So you want to learn about safe sex toy materials, but you’re too lazy to read Lilly’s longish article. Here’s my condensed cheat sheet.
Be wary of toxic, porous toys. If a toy is toxic, you can have a bad reaction to it. If it’s porous, no matter how you clean it, it will harbour mould and bacteria. Sex toys are utterly unregulated, so manufacturers get away with using unsafe materials to cut costs.
PVC, TPR, TPE, UR3, rubber, jelly, even silicone “blends”—avoid all these.
Here’s a list of body-safe, non-porous sex toy materials:
- silicone
- glass
- hard plastics like ABS and polypropylene
- wood
- stainless steel
- aluminum
- titanium
- ceramic
- acrylic
- some kinds of stone
The only one of these that doesn’t have to be rock hard is silicone.
A few, such as wood, are only non-porous if the manufacturer finishes them a certain way.
Body-safe metals are pricey. You have to make sure you’re getting pure stainless steel, aluminum, or titanium. If you think you’re getting a good deal on a cheap metal toy, you’re probably about to stick an unsafe metal in your body.
That’s it. I could write about more nuances, like how TPR and TPE aren’t as bad as PVC, but I want to keep this simple. Before you buy a sex toy, check here to make sure it’s safe.
Squirrelmunk 