Going Behind the Scenes of Making Durex Condoms

Durex condoms are among the most popular brand of condoms. Although you may be a fan of Durex condoms, I bet you have no idea how they are made, do you?  Well, come with me as we go behind the scenes and see just what they do to make the Durex condoms that you rely upon!

First, Durex condoms are made with natural latex.  The latex isn’t made at the condom manufacturing plant.  Rather, it is made outside of Durex plant at SSL International, which is the parent company of Durex condoms. 

After the latex is made and passes through the quality control tests of SSL International, it is processed so it can be used to make the condoms.  You might be surprised to learn that latex is actually very similar to milk, which means it can go sour or curdle.  For that reason, preservatives, stabilizers, and vulcanizing agents have t be added to the latex during a process known as compounding.  By compounding, the latex is changed so it will be less likely to cause allergic reactions and so that Durex condoms will be reliable.

Once the compounding process is complete, Durex condoms then go through a process called dipping.  At this stage, the latex is put into tanks that are temperature controlled.  Glass formers are then dipped into the latex so a layer of latex forms on the formers.  The latex is then allowed to dry and then the formers are dipped and dried once more. 

The open ends of these Durex condoms are then rolled while still on the formers.  They then go through an oven in order to vulcanize the latex.  In order to loosen the condoms from the former, they are soaked and then removed with high pressure jets of water.

Once the Durex condoms have been removed, they are allowed to try.  Before being packaged, they then undergo five different quality control tests.  One of these tests involves stretching the condom over a metal former and then zapping it with high voltage.  If any of the film breaks down, even if it is undetectable to the human eye, the condom is rejected. 

All Durex condoms undergo the electricity test.  Samples of each batch also go through the Air Inflation Test.  With this test, the condom is filled with air until it bursts.  According to the manufacturer, the typical condom is capable of holding 40 liters of air before it bursts.  This is equivalent to 9 gallons of water.  You certainly won’t need to worry about having to hold that much in your condom!

Some Durex condoms are also filled with 300ml of water and then they are suspended for three minutes.  After this period of time, they are rolled on blotting paper in order to look for leaks.  If flaws are found, that batch of condoms is tossed out.  Samples are then taken from the Durex condoms that have made it this far and they are tested for thickness and size.  Others are tested for strength and some are artificially aged in order to make sure they will still be effective when their five year product life has expired.

I bet you never knew the manufacturing process was so interesting, did you?