How to Clean Your Sex Toy
Sex toys are amazing at making you feel amazing!Β
Chances are that you have a favorite one, a trusty, erotic companion that has been with you for a while and hits the right spot, in the right way, so well that youβve become accustomed to using it for a quick orgasm fix or a long pleasure session.
By now, youβve probably gotten pretty good at using your favorite sex toy.
But are you good at cleaning it?
Keep reading and youβll find out!
Is Cleaning Your Sex Toy Even Necessary?
If youβre reading this blog post, or have read others online, you may have asked yourself that question. And we get it.Β
Cleaning things in general is a bit of a hassle. Cleaning is usually time-consuming, repetitive, boring, and using hot or cold water while scrubbing on something can cause your hands and fingers to ache.
Cleaning your sex toys is about as fun as washing the dishes, scrubbing your toilet bowl, or cleaning your shower.
But, like all of those things, cleaning your sex toy is absolutely necessary if you care about your health!
Why Cleaning Your Sex Toy Is Important
Bacteria.
The answer is bacteria.
Seems obvious, right?
But letβs dive a little deeper.
Most sex toys come into contact with bodily fluids during their use. This can include saliva, vaginal or penile discharge (which sometimes includes urine), semen, feces (if the sex toy is used anally), and natural lubrication produced by the vagina. These bodily fluids usually contain some bacteria that are natural or helpful to the human body.Β
When these fluids are not cleaned off and are left to sit on the sex toy, harmful bacteria are drawn to them and they will multiply on the surface of the sex toy.Β
If you use a sex toy covered in old bodily fluids, chances are that there will be a thriving culture of bacteria on it, which will then enter the mucous membranes of your vagina, anus, or the urethra in your penis.
This can lead to a wide range of bacterial infections, fungus infections, and even sexually transmitted diseases (if your sex toy was used by a person infected with one).Β
Some of these infections and diseases can become a serious health risk, especially if theyβre not treated in a timely manner.
But that information is probably not a shock to you.
Youβve probably been taught to wash your hands and clean anything that might come into contact with your body, like your toothbrush, hairbrush, kitchen utensils, etc.
The most important question you should be asking yourself is not whether you should clean your sex toy but ratherβ¦
How Often Should You Clean Your Sex Toy?
This question is one of the most common searches online, and for good reason.
Most people know that they should clean their sex toys. After all, most sex toy manufacturers state that their sex toys should be cleaned. Some of them even write it on the box.
But how often should you clean your sex toy?
Ideally, sex toys should be cleaned both before and after every use.
You may be disappointed in hearing that, and we get it! When we reach for a sex toy, we want to start using it and start feeling great right away!
We donβt want to get aroused, reach for a sex toy, and then have to go spend time cleaning it. After all, if we do that, the arousal might be gone!
But remember, you should clean your sex toy after using it because leaving any bodily fluids on it will cause bacteria to build up.
And you should clean your sex toy before using it because it could be covered in fine particles of dust or even mold, if you didnβt dry it properly when you cleaned it before putting it away.Β
With that out of the way, letβs get to our sex toy cleaning guide.
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1.Β Identify Your Sex Toyβs Material
Sex toys are not made the same way or from the same things.
Most sex toys are made of silicone, but some are made out of rubber, body-safe silicone, plastic, glass, metal, or even stone.
Look up your sex toy online and go to the product page. Youβll find the material itβs made of there, along with any cleaning or storage instructions provided by the manufacturer.
Identifying your sex toyβs material is important because some materials are more fragile than others. This is especially true for rubber and silicone that isnβt listed as βbody-safeβ or βmedical grade.β
When you clean rubber and this kind of silicone by scrubbing it, you may cause tears on it which could release plastic particles, like those left behind by an eraser, only much smaller. These particles are dangerous if theyβre ingested or absorbed into the mucous membrane of your anus or vagina, as your body will not be able to break them down.
Remember, you should only use βmedical-gradeβ or βbody-safeβ silicone and toys made from non-porous materials.
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2.Β Get the Right Kind of Soap
Before cleaning your sex toy, you need to get the right kind of cleaning solution.
A very common mistake among first-time sex toy owners is to use hand soap or dish soap to clean their sex toys.
Itβs an understandable mistake to make. After all, hand soap is good enough for our sensitive skin, and dish soap is good enough to clean our plates and utensils, which we eat off of.Β
So these kinds of soaps must be safe for sex toys too, right?Β
Wrong.
Remember when we said to look up your sex toyβs material? This is because some materials react badly to certain kinds of soap.
Hand soap is one of the most dangerous things to clean your sex toys with, especially if you have a vagina or use your sex toy on your partnerβs vagina.
The internal environment of the vagina has a delicate pH balance. This balance allows for healthy bacteria to grow and thrive, which help the vagina clean itself and fight off bad bacteria that can lead to dangerous infections.
