☆ Prefer the Gay Blog on Google
Table of Contents
Clean sex toys right after every use with lukewarm water and mild, fragrance-free soap, then let them dry completely. Everything beyond that depends on one thing only, the material. Silicone, glass and stainless steel can be disinfected. Soft porous plastics cannot.
The basic clean that covers almost everything
Two things handle day-to-day cleaning: lukewarm water and mild soap. Timing matters more than technique. Dried body fluids and lube residue are much harder to remove later, and both feed bacteria in the meantime.
Pay attention to grooves, veins and base edges, where residue collects out of reach of your palm. A toy also needs cleaning before its first use and after long storage, since dust settles in a drawer as readily as anywhere else.
Antibacterial soap is not part of this. In 2016 the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned 19 antibacterial ingredients, including triclosan, from consumer wash products. Manufacturers had failed to show either long-term safety or any benefit over ordinary soap. The same logic applies to toys. Mild, fragrance-free soap does the job and leaves nothing behind to irritate mucous membranes next time.
Keep all-purpose cleaners and surface disinfectants away from your toys. They attack the material, and whatever residue stays on it goes inside you afterwards.
Which cleaning method suits which material
Four material abbreviations appear on every package: thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), thermoplastic rubber (TPR), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the hard plastic acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Which of them your toy is made of decides every step beyond soap, and the 7 rows below cover practically every toy on the market.
| Material | Basic clean | Can be disinfected | Boiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silicone (100 %) | water and mild soap | yes | yes, if motor-free |
| Glass (borosilicate) | water and mild soap | yes | yes, if tempered |
| Stainless steel | water and mild soap | yes | yes |
| ABS hard plastic | rinse, do not soak | yes, with alcohol | no, it warps |
| TPE, TPR and Cyberskin | surface only, then renewal powder | no | no |
| Jelly and PVC | rinse, use a condom | no | no |
| Electronic toys | wipe with a damp cloth | yes, with alcohol | no |
Only the top 3 rows come without restrictions. If you do not know what a toy is made of, treat it as porous.
Disinfecting: what actually works
Most of the time disinfection is unnecessary. It earns its place in 2 situations: toys you share with someone, and toys used around an infection. Four methods are worth knowing.
Boiling is the simplest. Non-porous toys without a motor go into water at a rolling boil. Published times vary, with the common recommendations falling between 3 and 10 minutes. Use a pot kept for that purpose and turn the toy occasionally so every side is exposed.
The dishwasher covers the same material group. Top rack, no detergent, no heated drying cycle. Nothing with a motor or a battery belongs in it.
Isopropyl alcohol at 70 % is the quick option and the direct answer if you are looking for a way to disinfect sex toys. It suits silicone, glass, stainless steel and ABS plastic, meaning every non-porous material. Rinse with clean water afterwards. Keep it away from TPE and TPR, where it hardens the surface and leads to cracking.
Bleach appeared in every guide for decades and is now the last resort. Medically reviewed sources put the dilution at 1 part bleach to 9 parts water, with roughly 2 minutes of contact time. It applies to pure silicone without electronics only, and the toy needs very thorough rinsing afterwards. Older instructions call for far longer soaks. Those are worth ignoring, since chlorine bleach degrades the material and residue irritates mucous membranes. Boiling achieves the same result without that trade-off.
Why porous toys never get fully clean
TPE, TPR, jelly and PVC feel soft because their surface is full of microscopic pores. Bacteria and viruses settle in those pores, and no cleaning agent reaches them.
A 2014 study measured this on vibrators. It involved 12 participants, 9 of whom tested positive for human papillomavirus. On the TPE vibrators the virus was still detectable on 56 % of samples immediately after cleaning, and on 40 % of the previously positive samples a full 24 hours later. On the silicone vibrators no sample was still positive after 24 hours. The sample is small, but the gap between the materials is unambiguous.
In practice this means porous toys get a condom over them, changed after every use, and that goes double when you share them. Once such a toy shows discolouration, cracks or tacky patches, it has reached the end of its life.
There is a second issue with these materials. A 2023 study tested 4 retail toys for plasticisers. All 4 contained phthalates above the legal threshold, including substances restricted under European chemicals regulation. Products sold as a silicone blend were among them. The overview of dangerous sex toys covers which materials to avoid in the first place.
Vibrators and anything with a battery
Electronic toys split into 2 groups, and the marking on the packaging tells you which one yours belongs to. If your prostate vibrator is marked waterproof, wash it under running water with soap like any other toy.
Without that marking it stays out of the sink. Use a cloth with warm soapy water, wipe thoroughly, and work around buttons, seams and the charging port. For disinfection, a cloth with 70 % isopropyl alcohol does the job.
Nothing with a motor or a battery goes into a pot or a dishwasher, whatever the outer material is. Heat destroys seals and electronics.
