Skin Tone Condoms: Everything You Need To Know

From our launch in 2021, Roam has existed to break down stigma about sex and to give everyone the tools to feel confident in the bedroom. Stigma, when left unchallenged, drives misinformation and shame, and translates to health inequality, something we see everyday.

Because of this, we aim to offer everyone inclusive and thoughtfully made products to empower everyone, regardless of your age, sex, gender, sexuality, ethnicity or background.

We have used braille on our packaging, so that those with a visual impairment have less barriers to enjoying sex. We avoid using gender specific terms like ‘she’ and ‘he’ in our products so that everyone, including those who are non-binary, feel comfortable buying sex care. We aim to represent and provide a home for everyone’s voices, touching on topics such as pansexuality, sex positions for plus-size people and vaginal dryness.

We still have a way to go, but we as Roam exist to start making the world a sex-positive and sex-aware place for everyone. It is only by doing this that we break through stigma, challenge long-held beliefs about who should have sex and how, and confront cultural norms that are damaging to a person’s sexual health and sexual wellbeing.

In our many conversations with partners across the globe, we began to hear that there was a gap in what was being offered in the condom market. Traditional condoms are made using natural rubber latex, which has a milky white hue. On some skin tones, this hue is more obvious than on others. We worked with cultural research agency Word On The Curb to look at the ramifications of this and found that skin tone condoms provide a choice that has never existed on the market before now.

Alongside Original Latex, we’ve created condoms in Dark Brown, Medium Brown and Light Brown, so that everyone, no matter what their skin tone, can find the shade that they want. Our skin tone condoms, like our traditional condoms, are ultra-thin, triple tested for maximum strength and they’re pH-balanced, to protect against the vagina’s natural acidity. They’re also made with Regenerative Rubber, which means that they’re sustainably sourced.

As well as providing people with a choice, our hope is that skin tone condoms demonstrate another way to challenge the stigmas that exist about sex and open up new conversations. 

There are many cultural and religious taboos that render sex a difficult and often harmful topic. This can lead to people, particularly from ethnic minority backgrounds, to struggle to relate or understand sex and sexual experiences, whilst they can also feel a lack of support from family members on sexual health and well-being.

“[I grew up in a] Christian house…so even sex before marriage was a massive taboo…you sneak around because you don’t want your mum to know…so it becomes ‘dirty’ automatically.”

“[My parents’ attitude was] why am I gonna talk about something that you shouldn’t be having?”

“…Having condoms in my house is bad. It’s something that I have to hide. It’s like having drugs in my house…”

Skin tone condoms support greater representation of all skin types through educating people about the gaps that exist in sexual healthcare today. We want to see more people represented in the media and in RSE in schools across the UK.

“[I think what’s missing is] black representation…I can’t tell you off the top of my head a black ad in relation to condoms.”

“For me it [sex education] was very much a man and a woman have sex and make a baby…I didn’t have exposure to information about sex [as a gay man], apart from porn and shows like ‘Embarrassing Bodies’”

To make sexual healthcare more accessible for everyone, we’re partnering with leading sexual health charity, Brook, to give a condom back for every condom sold. By providing healthcare that offers everyone a choice, we hope to bridge the gap felt between minority audiences and sex.

“In loads of cultures and countries, there’s not a lot of education around sex…[for me] these condoms are supporting more open discussions on sexual health and condoms…”

“[I’m a primary school teacher and] if these kinds of condoms were brought out [in schools] then people from ethnic backgrounds might feel like sex is normal, it’s fine…”

We appreciate your support with this launch. We hope that by encouraging everyone to join the conversation, we’re starting a movement towards a world where everyone feels comfortable having and talking about sex.

Love and lube,

The Roam Team x