Hand soap often includes scents, fragrances, and colorants, which are safe on our skin but not on the delicate mucous membranes inside our bodies. These fragrances and colorants are usually made from harsh chemicals, which can cause internal injuries like chemical burns.
These harsh chemicals can also break down body-safe silicone, causing tears and pores which will then release plastic particles into your body, transforming a body-safe sex toy into an unsafe toy.
Additionally, some dish soaps and hand soaps include disinfectants or other anti-bacterials, which can kill the healthy bacteria inside vaginas and disrupt their pH balance, allowing bad bacteria to thrive.
Before cleaning your sex toy, make sure to buy some official sex toy cleaner.Β
These cleaning solutions are body-safe, doctor-approved, and designed especially to protect both your sex toys and your body!
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3.Β Prepare a Cleaning Area
Now that you know what your sex toy is made out of and you have the best kind of soap for it, itβs time to get to cleaning!
Before you get started, however, you should make sure that you have a good area to work in.
Remember, your sex toy is something that will probably go inside your body. You shouldn't just toss it in the sink and clean it there, and you especially donβt want to toss it in the sink once youβre done cleaning it.
Sinks usually have toothpaste and hand soap residue, which can contain harsh chemicals that could cause your sex toy to degrade, or ride along its exterior and then enter the most sensitive areas of your body.
Instead, you should work on a kitchen counter.
Take a bucket or a plastic bowl and fill it with warm water.
Then take a towel and lay it on your kitchen counter, next to the kitchen sink. Make sure that there is enough room on the counter for the towel, the bowl or bucket, your sex toy, and your sex toy cleaner.
Now itβs time to get to work!
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4.Β Remove All Electrical Components (that you can!)
First, open your sex toy up and remove all the electrical components that are safe to remove.
But donβt just tear your sex toy open!
Read the instruction manual (you can look it up online if youβve thrown it away) and look for the disassembly instructions.Β
You want to remove the batteries and separate components like attachments or parts that vibrate, create suction, or play a part in other features.
Donβt stress about this too much.Β
Since you wonβt be submerging your sex toy underwater (most sex toys arenβt designed for that anyway), water shouldnβt seep into the inner workings of your toy.
Still, itβs best to take precautions and remove the batteries, as any water or moisture left behind on them can cause them to rust, burst, and leak, spilling battery acid on the delicate inner workings of your toy.
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5.Β Wash Your Hands
Now wash your hands, not with hand soap, but with the safe, scent and colorant free soap that you bought. If you bought an official sex toy cleaner, then you can go ahead and apply a bit of that to your hands and rinse it off with warm water.
The idea is to remove any bacteria on your hands or other foreign particles (like hand soap, dirt, food particles, etc) to make cleaning easier and safer.
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6.Β Rinse Your Sex Toy Off With Warm Water
Hold your sex toy over the kitchen sink and splash some of the warm water from the bowl on it.
Use your hands to spread the water all over the sex toy and go over it gently.
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7.Β Clean Your Sex Toy
Next, dab a few drops of your sex toy cleaner or safe soap on the surface of your sex toy. Use your hands to gently spread it along your sex toy and make sure that it gets into any curves, nooks, places where two surfaces meet at an angle. Dust, grime, and body fluid residue usually builds in these hard-to-reach areas.
You should scrub gently and for long enough for some foam to build up on your sex toy.
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8.Β Rinse Your Sex Toy Off
Next, grab the bowl or bucket and splash warm water on your sex toy. Be sure to do this several times and until you can no longer see any foam or cleaner residue on the surface of the toy.
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9.Β Dry Your Sex Toy
After making sure that there is no cleaner or soap residue on the surface of your sex toy, lay it on the towel.
Now, use the towel to dry your sex toy gently. Donβt scrub your sex toy with the towel, as this may scratch its surface. Instead, simply dab the towel on any water drops or wet areas you see.
The important thing is to remove the big water drops so that they donβt dry in place.
Once you have taken care of the water drops, let your toy air dry for a few hours.
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10.Β Check That Your Sex Toy Is Dry
After a few hours have passed, grab your sex toy again and turn it over in your hands. Run your fingers over its surface and check to see if the surface is dry to the touch.
If you feel any water drops or wet patches, place the toy down on the towel and let it air dry for a while longer.
Once your sex toy is fully dry, congratulations! You have cleaned your sex toy well!
Remember, you should do this both before and after using the toy!
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11.Β Store Your Sex Toy Safely
After cleaning your sex toy, make sure to store it in a cool, dry place. You might want to wrap it in a microfiber cloth or put it in a plastic bag with a seal.
The important thing is to prevent dust, moths, and mold from growing on the surface of your toy.
Conclusion
Now youβre an expert at cleaning your favorite sex toy!
Be sure to share this guide with your friends who own sex toys and, if youβre interested in the subject, here are some other blogs to check out!
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-clean-sex-toys/
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/love-sex/sex/news/a47219/how-to-clean-a-sex-toy/