Dildos in silicone, glass and steel
These 3 materials are the easiest to look after. Dildos in pure silicone and plugs in stainless steel tolerate soap, alcohol, boiling water and the dishwasher.
Glass depends on how it was made. Most toys use borosilicate glass, which is tempered and handles boiling water without trouble. Untempered glass can crack from the temperature change. Boiling is not necessary in any case, since glass is completely smooth and comes clean with soap or alcohol in seconds.
Silicone has one quirk: it absorbs odour. If your anal plug smells even though it is clean, this is why. Boiling clears it, washing does not.
Masturbators and Fleshlights
In masturbators the mess sits on the inside, in the 1 part that also dries last. Models in TPE and plastic clean up with water and mild soap, with the sleeve taken out of its case if it is removable.
The original Fleshlight is its own case. The manufacturer specifies warm water together with its own Fleshwash. It also strongly recommends the Renewing Powder, which brings the surface back to a skin-like feel instead of a tacky one. Clear sleeves are the exception, since powder clouds them. Cleaning agents and alcohol have no place on that material at all.
Drying is the part that decides everything. The sleeve has to be completely dry before it goes away, or mould develops inside it. The manufacturer recommends a cool, ventilated spot and threading a paper towel through the sleeve to speed things up. Do not turn it inside out while doing so, since that creates fine tears in the material.
Drying and storage
Residual moisture is the most common mistake after an otherwise thorough clean. Pat the toy down with a lint-free cloth and let it air-dry completely before it goes into a drawer.
Storage comes down to 3 points. Every toy gets its own fabric pouch or box. Airtight plastic bags are the wrong choice, because moisture stays trapped inside. And silicone should not touch TPE or other soft plastics, since the materials react with each other and fuse over months. The guide to sex toy storage goes into detail.
One note on lube: silicone-based lube attacks silicone toys. Use water-based lube on anything made of silicone and the surface stays intact far longer. The material compatibility guide has the full table.
Frequently asked questions about cleaning sex toys
These 8 questions come up most often around cleaning sex toys. They cover soap and toy cleaners, the right disinfectant per material, boiling times, electronic toys, porous plastics and why silicone holds onto smells. Each answer stands on its own, so you can jump straight to the one you came for.
How do you clean sex toys properly?
Right after every use, with lukewarm water and mild, fragrance-free soap, paying attention to grooves and edges, then dried completely. That covers everyday use. Anything further depends on the material. Silicone, glass and stainless steel can also be boiled or disinfected with alcohol. Porous materials such as TPE and jelly cannot.
Is ordinary soap enough or do I need a toy cleaner?
Mild, fragrance-free soap is enough for non-porous toys. A toy cleaner is more convenient, since you spray it on and rinse it off, and it is the better option for porous materials because most cleaners disinfect. Antibacterial soap is never necessary. The FDA banned those additives from consumer products in 2016 for lack of demonstrated benefit.
How do you disinfect a sex toy?
Isopropyl alcohol at 70 % is the most practical route for silicone, glass, stainless steel and ABS plastic. Apply it, let it sit, rinse with clean water. On TPE, TPR and jelly it achieves nothing, because it never reaches the pores, and it makes the material brittle. Household surface disinfectants do not belong on toys, since their residue irritates mucous membranes.
Can you boil a silicone dildo?
Yes, provided it is 100 % silicone with no motor or battery. Recommended times run from 3 to 10 minutes. Use a dedicated pot and turn the toy occasionally. Dildos made from a silicone blend, usually recognisable by a very low price, are better left out, since the added materials handle heat less well.
How do you clean a vibrator?
Waterproof models go under running water with soap. If the vibrator carries no waterproof marking, wipe it with a cloth and warm soapy water and keep the buttons and charging port dry. For disinfection, use a cloth with 70 % isopropyl alcohol. Nothing with electronics belongs in a pot or a dishwasher.
How do you clean a PVC or TPE dildo?
Wash the surface with lukewarm water and mild soap, then dry it completely and, for TPE, dust it with renewal powder to keep it from turning tacky. That is as far as it goes. Neither material can be disinfected, so a condom over the toy is the practical answer, especially when it is shared. Replace it once it discolours or cracks.
Why does my silicone toy smell even when it is clean?
Silicone absorbs odour into its surface, which has nothing to do with leftover residue, so washing does not resolve it. Boiling removes the smell reliably as long as the toy has no motor. A smell coming from a TPE or jelly toy means something else: there the odour sits in the pores, and the toy has reached the end of its usable life.
How do you clean toys after an infection?
Non-porous toys in silicone, glass or steel go into boiling water, or into the top rack of a dishwasher without detergent. Either method reaches a level that washing does not. Porous toys in TPE, jelly or PVC cannot be reliably cleared after an infection and are better replaced, since pathogens have been shown to survive on those surfaces after cleaning.