Hygiene and sextoy: maintenance guide
Make your sextoy immortal: maintain it!
You’ve just received your first sextoy and suddenly you’re wondering about maintenance. You’ve seen this video of a user taking her sextoy out of the dishwasher and you’re not comfortable with the idea of your mother-in-law discovering your 36 cm dildo while looking for a clean mug? We understand you!
Don’t panic, here’s a little guide to maintaining your sextoy.
Which soap for which material?
You don’t need a dishwasher or a supersonic plus 3000 UV machine to wash a dildo. Water and soap are enough for all sextoys. I did say all sex toys. Don’t invest in special polish for your cowhide swift.
There are basically two types of sex toys:
those made of porous materials: hard plastic like PVC, rubber, nylon, leather;
those made of non-porous materials: silicone, glass, steel, pyrex type borosilicate.
We advise you to take greater care with sextoys made of porous materials, because their porosity allows germs to develop more easily. This does not mean that you do not need to clean other sextoys! No, a sextoy should be cleaned before and after each use!
To clean your sextoy, use a soft soap, PH neutral, without perfume, without alcohol and without silicone. Why no alcohol and no silicone? Silicone sextoys react very badly to products containing silicone such as soaps or lubricants. As for alcohol, it is not necessary to disinfect the sextoys which remain sensitive to this irritating and drying chemical compound!
In short, we clean our sextoy as we clean our vulva or penis with respectful products and lots of water. (Not boiling! Warm yes, boiling no.)
To dry your sextoy, a paper towel (reusable, it’s better for the planet and the trees) or a clean cotton towel are perfect. The tightly woven cotton avoids lint and unsightly marks! After washing your sextoy, the towel goes in the dirt! And yes, they are also germ nests so we wash the towel as much as the sextoy.
There is a sextoy in particular for which it will take a little longer to dry: the masturbator or vagina! It is difficult to get the towel through the very soft sheath of the masturbator. Often they come with a rod to keep them upright for optimal drying. It’s a matter of patience! After air-drying, you can put the vagina back in its case.
And then there are some sex toys that you are afraid to put under water: like wooden sex toys or sex toys with a non-waterproof battery compartment. This is perfectly understandable! For wooden sex toys, if it is of good quality you can wash it with soap and water without risk of swelling as long as you dry it well in its entirety! Wood naturally kills bacteria (you have to wash it anyway) but requires a more careful maintenance.
For non-waterproof sex toys, we advise you to wash, battery compartment closed, the washable part with soap avoiding the buttons. Then clean the part that is not waterproof with a damp cloth and/or a spray specially designed for sex toys. Then dry the open battery compartment to avoid moisture inside.
And on a trip?
Are you going on a trip with your favorite vibrator? Then leave it in your luggage in the hold, it avoids disappointments if someone asks you to open or empty your bag! (True story) Put it in a separate pocket! That way, even if your suitcase is open, they won’t come across the pink vibrating beast that roams these parts.
Often, when traveling, you always have a little water available and you can take a bottle of your favorite soap with you. However, it can happen to have a sudden urge while hiking to masturbate! (What? You don’t do that?) Slip an intimate wipe into your sextoy pouch. You’ll throw the used wipe in the trash and not nature!
There are also sprays in small format that will replace water and soap. Just spray your sextoy and wipe it with a paper towel or a small towel.
Where to store it
I explained to you above that when you travel, it’s better to have a small pouch in which to put your sextoy so that it doesn’t get in contact with your belongings. It’s the same thing at home. If you leave a sextoy lying around, it will get dusty and germy and it would be a shame if an unwary visitor came across it in your home. The dildo between the self-help book and the glasses on the coffee table in the living room, it doesn’t look good.
A small pouch protects it from dust but also from contact with other sextoys. A pouch for each sextoy is highly recommended, because there are materials that should not be brought into contact. PVC jelly sextoys, for example, like to be talcum powdered before being put in a pouch and they literally melt when in contact with another sextoy. After that, a clean, dry place will do!
What about other sex toys like leather BDSM toys?
You may have a few leather utensils in your treasure chest such as handcuffs, badines, swifts. If they are made of imitation leather, a damp cloth after using your accessory will suffice. Genuine leather accessories require more maintenance because leather is a living material that reacts a lot to temperature and time.
To clean your accessory, use a damp cloth to remove dust and a little soft soap if there are stains! Then, to nourish and make the leather shine, there is nothing like a little hydration! There are specific leather care milks and colorless waxes. If your accessory is in contact with the skin, a natural beeswax is highly recommended! There is a little trick that works well is the moisturizing milk for babies. It’s surprising, but it works (make sure it’s free of perfumes or oils that could damage your leather).
For the metal accessories, we advise you to dry them very well at the risk of seeing them rust if they remain wet.
Another way to make your sextoy last forever: pay attention to battery charging and batteries.
Leaky batteries are very dangerous for your intimacy and a sextoy that doesn’t turn on anymore is not dangerous but it really sucks!
To avoid these problems, it is often said in stores, when selling accessories, that you must use the charging cable specially provided. The manufacturers supply cables whose charging power is adapted to the power of the motor. An unsuitable cable can heat up the battery and ruin it.
Another thing you may have noticed is that these are often USB cables without a power adapter. Beware, not all power adapters are suitable either. On the box of your sextoy a power is indicated. Your power adapter must have the same power. Otherwise, the usb port of your computer is also very good!
Let’s talk about battery operated sextoys. DON’T THROW YOUR BATTERIES IN THE BLACK GARBAGE CAN, THEY RECYCLE WOW. Sorry, I’m calming down, I’m calming down.
They are chemical and if they leak into your sextoy, clearly, you can throw it away right away. Why do batteries sometimes leak into electronic devices when they’re in there too long without being used. When you get rid of a sextoy, remember to remove the batteries.
Tip: Use rechargeable batteries. Batteries can be expensive. When you buy a battery-powered sextoy, it often seems cheaper than a rechargeable one. If you’re on a budget, think twice before investing in a battery-powered sextoy. Here’s why:
a rechargeable sextoy costs on average 70 euros and lasts on average 5 years;
a non-rechargeable battery-powered sextoy usually consumes 2 batteries and they last for about an hour if you use your sextoy to the fullest. Yes, I did say one hour… So let’s say you use once a week for fifteen minutes your 2 batteries for one month, you will use 120 batteries for 5 years which represents a hundred euros worth of batteries (duracel type at 90cts each).
As a result, your battery-powered sextoy with a rechargeable battery pack costs on average the same price as a rechargeable sextoy.
