You know what makes for good head? Looking positively rabid as you give it.
But while we’ve talked about the importance of enthusiasm, eye contact and the effectiveness of the Gluck Gluck 9000, a few adult performers on TikTok are now saying you’ve got to take your blow job to a much wetter level if you want to up your game. “It should be so sloppy to the point where your hands are filthy and you feel disgusted,” creator @babybaezy said in one popular video on the topic.
Feeling disgusted by your spit-level is weird advice, of course — and hardly a prerequisite for good head — but her statement does beg a question: Why are you supposed to transform your mouth into a saliva shower? And does puddles of spit pooling around a dick really make a blow job that much better?
Apparently, it can. In fact, sloppy blow jobs are so beloved that many fellatio-givers have developed specialized hacks to make their mouths produce more spit during head.
@babybaezy’s video was inspired by a since-deleted TikTok from @panochaprivada, a self-identified “corn star” (TikTok’s algorithm-safe word for “porn star”), that explained how she used a special brand of mints in order to produce extra saliva before giving head. The mints in question are called Flintts, a product that’s previously gone viral on the app for its spit-producing properties. Per the Flintts website, the active ingredient in the mints is Spilanthes flower, a plant that belongs to the daisy family and is native to parts of Asia and South America. According to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s site on herbal remedies, Spilanthes is commonly known as “toothache plant” for its reported abilities to aid in oral pain and inflammation. It’s also sometimes recommended for cancer patients experiencing dry mouth.
Meanwhile, Sovereign Syre, a writer, comedian and ex-porn performer, has seen similar saliva-enhancing techniques employed on set. “In porn, we definitely do stuff to make blow jobs look more sloppy,” she tells me. “The sloppiness is more of a function of visual dynamics, though. It’s more interesting to watch a messy blow job that makes noise.” That explains why so many of the blow jobs you see in porn feature long strings of spit connecting a person’s mouth to a dick — simply put, it’s more cinematic than a drier, more contained suck.
To achieve an extra-wet situation, Syre says performers often use things like mouthwashes designed for dry mouth. “Lots of people also fast beforehand and stick to clear liquids like water and light-colored Gatorade,” she continues. “That way, when the suck brings it back up, it looks like regular saliva.”
Still, none of that answers the question why an extra wet mouth is preferred. One theory is that it simply makes people appear more enthusiastic — sloppiness is an attribute of the GG9K method, and is often seen as a sign of eagerness. It’s also a means of enhancing the sensation of a blow job — the slicker everything is, the more comfortably friction can be applied. “Friction without enough lubrication is bad for two surfaces making consistent contact,” Mark, a guy on Twitter, tells me. “I’ll leave it at that.”
That said, there’s a difference between having a wet mouth and the type of gushing, drooling, frothing-of-the-mouth promoted by @babybaezy. As writer and internet hot girl Lauren Milici tells me, that kind of oral deluge is more commonly associated with gagging, a head technique that involves literally choking on a cock. “It’s often paired with tears and makeup everywhere,” she explains.
Messiness, then, is also part of a sloppy blow job’s appeal. “It’s gross, therefore it’s hot,” says adult performer Maya Kendrick. “It shows commitment to the BJ.” Plus, she notes in fake caveman-speak: “Wet feel good.”
Truth be told, gagging — which often involves taking a dick way deeper into your mouth than you would during a normal suck — does produce more saliva, and more saliva does feel good. Thus, some people might see gagging, and therefore extra spit, as part of a more enthusiastic, pleasurable blow job. And while you don’t have to choke on a dick to give good head, it’s easy to see how gargling one — and then frothing at the mouth because of it — could indicate more lust and zeal.
Nonetheless, there’s only some biological connection between salivation and desire. With kissing, the exchange of saliva facilitates the swapping of hormones that, per a 2009 LiveScience article, subconsciously informs us of our partner’s fertility. But greater fertility doesn’t necessarily equate to more saliva production, and there’s little evidence that having a sloppy mouth is a solid indicator of horniness. Even so, there might be a cognitive correlation between wet mouths and vaginal wetness, the latter of which is often accompanied by desire.
Mostly, though, people seem to see extra spit as an indication of closeness with one’s partner. If you’re willing to get filthy with them like that, you probably feel somewhat safe with them. “There’s an intimacy in saliva that I really appreciate,” says Jayson Buford, a music journalist. “We’re sharing fluids. That’s real love, real passion.”
No wonder we’re so obsessed with spitting in each other’s mouths.
Magdalene Taylor
Magdalene Taylor is a staff writer at MEL. She covers internet culture, sex and the online adult industry. She lives in Brooklyn but is from God's Country, Western Massachusetts.
