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How to clean and care for your toy
Want to keep your favorite vibrator, dildo, or stroker around for as long as possible? Here are some tips!
Our bedroom toys can and do get a bit covered with all the fun sex related fluids. When the sexy fun is done, tidying up is a good idea to ensure your toy is ready for the next session. Depending on what the toy is made of and a variety of other variables, optimal cleanliness may even be a health priority. In addition to this, proper care and maintenance will ensure your toy is in good working order for as long as its construction allows. Check our tips below for happy, clean toys:
1) Basic cleaning - For basic cleaning of any toy (vibrator, dildo, plug, stroker, etc.) simply wash it in warm to hot water with a good antibacterial hand soap. This will keep toys clean and ready to use in most situations. Specifically made toy cleaner can be used as well. It comes in handy spray or foam dispensers for uniform application and is used by applying, waiting a minute, and then rinsing off with water. Be sure to check the instructions to see if your powered toy can be put under running water or immersed. Most powered toys are these days, but you should always check. ​
2) Advanced cleaning or sterilization - Depending on the toy's material, a toy can be sterilized, or nearly so, with more aggressive cleaning methods. This is strongly recommended if you are at all sharing toys or have specific health concerns or sensitivities. A solid, non-motorized silicone toy is very tough and the toy can be boiled, bleached, or placed in the dishwasher. If it is motorized, use a bleach or alcohol solution to clean the silicone portion of the toy. For other materials like TPR or PVC, a more dilute solution can possibly be used and careful use of hotter water (ex: PVC begins to decompose at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, 60 Celsius).
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UV sterilizers are also now more commonly available for sex toys and very effective at removing near 99.9% of microorganisms. What they do not remove are physical substances and the toy should be cleaned before going in the sterilizer.
A note on bacteria: Generally speaking, most bacteria associated with humans (good or bad) die at temps above 125 deg F, when treated with harsher cleaners like alcohol and bleach, or being completely dried out. To provide a temperature comparison, the minimum recommended residential hot water tank temperature is 120° F, with many able to adjust upward to 140°. Even softened (plasticized) PVC begins to degrade at temperatures over 200° F (100° C), TPR higher, and Silicone between 400° F and 600° F.
When speaking of cleaning a toy, we are often most concerned with those inserted vaginally (to a lesser extent anally). Research on sex toys and bacteria is unfortunately very limited. What we can more confidently say is that sharing toys and anal to vaginal usage requires thorough cleaning in between or using a disposable barrier on it like a condom. Thorough cleaning is most easily accomplished using silicone toys, so choose this material the toy is being used in this way. Be aware that TPR toys are more challenging to sterilize due to varying degrees of material porosity.
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3) Storage - Store toys in a clean, dry, lint-free environment. All toys should be cleaned and dried before being stored. It is recommended to store TPR or PVC toys individually apart from toys made from the same materials. Deformation of the toy or dye transfer can occur if they rest against each other. Other materials, like silicone, can be stored against other toys. If using storage bags, use smooth fabrics that do not bleed dyes (there are toy bags that can be purchased). Sex toy storage boxes are available as well (like the Joyboxx) with handy features specific to sex toys. For large collections, we have found tool boxes from hardware stores make a great storage option!
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