3 tips for cleaning your sex toys
Whether you have a collection of sex toys or just purchased your first vibe, knowing how to properly clean and care for your pleasure toys is essential.
Introducing sex toys like vibrators, rings, and anal plugs into solo or partnered play can make sex feel really, really good, but using products that haven’t been cleaned can quickly make the experience uncomfortable or straight-up painful. That's because bacteria and other pathogens can build on unclean sex toys.
When inserted into or on your intimate areas, this can lead to an overgrowth of bacteria known as bacterial vaginosis or cause urinary tract infections. Luckily, it doesn’t take a lot to keep your sex toys clean, and sometimes you can even make it a part of your playtime. Here are some tips on cleaning sex toys.
Cleanse
To surface-clean sex toys, you can use a hand or body wash. However, you’ll want to pay attention to the ingredients and pH balance of these products. Many washes or soaps, which were formulated for your body and not your intimate areas (or products that touch your intimate areas), can disrupt your pH balance and lead to irritation, foul smells and/or infections.
To avoid this, don’t clean sex toys with washes that include ingredients like glycerin, parabens, phthalates, synthetic dyes and fragrances, and do use washes that have pH levels between 4.0 to 5.5. A clean, plant-based wash like Cleanse, which was created for all intimate areas, is perfect for cleaning sex toys. Just one-to-two pumps of Cleanse is all you’ll need when cleaning each sex toy.
Cleanse Intimate Skin Foaming Wash
A clean, aloe-based foam for your daily shower routine. Also perfect for washing your sex toys.
Water
After you’ve pumped Cleanse to the toy, add warm water and gently wash the toy. If you’re cleaning a toy that has a crevice, like, say, a suction toy, be sure to wash inside as well. Like washing your hands, you can spend about 20 seconds cleaning each toy.
Note: Bloomi’s sex toys, Indulge and Massage, are both waterproof, so you can bring them into the bath for wet fun. Once playtime is over, you can clean your toy with a wash and submerge it into the water.
Dry
After you're finished cleaning the toy(s), don’t throw it back in its packaging or your pleasure drawer. First, place the toy on a paper towel or clean washcloth to properly dry. Once it’s free from moisture or liquid, then you are safe to put it away.
Note: To avoid bacteria from growing on your sex toys, be sure to clean the toy after every use — including solo or partnered play. For additional safety, clean it before playtime in case any dust found its way on the toy while drying or in your nightstand.