Here's the rundown:

Pure silicone: no condom necessary ever, unless you want to switch partners or orifices in one session and use for safety reasons. Can sterilize.

TPR/TPE/Elastomer: porous composite materials WITHOUT phthalates. The presence of silicone in any of these toys does not make it safer than others, so don’t be fooled. For personal use, washing well with soap and water should suffice, though condom should ALWAYS be used if using toy both anally and vaginally.

Rubber: gets its own category, since I notice that most rubber toys do are not listed as phthalates-free. Given that, condom use is a good idea. Rubber also has a very strong smell, so often covering with a condom is a way to prevent that smell from lingering on your body.

Cyberskin/Skin-like/Je lly/PVC/Gel-like: All these toys (and there are a lot of them) are cheap- don’t be fooled into thinking they’re worth it. They are softer, highly porous, and usually contain phthalates. Skin-like toys are supposed to be washed, then dusted with cornstarch for storage to retain the soft texture, so there’s always that residue on them. Jelly, PVC, etc., toys usually have quite a chemical stink to them (IMO) that will lessen with washing but never totally go away. That alone convinces me to use a condom over one. These toys are so prone to absorption and holding bacteria that I would say ALWAYS use a condom, even if only for personal vaginal use.

I know that we're all sick of hearing it, but I always worry that a newbie will read my review and won't think to use a condom, clean their toys, etcetera if I don't mention it. So I always feel the need to mention it.

Yeah... I don't really want to do that either, but those of us with multiple partners who are using toys don't have much choice. I'm more interested in protecting me from them than the toys. At the moment, I don't have anything that can be sterilized, although that is soon going to be remedied.

Laughing with you. I can't imagine that either. I'll buy different toys!

I understand that but, then again, it's a completely different issue (multiple partners vs potentially unsafe materials).

True. I should have specified that I don't bother anymore with toys for my own personal use which are unsafe for me (like the one that specifically caused me BV repeatedly). I'm certainly not going to buy a bunch of condoms for toys I use alone - I just won't use those toys.

I don't think there's any way to protect yourself against jelly cock rings. I have always bought TPR cock rings for that reason, although they aren't too safe either.

It doesn't seem like covering said toy would be necesssary with a Jelly cock ring if you are with one partner. If you do use condoms, It would only be touching one person anyway. As for breaking down of material, it's not really a health/ safety concern because a cock ring doesn't go INSIDE anyone. Any breakage/ ripping/ damage to the ring would usually lead to it being replaced- not covered or temporarily repaired for continued use in any way.