What makes a Sex toy body-safe ?

We owe it to our society and our environment.

“When we started this marketplace, we were thinking – people should be able to sell on their unwanted sex toys, just like they do with clothes, and other things they no longer want, but are still in great condition. After all, sexual activity is continually touted as being good for our health, our mindset, our happiness, and our overall wellbeing. So why can´t we normalise this very normal and essential part of our lives too? In time, we believe this will all be mainstream.”

But like most things… it’s not that simple.

There is little to no regulation in the sex toy industry ( check out no. 4 for the latest update on that!), and as a result there are many many types of toys that are not safe enough to use even ‘first-hand’.

We learned this when we were initially helping to build this marketplace. We feel that people who can’t afford to buy the top notch adult toys shouldn’t have to only have the choice of buying toys that may not be good for them instead. So it’s one of the reasons why we were determined to continued with this marketplace, so that we could showcase and perpetuate the use of only good toys – or even just to recycle good parts of toys.

We should all be aware.

We shouldn’t have to compromise on the overall quality of the toy. So we all owe it to ourselves to be aware of which type of toy is good for us, and which is not.

We are not prepared to allow the second-hand sale of those toys that we felt were not body-safe to sell even as new products in a shop, and we do not even allow the resale of some seemingly great toys in new condition, that we know have the potential to degrade in safety over time. 

Be careful what you buy – even as a new toy.

As the sex toy industry grows even more, it makes the choices for good sex toys much smaller than you would believe. So in turn, the SQUEAKY marketplace for GOOD second-hand sex toys is much smaller than the overall second-hand market out there (we reject about 90% of submissions daily), but it’s where you can be sure that only the highest quality and most body-safe ones make it to the public board. 

1. How CLEAN it can be

The porous vs non porous type of toy choice.

How clean and germ free can a toy get ?

2. How WELL it is MADE

The cheap vs high-quality toys choice.

Is it mechanically and functionally safe, so that it won´t hurt you –  with any intentional or unintentional use ?

3. The MATERIAL it´s made with is NON TOXIC

The toxic vs. non toxic material choice.

Does it contain chemicals that are bad for your skin, or your insides ? 

Clean

Porous vs. Non porous materials 

Porous means they have microscopic holes in the material, and this generally occurs with softer materials. So the issue is that it´s more difficult, or sometimes impossible to get to the root of each little hole to clean it. That´s why these toys need the maximum type of cleaning, and drying,  and should be left for the longest time before you use them ( if someone else has used them before you.) This is more difficult to do if you are sharing a porous toy with someone else in the heat of a sex session !

The level of porosity varies with different materials, but completely non-Porous toys are deemed the best for you as they are much easier and faster to clean fully. However, you will still find an awful lot of toys that are sold, are made of porous materials.  If you end up choosing a porous toy, try to choose the least porous type, one that is well made and non toxic.

The most Porous materials

Jelly / rubber
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) / vinyl
Chemical rubber latex

Proprietary named porous product materials

(They can use a combination of materials)

Flesh like, Soft skin, Synthetic skin , Fleshlight, Fanta Flesh, CyberSkin – pretty much anything that says real skin feel.

Slightly Porous materials

Leather, Suede.
Some woods, crystals, stones.
Elastomer, thermoplastic rubber (TPR),
thermoplastic elastomer (TPE).

Non-porous materials 

Silicone,  Metal (Steel, Aluminium), Glass (Borscollite, Pyrex), Hard plastics (ABS, Lucite).
Some protected/polished or sealed woods, crystals, stones.

( For more details see the how to clean your sex toy blog post. )

Cleaned vs. Sanitized vs. Disinfected vs. Sterilized

Cleaning only takes off surface germs, sanitizing wipes does a similar but better job, maybe just a little more with a disinfectant, but not a full and proper sterilization (see why you need that in the link below!) Manufacturers should instruct users on how to clean and maintain their toys. Anal toys require more disinfection after each use, as do toys that have been shared. We find a difference between sharing toys and selling on toys  – a time difference for one (for more details see the can you get an sti from a sex toy blog post. )

On the Squeaky Clean Toy marketplace, we require total sterilization of any used sex toys that are likely to be inserted into your body, so as to draw your attention to this. Porous toys cannot be fully sterilized as the sterilizing processes have not conclusively proved that they can fully sterilize porous materials. Additionally, boiling water and bleach are not usually possible with these types of material as they will ruin the toy. If bleach is used it can also get stuck in the pores, and again that isn’t body-safe either! So this is why any used, porous materials are not accepted. In fact, we have gone further and not allowed the resale of any toys that are reported to be new or unused. We don’t want to take any risk of a toy having being used and sold as not used, and we also don’t want to even encourage the sale of new items made of porous materials.

2. Well made

Price & Brand

Price and brand reputation tell us a lot. Let´s be honest with ourselves though, we all know that if a toy is both unbranded and cheap, we need to ask ourselves more questions about their reputation, quality checks and the toy materials for example, before we might choose to spend any money on it at all. 

