How to Keep your Sex Toys Clean

Sex toys can be great fun, and they add real value to the bedroom experience for many women, men and couples. However, as with anything fun, there is a some work involved to keep your adult toys as clean and as hygienic as possible.

Because sex toys are in contact with bodily fluids, stored for a time and then used again it's vital that they are kept clean for reasons of health and personal hygiene. If proper procedures aren't followed, the results can be infection and other serious health problems.

The purpose of the sex toy in question may vary, but the basic principles for cleaning your toys effectively are the same.

1. Disinfect and clean - almost any soap will do , and warm water, as warm as you can take it.

2. Dry well before storing. Clean lint free towels are best for this.

3. Store in a good location. Dry, clean and dust free, ideally with some air circulation.

Cleaning Women's Sex Toys

The most popular and widely used sex toys for women are dildos and vibrators.

Dildos and Dongs are usually pretty straight forward in their design, consisting of a shaft used for penetration thats quite easy to clean, even models with ridges, ribs or "veins" can be washed easily.

- Because there are no moving parts you can just submerge dildo sex toys in warm soapy water, lather it up all over, rinse well and dry.

Vibrators come in a huge variety of designs, some of which are almost exactly like dildos (but they vibrate), and others which have more complex moving parts, and require a bit more care to clean. An example of this would be a rabbit vibrator, which has a stimulator protruding from the shaft much like a branch on a tree. The area in between the 'rabbit' and the vibrator shaft is a perfect hiding place for bacteria if it isn't cleaned well.

- First, remove batteries from the vibrator, and make sure you close the compartment properly. Next, wash the vibrator in some warm soapy water - take care not to get water in or around the area where the batteries go in, or the control knob / buttons. You might wash those areas with a slightly damp cloth, or some alcohol on a cotton ball.

- If you have a waterproof vibrator, you can just wash it like a dildo, and get the whole thing clean at once.

- If your vibrator has a hard to reach area, using a soapy cotton swab might be necessary.

- Rinse any soapy water off well before drying.

- Use a clean towel to dry your sex toy, not a dirty towel you are already using, as it will have more bacteria on it.

Cleaning Men's Sex Toys

The most common sex toys for men are cock rings and masturbators.

Most cock rings are quite easy to wash, just use warm water and soap, and put the ring between your hands while rubbing them together. If it's a vibrating ring, chances are the vibrator bit is removable, so take it out first.

Masturbators (also known as a pocket pussy or realistic vagina) come in two kinds - open ended and not open ended. With an open ended masturbator, much of the ejaculate will not remain in the sex toy, but it still needs a damn good cleaning.

The best way is to run some soapy warm water through it in the sink, while massaging it to make sure the inside has been cleaned up properly by the sides of the tube rubbing each other.

For a closed end masturbator, you'll want to wash, rinse and repeat several times, until you are sure there is no ejaculate or lubricant left inside the pocket, an old toothbrush might help, but wash and rinse well after using that too.

Anal Sex Toys

Adult toys designed for anal penetration are popular with women and men, and include butt plugs, anal beads and anal probe vibrators.

These can be washed just like the vibrators and dildos above, with warm water and soap.

Anal beads on string can be quite difficult to clean, so for that reason we suggest the kind with beads connected to each other on a solid shaft.

Keep it Clean or Don't Keep it

There are parts of some adult toys where moisture can infiltrate and start problems. Sometimes this manifests itself as a bad smell or spots that can be seen between different layers of material (in clear jelly sex toys).

If you have a sex toy that smells like bad food, cheese or something other than how it smelled when it was new, and/or has discoloration after washing, it might have been infected with colonies of bacteria or mold.

It's important to discard a sex toy that can't be cleaned and start over with a new one.