How You Treat Your Lover
After an exhausting session with your favorite sex toy, you head to the bathroom to wash up. Carrying your beloved passion plaything, you attend to your personal hygiene and then give your toy a cursory wipe with a wet towel before tossing it back under your bed to collect dust.
STOP!
Would you treat a lover that way? Maybe you would, in which case you have other problems. In any case, your sex toys deserve better and will last longer if you know how to properly care for them.
Sex toys can be made from any of a wide variety of substances, some of which are more durable and easier to clean than others. Ideally, you should know before you buy which material is best for the way you plan to use and care for your toy. Let's meet four sexy sex toy aficionados. They each use different toys in different ways, and the materials they choose each require different styles of tender loving care.
Sharon Sharealike
Sharon likes to share her toys. She has multiple partners and sometimes uses her toys anally. When she buys toys, she makes sure they're made of non-porous materials like pure silicone, steel, and glass because all these materials can be sterilized.
Sharon knows that if she doesn't clean her toys properly, she could be exposing herself and her partners to sexually transmitted infections. So she boils her silicone toys or puts them in the dishwasher after each use. (Of course, she knows better than to put vibrators in the dishwasher or submerge them in water - the electrical components could be irreparably damaged.) She also keeps her medical-grade glass dildos and butt plugs clean and streak-free by putting them in the dishwasher or hand-washing them with plain old hot soapy water. And those steel and aluminum toys are a snap to clean with a mild (10%) bleach solution and a soft, lint-free cloth.
Jane McPlain
Jane's toy collection consists of toys in a variety of commonly used materials. Some of them are hard plastic and some are silicone composites like TPR Silicone or Sil-a-gel. Jane's plastic toys can be cleaned with antibacterial soap and hot water, but the silicone composites can't take the heat. Jane washes them with warm soapy water instead and lets them air-dry.
When she wants to share a toy with her partner or use one anally, Jane can use a condom on her silicone composite toys, or she can sterilize her hard plastic toys with rubbing alcohol. Silicone composites, jelly rubber, and other porous materials cannot be sterilized, so Jane never, ever shares these without a condom. She knows that even though she and her partner are monogamous and both are STD-free, sharing unsterilized toys without protection can lead to urinary tract infections or the growth of unpleasant bacteria.
Penny Pincher
Penny prefers quantity over quality. Penny buys the least expensive toys she can get her hands on -- that way she can afford to have more of them. Her toys are usually made of jelly, rubber, or hard plastic. Penny washes her plastic toys just like Jane does, with hot water and an antibacterial soap. But for her jelly and rubber toys, which are highly porous, Penny slips a condom over her vibrators and dildos before she uses them to keep them clean.
When she does need to tidy them up a bit, Penny can wash her jelly and rubber toys in hot, soapy water and let them air-dry, but they cannot be sterilized and may wear out faster with frequent use. Penny doesn't share her toys with a partner, but sometimes uses them anally. She always changes condoms before changing orifices to reduce her risk of urinary tract or bacterial infections.
Harry Hardon
Harry has a completely different set of issues when it comes to caring for his sex toys because toy manufacturers use different materials for men's toys than they do for women's. Many of his toys are designed to feel "lifelike," and therefore they are very soft, very delicate, and highly porous. Realistic toys may carry a variety of names, such as Cyberskin™, Futurotic™, NeoSkin®, Soft Touch™, UltraSkin, and Fauxskin™. These materials are also sometimes used for vibrators and dildos, but are most commonly found in masturbation sleeves and erection rings. Realistic toys are not difficult to care for, but do require a little more maintenance than other materials.
Harry washes his realistic toys in warm water with antibacterial soap -- never in hot. After rinsing them well, he lets them air dry completely and sprinkles them with "renewing powder" -- often included with the purchase of a new toy -- or a little bit of pure cornstarch. Harry avoids baby powder or talcum powder because, although they won't hurt his toy, he knows that they could cause irritation to his, er, relevant area.
Protecting Your Treasures
Once their toys are nice and clean, our sexy friends make sure to store them in a cool, dry place. A dresser drawer works nicely, but for large collections or people who have nosy roommates/children, we like specially designed storage boxes, especially those that lock. To prevent discoloration that may result if soft, porous toys rub against each other in the drawer, Penny and Jane also provide additional protection for their toys. Penny uses old, clean socks as sleeves for her toys, and Jane has a storage case with individual pockets for a variety of toys in different shapes and sizes.
All our toy-savvy friends remove the batteries from their toys before they kiss them goodnight -- leaving the batteries in will shorten the life of the batteries as well as the toy, especially if the batteries leak. And they keep plenty of water-based lube on hand - they know that silicone lube can damage silicone toys, and oil-based lube or petroleum jelly will ruin a latex, rubber, realistic, or jelly toy (as well as latex condoms).
So the next time you finish making love to your most loyal, faithful partner, reward your toy with a little tender loving care. Your health depends on it, and as an added bonus, your toys will last longer and perform better, too. We promise that if you take care of your toys, they will take care of you.