Smell & Feel

How the toy looks, functions, and smells tells us more – but you don´t get to see that until you have the toy in your own hands.

You´ll find a lot of sites stating that if it smells of chemicals don´t buy it. This is true of PVC and jelly and even other porous elastomers. These materials can be full of porous holes and will stain easily, taking on colours from nearby objects too. But it´s worth remembering that the mighty safe silicone material also absorbs smells quite easily, so when it´s just out of a new package it might also have that ´new´ smell for a while too. If you have a silicone toy, remember to store it well and not in a place where it can absorb smoke or perfume easily.

The shape of a toy is also important. A sex toy should be smooth to the touch and shouldn’t have any sharp edges or bits sticking out that could hurt you. 

Fit for Purpose

How will your body accept it or react to it, and is this good for you or bad? For example, for Anal toys such as butt plugs, it is essential that the toy has a wider base so that it doesn’t get sucked up into the anus and on into the rectum. The anus, unlike the vagina will suck an object up inside – this was one of the main reasons why the new ISO 3533 standard was formed in the first place.

When designing a toy, the manufacturers need to take into consideration the risks of objects being retained by the body, and make sure that they can be extracted by hand or simple medical tools if necessary. So the shape, size, material and geometry all need to be taken into consideration. 

It isn’t manufactured sex toys that can be misused. It’s a well known fact that hospitals are having to pull household objects or foods out of people’s anatomy too! So please make sure that anything you put in your body can be easily pulled out by hand. Anything that you control elsewhere such as a locking device or a vibration, can be unlocked or turned off easily by some means at home. You shouldn’t have to have it surgically removed and also add to the risk of damaging your insides.

 3. Non-toxic

What causes a toy to be toxic for us? This section is mainly about the material or combination of materials (including additives and colouring) that make up our toys. Any chemicals or substance within the materials used in making the toys should fall below any quantities known to be harmful. Even the materials used in curing the toys are important to consider – for example platinum-cured silicone toys are regarded a far superior to tin-cured silicone toys.

I´m afraid the more we read about toxins in every aspect of our lives, the less we´d want to even live ! It seems that there are toxins in everything from our water to our make-up and soaps, our perfumes, in our household goods and much much more. It´s everywhere.

So this is why we often look to the children’s toys industry and the beauty and household industrys to see their standards first. If something has been approved ( or not!) for childrens toys or for food contact then this is a great start!

Companies that make the bigger toys like SquarePegToys, MrHankeys or Oxballs, along with fantasy toy makers have got a great reputation for making the highest quality platinum cured silicone products.  We have a blog post all about Bad Dragon toys and they position themselves at the top end of the sex toy range. But this does come at a cost – which is probably why these toys just fly off the shelves when listed on the Squeaky marketplace. 

Allergens

Natural Latex for example, as some people are allergic to this. Some softer men’s toys such as masturbator sleeves can be made of latex. You should know if your body is allergic to it – a lot of condoms are made of this material so most people seem to already be aware of it.

Compatibility

It’s important to know if your toy material is compatible with other materials (lubricants, oils, etc.) or will they alter or degrade the material of your toy by being in contact with it. There is a myth that you cannot use silicone lube with silicone toys for example. We say ‘myth’ because it isn’t always true – some manufacturers say you can and some say you can’t and it depends on the purity of the silicone. So always check the manufacturer’s instructions on that.

Bio-compatibility

How will your body accept it or react to the material, and is this good for you or bad? Manufacturer’s should be making sure that the material of the toys inserted into the vagina or anus do not cause any sensitive reactions when they come in contact with the body’s mucosa.

Think about materials used in the medical industry – medical grade silicone for implants and titanium for hips. This gives us a good idea of which materials are the best to use in sex toys too! Did you know that titanium is considered to be the most biocompatible metal, due to its great strength, low density and its resistance to body fluid effects!

Words to look out for – PHLATHLATE free

The main one ( but not the only one)  is phthalate which came to light in children´s toys and pacifiers decades ago and they´ve been banned from there. So we know we shouldn´t have this particular plastic softening chemical in our adult toys too. DEHP seems to be the worst kind of phthalate, so this is the one to look out for.

¨DEHP is present in plastic products such as wall coverings, tablecloths, floor tiles, furniture upholstery, shower curtains, garden hoses, swimming pool liners, rainwear, baby pants, dolls, some toys, shoes, automobile upholstery and tops, packaging film and sheets, sheathing for wire and cable, medical tubing, and …¨
Source: Public Health Statement from the Agency for toxic substances and disease registry

Heresay 

This isn´t scientifically let,  but you will read these opinions elsewhere so it´s good to include them here. It seems that there isn´t enough direct evidence to stop all this, or to even know what other chemicals might be unsafe – but the gist of the blogging opinions is that when you see what these chemicals can do to hard plastic, do you really want any of that leaching into your insides too ! