We hear from two different young men, both from the UK incidentally, who have a similar problem.

Name: Ste
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Location: UK
I haven’t got a really tight foreskin and can fully retract it when my cock is soft. However, when my cock is hard I can pull the foreskin back over the head but struggle to slide it back and forth so when I masturbate, I do so by keeping my foreskin mostly over the head! I’m a virgin and in a new relationship, will this cause me problems for intercourse???

Name: Mat
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Location: UK
My boyfriend and I both have dicks with foreskin. He can pull his all the way back until it rolls off the head and stays that way. No matter how hard I tug, mine wont retract off the head, so as soon as I let go it rolls back into place

Let’s start at beginning, shall we? When us boys are born we all have a foreskin. A good portion of us will have our unit seriously altered within days of showing up on the scene. Someone, possibly someone with good intentions, will lops off 50% of our cock skin and call it a day. I know, cuckoo, huh? Well be that as it may, those of us who escape this dastardly act have a foreskin, but it’s only open enough to pee through. And it only opens more if it’s stretched, and it only gets stretched if the owner of said foreskin pulls it back over his dickhead. No foreskin ever opens by itself; it gradually gets stretched open over time either intentionally or just through normal use.

Most little boys soon discover that pulling back their foreskin feels really good. After all, this unique piece of skin is chock full of nerve endings that register loads of delicious pleasure. A lad’s foreskin needs to be pulled back regularly, in order to stretch it open, and to keep it from shrinking shut again. It is important that the boy do this himself, so that it is pushed only as far back as feels comfortable to him.

Of course, there in lies the rub, so to speak. The sex-negative pressures of the prevailing culture, both here in the good old U.S. of A. as well as abroad, frown upon self-induced pleasure of any sort, even if it is associated with personal hygiene and necessary bodily upkeep. And so most boys get the message that fiddlin’ around down there, even for the purpose of essential maintenance is a no-no. Simply put, without manual stretching a kid’s skin can actually shrink, closing up again.

As the young fella approaches puberty there is, as we all know, a growth spurt. What most of us fail to take into account is that along with his legs, arms, torso, head and feet, his cock is also growing. His dickhead is increasing in size, and if the kid hasn’t established a healthy routine of foreskin stretching there is gonna be trouble. Witness my two correspondents!

Since parents are not likely to encourage self-discovery of this sort, nor are they inclined to show their young sons how to properly care for this exceptional body part, the kid remains clueless till a problem arises. Wouldn’t it be so much simpler, as well as the responsible thing to do, for all parents with uncut boys to pass on this priceless nugget of wisdom. It would be so easy to do while their kids are enjoying their bath. Parents could show their boys how to retract this fold of skin so that it stays supple, as well as getting things rinsed out underneath. They could encourage their boys to always pull back their lace curtains when they pee. This will automatically keep things more lubricated and elastic, merely by the number of times a fella will handle himself to piss.

Ok, I’m gonna guess that neither of you, Ste or Mat, were instructed on the proper care of your natural cock. Am I right? So now we have some remedial work to do. Let’s start with a few foreskin stretching exercises.

Exercise 1 — While you’re dick is soft; retract your foreskin as far back as you can. Work two fingers in under your hood till you can touch the head of your dick. Now attempt to roll your hood forward and over your fingers. It’s like docking another dick, only you’re using your fingers. This exercise depends on you having your fingers inside your foreskin for it to be effective. In time you’ll be able to add three fingers, instead of just two. This will stretch your skin to the point you’ll be able to easily retract it over your erect dickhead.

Exercise 2 — Grab each side of the foreskin opening and gently pull each side apart. Stretch the opening till it’s stretched with a tension you can tolerate, but that is not actually painful. Hold for a count of 10 and release. Repeat for 5 sets of 10 pulls per day, more if you can handle it. Here’s a tip, these stretches are best done after soaking in a warm bath or a long hot shower.

Exercise 3 — This is a variation on exercise 1. Insert a smooth cylindrical object into your foreskin opening, like the cork from a wine bottle. This object needs to be just large enough to stretch the skin without pain. Once inserted, leave it there for as long as you can during the day, or for over night. As your foreskin stretches you want to swap the one object for another with a larger diameter. If a wine cork is too big to start with, consider a smaller smooth wooden or plastic dowel. You can find these sorts of things at the hardware store. You might need to use a bit of surgical tape to keep these stretchers in place.

These exercises may sound a bit invasive or uncomfortable, and perhaps they will be at first. But don’t worry; you’ll live. In a short period of time you will have a much more pliable foreskin, one that you can retract at will and with ease. And when you’re sexually active with a partner, it will work flawlessly and exponentially increase your pleasure.

Good luck