This is just one part of our Anal Sex Advice & Guide to the Anal Only Lifestyle section. Be sure to read the rest as well to get answers to our most frequently asked questions! New! This guide is also now available as a Kindle ebook!

A common concern with people curious about or preparing to have anal sex is ensuring cleanliness. Most people who try anal can quickly come to appreciate the pleasurable aspects of it, but few like the idea of a potential mess as a result of anal sex. And while it’s always possible things could get a little messy (just as with any sex, really) due to the other functions of the anus and rectum, fortunately it’s pretty easy to minimize your chances.

Be mature about it and understand anal sex won’t always be perfectly clean

It’s good to go into sex with all partners understanding this up front. You’re having anal sex. You might encounter fecal matter at times. It’s not a big deal. If it happens, you can just hop in the shower and clean up. No, it’s not very sexy, but it’s really not a big deal if you don’t make it one. Don’t get upset with or shame each other for it, just laugh it off and move on and you’ll be fine. It’s not going to happen most of the time if you do things right, but just be aware that at some point it probably will. If you can’t deal with that, anal sex might not be for you. If your partner can’t deal with it, they might not be mature enough to be having anal sex with you.

Diet and exercise can play a huge role in clean anal sex

Having a healthy, low-fat, balanced diet with high fiber can have a big impact on cleanliness. Most people with a healthy digestive system don’t have solid fecal matter in their rectum except for right before they need to go to the bathroom, and the rectum is where the majority of anal sex and play takes place. A healthy diet helps with that and also minimizes any residue left behind inside the rectum.

Do note that you don’t want to just suddenly add a ton of fiber to your diet, however, as rapid shifts in fiber intake can have unwanted effects to your digestive routine and cause diarrhea (or in some cases constipation). If you make changes to your diet, do it gradually.

Dietary fiber supplements can help make up for deficiencies in regular diet

Not everyone can easily and consistently maintain a high fiber diet through their regular eating habits, and the use of dietary fiber supplements can help if that’s the case for you. Metamucil is a popular commercial option, though if you are using it once or more daily you can find yourself going through it quite rapidly and it can become a somewhat expensive supplement to maintain the use of regularly.

Buying ingredients in bulk and mixing up your own fiber supplement is a cheap, easy and affordable way to achieve the same goals, and the recipe below (courtesy of a member on the Anal Only Lifestyle Discord server) is one option for doing so. Amazon and other retail outlets sell these ingredients in large bags for bulk purchasing.

• 2 parts ground flax seed
• 1 part lightly ground chia seed
• 1 part psyllium husk

Take a heaping spoonful twice a day, either mixed into water or into a meal.

Anal play and butt plug wear before sex can help with cleanliness

Anal play can have somewhat of an “activating” effect to your digestive process, moving along anything close to the end of the process so that it’s ready to be expelled before having sex. Putting in a butt plug half an hour before sex doesn’t just help significantly with warming up, it also can help to clean you out. Take out the plug before having sex and use the toilet.

A small enema/anal douche can clean up any residue

While deep enemas have their place before certain types of play, they really aren’t necessary for the vast majority of anal play and anal sex most people are taking part in, and in addition to not being healthy to do on a regular basis due to their negative effects on the balance of intestinal flora, they can have other unwanted effects.

What can be safe and effective is to do a small anal douche. Rather than using a large amount of water, you use a small handheld enema bulb or bottle, and use just enough water to fill the rectum (which usually is 6 to 8 inches long at the most), hold it for a moment, and push it back out. Repeat a couple times until the water comes out clean and you’re good to go. It’s always better to use too little water per cycle than to use too much. If you go deeper than the rectum, the water can interact with feces in the sigmoid colon and cause the digestive process to speed up and end up causing a bigger mess than you would have had if you’d done nothing.

Some enema kits come with a solution to add into the water. This is unnecessary, and all you need is warm water. (Cold water is fine as well, but warm water is more comfortable and relaxing. Hot water should typically be avoided as it can be quite painful if too hot.)

Because it sometimes can take a little time for all the water to come back out fully, it’s usually best to do this 30 or more minutes before sex, until you get more comfortable with the process and know how your body will respond to it. Some people who have anal sex regularly and who have a regular digestive routine just get in the process of doing it right after using the toilet each day and they’re done with it and good to go for the rest of the day.

Similarly, until you have more experience with it, it’s advisable to try it on your own first, without the pressure of upcoming anal sex. Give yourself some time to try it, and then some time at home to see how your body reacts afterwards, then 30 minutes to an hour later, try masturbating and see how it worked for you.

Have a suggestion for an additional topic you’d like to see covered here, or a missing or incorrect detail that you’ve found or have concerns about in one of the guides? Please let us know and we’ll do our best to continue improving these guides over time!