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The design of Xialla: What does it feel like to wear and use?

The design of Xialla: What does it feel like to wear and use?

Why design matters - the importance of form and function

I’m Nigel, the inventor of Xialla. I’m also the designer and engineer responsible for the technical details of Xialla, fit and finish, and how it feels and works. 

Nigel Shaw, inventor of Xialla
I made a video version of this blog.
Click here to watch it.

In this article I discuss the design features that went into Xialla, why those are the way they are and how they make Xialla beautiful, elegant, and comfortable, while at the same time making it function well.

Many customers ask me what Xialla feels like to be worn, and whether it’s comfortable during intimacy. And it's a perfectly normal question because really you're putting kind of a strange object in a very private place. So it's important that it feels not too weird or uncomfortable when it's on, and when you’re having sex.

Also… some guys tell me they're uncomfortable wearing something that their partner might think is kooky or weird. We all have our egos and masculinity at stake here, after all. And we're putting that "out there" by getting help from a  ED product.

Lastly, it's important that whatever you're wearing is something that's not going to make your partner uncomfortable rubbing or pressing against their genitals. 

Many ED rings are quite hard or firm, and some of them have bumps on them and some of them have ridges or little mechanisms for adjustment. Guys ask me often about whether Xialla is like those "other" rings, because they've used those rings and find them quite uncomfortable. Worse, their partners are often uncomfortable. After all, during sex the genitals of you and your partner are in very intimate contact, and whatever comes between them — its texture, bumpiness, smoothness, size — feels extra relevant and important. 

So when I designed Xialla I specifically designed it with elegance, softness and feel in mind. I wanted to make a product that was as beautiful as possible, because I've always felt that, in this particular product category, there has not been a lot of thought given to the beauty and feel of the product. Also, I thought that the comfort of the product in that small area, where men and their partners contact each other so intimately, is of critical importance, and there's not been enough thought or attention given to that.

The Xialla

In considering the material to use for Xialla there were a number of different choices; injection moulded plastic, natural rubber, gum rubber,  latex, metal and silicone. 

I chose silicone for several reasons. 

  • Silicone has no smell or taste.
  • Silicone comes in a wide range of different elasticities (stretch) and durometers (softness and hardness). By adjusting the stretch and softness/hardness we were able to fit a wide range of penis sizes, without being too tight or too loose. 
  • Silicone is hypoallergenic. It’s extremely rare to have an allergic reaction to silicone. 
  • Silicone can be precisely molded to the shape we require for Xialla.

Mold bead blast

Xialla is made by injecting liquid silicone into a mold and heating the silicone to cure it, changing it from a liquid to a stretchy rubbery final product. The mold is made of steel, and after we make the mold, we do a special operation called bead blasting, in which we spray microscopic glass beads at the mold to make tiny indentations in the surface of the mold. This gives the finished product a very silky, smooth feel, and makes it look attractive and translucent. Unlike other silicone products that can feel sticky, Xialla feels very silky and smooth to the touch. 

Xialla is smooth to the touch
Xialla is very silky and smooth to the touch

Coating

After a Xialla comes out of the mold, we coat it with a special teflon-like coating. This makes the Xialla feel even more smooth and silky. 

Fit

Xialla comes in three sizes, Regular fits most guys. For a guy who’s a bit less thick, we have our slender size. And for the guy who’s a bit more girthy, we have our thicker size. There’s a very good chance you can find a size that fits you perfectly and works well. Xialla is meant to be snug, but not so tight as to be uncomfortable. 

Stretchiness

Xialla is very stretchy. It can be stretched to four times its normal size without breaking. The stretchiness is what makes Xialla feel comfortable and makes it fit a range of penis girths and body sizes. You can stretch the ring open wide to insert the penis without worrying about breaking it. You can stretch the Xialla loop wide open to insert the scrotum and testicles, without having to worry about squeezing them through a tight loop. And because of the high stretch component, the band reaches around to virtually all men.

Xialla's stretchiness makes it comfortable

Elliptical cross section

The Xialla ring, loop and band are not circular in cross section, like many rings. Instead they're elliptical. This means they're slightly flattened. If you were to cut a Xialla and look at the end of the cut, you'd see a flattened circle (ellipse). The elliptical shape makes it more comfortable for both you and your partner. It’s less likely to feel annoying or irritating against your partner’s genitals because the profile is lower. And it's less likely to cause discomfort to the penis because the elliptical curve is more gentle.

Cross section of Xialla band
Xialla is elliptical in cross section for comfort
(red outline added for illustration purposes)

Mechanism of action

Xialla is restrained, or pulled back, against the scrotum, so that it’s tucked up as close to the base of the penis shaft as possible. This makes it much less likely to irritate your partner than a ring that moves around. Most of our customers report that their partner doesn’t really notice the Xialla at all. They only notice the benefits.

The adhesive pad

The adhesive pad holds the Xialla in place. I designed it to stick well, but also to be easy to remove. It’s made of two layers of material. The top layer is a very fine Velcro-like loop material. It feels very smooth, not like regular Velcro at all. It feels really nice. The bottom layer is a medical grade, hypo-allergenic adhesive fabric. We bond the two layers together to make the adhesive pad. Guys find the adhesive pad easy to use, comfortable to wear, and works great.

Xialla adhesive pad
The adhesive pad is smooth and feels nice

The band

A lot of guys ask what it feels like to have a stretchy band between your butt cheeks. Well, it tickles a bit and feels just fine. It feels sort of like thong underwear feels to a women. Surprisingly, several customers with prostatectomies have told us the band helps them regain the feeling of ejaculation they lost due to the prostate removal. 

Xialla band
The band between the butt cheeks tickles and feels just fine.

For your partner

Now we come down to perhaps the most important question of all: What does Xialla look like and feel like to your partner? No guy wants their partner to feel awkward or uncomfortable. It’s completely normal to be self-conscious using a new sexual device.

Guys, I can tell you with 100% confidence that the vast majority of our customers’ partners love Xialla. 

When Xialla is worn, it’s almost invisible to your partner. The ring is very close to the body, and it’s small and translucent, so it blends with the body colour. The loop around the scrotum is slender and sits above the testicles, so if your partner strokes your scrotum and testicles, they’ll hardly notice the Xialla. The band is between the butt cheeks, so it’s quite out of sight. And the adhesive pad is on your back, so most of the time your partner won’t see it at all.

Xialla has amazing benefits for your partner. It makes your penis feel longer, thicker and harder to your partner, and they will love that it lets you both make love with less stress, and more emotional connection. 

Summary

It’s natural to wonder how a new product like Xialla looks and feels when it’s worn, and during sex. I designed Xialla with that in mind, and tried to make sure that Xialla is as beautiful as it is functional. Xialla is the result of dozens of small design and engineering decisions that all add up to an elegant product that you and your partner will love. 

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