted at the very entrance. It never really wiggles far enough up to touch my cervix or cause any cervical discomfort. However, I enjoy cervical stimulation a lot (X-orgasm) and that may be something that makes me different than another tilted cervix owner.

I haven't experienced that intense cramp-like sensation from using the ball anymore, but it's too large for me to use around my menstrual cycle since that's the time that I have flare-ups anyways. The ball is much larger than a tampon and I've had trouble with tampons in the past when I'd have a flare-up around my menstrual cycle. Having something in there puts pressure on my other organs and can easily cause those cramps for me, so this will not be usable during those days. Of course if you have a blood flow, you probably won't be using the Smartball yourself, but I don't have that happen, so I could still use mind during my cycle if it wasn't on a painful day.

Unfortunately for me, this is so big around that my walls clamp onto it instead of the ball causing my muscles to flex. I have to make the same effort I do without a product's help. I can definitely feel the ball when I do a kegel, but I do not have to squeeze the muscles to hold it in at all. It's mostly just a ball that jiggles for me. I do love that jiggle though!



I have a photo of the Smartball next to a large marble. Don't laugh, but I had to do this little experiment. I thought 'well, if the kegel ball is too large, what will I find that is small enough to make me use my muscles?' A Harley Davidson marble of course! I couldn't resist.

So here I went removing the Smartball and replacing it with this lovely yellow glass marble! It held in place, but I definitely had to use some muscle more than I ever did with the Smartball. It never felt like it would certainly fall from my vagina, but it was not imbedded into my walls like the Smartball seemed to be. Of course I did not continue to use the marble. Eden so perfectly started carrying the mini Luna beads really recently, so I ordered them. Goodbye, Harley Davidson marble! It's been nice doin' business with ya!

I know looks don't count, but seriously, the Luna beads are not pretty. Smartballs are so lovely, of course I want them nowhere but inside of me, but I'm definitely sad to have to switch to less beautiful balls. My lovie says with a seriously curious look, "does it really matter what they look like?" Hell yes it does. If you're going inside me, you better be lookin' pretty! I'm only joking. If I happened to have a dream come true and Eden has a Smartball that's smaller than this, I'd so buy it, even though I've already spent money on this one and the dang Luna beads. How can you resist turquoise and pink?
This content is the opinion of the submitting contributor and is not endorsed by EdenFantasys.com

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  • Contributor: Jennifer Lynn Keen (Phillips/Persong)
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