Cleaning Sex Toys
Before you submerge your new toys in water, make sure you know whether they are water-resistant. The last thing you want is to have a sex toy DOA because you didn’t realize that water would make it go ka-put. More than 3,700 people trust this foaming cleanser with their favorite toys thanks to an alcohol-, paraben-, and sulfate-free formula. It's gentle on toys but tough on germs, effectively killing bacteria on both porous and non-porous surfaces.
You may even be able to reintroduce the microorganism in question into your system after you’ve already cleared an infection. To avoid fluff or lint getting on your silicone toys, they should be stored in a dust free and antistatic space. Special bags, such as our TOYBAGS made from dust free Tyvek®, are perfectly suited to keep your toys fluff free.
Leather is also often used for products like harnesses, impact toys, and wearable items. Leather is an extremely porous material and can be difficult to clean. Using a damp, soapy washcloth, wipe down the material thoroughly and leave it out to air dry. Be sure to clean every nook and cranny, including the stitching. If you're dealing with a porous material like jelly, latex, rubber, or realistic-skin material, cleaning it as you would a hard, non-porous sex toy is a bad idea. That's because porous toys can trap bacteria, so they're not ideal to play with recklessly.
With these, you should still use mild soap, but you have the option of subjecting them to higher water temperatures without worrying about the material degrading. That being said, there are some precautions you can take if you do choose to use a porous toy. Lisa Finn, a sex educator for the sex toy shop Babeland, has a few recommendations.
Here’s exactly how to clean your sex toys before and after you use them. Even if you’re diligent about thoroughly cleaning your toy every time you use it, you should think about cleaning it before you use it too. There’s a chance that it might have come into contact with dirt, lint, dust, and other materials since you last used it. We’re guessing you don’t want to expose yourself to those elements, so you should consider washing your toy beforehand. Your vagina is home to myriad bacteria and fungi that help to keep it healthy. When you use a sex toy, odds are some of these microorganisms will attach themselves to the toy.
Most of the time, this won’t be harmful, Lauren Streicher, M.D., an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, tells SELF. Your vagina is already used to dealing with these microorganisms, so they don’t really pose a threat. To figure out how to clean sex toys, you’ll need to know exactly what they’re made of.
And while leaving your toys out to air dry is ok for some, it’s detrimental for others. Well, when left damp, hard to reach spaces, nooks, and crannies all serve as a welcome mat for rather unwelcome bacteria. Meaning all the cleaning you just did will be overcome with mold and mildew if not dried completely. If your toy best way to clean rubber sex toys vibrates , Chavez advises against submerging it into water.
Most sex toys come with their own bag or case which you can keep for storing them in between uses. Alternatively, purchase a lockable case online, like the Bomber Case. Such cases are usually slim enough to fit in your bedside table’s drawers yet still offer the protection of a clean environment and a combination lock. However, sex toys need to be used and cleaned properly in order to ensure your downstairs stays healthy.
One concern is that UV light can disinfect only the areas it’s able to reach. So it may be less effective for toys that have nooks and crannies. Smell retention can sometimes be an issue with silicone toys in particular. It’s best to reserve any porous toys in your repertoire for solo play, or enjoy shared use with a condom (unless you’re fluid bonded).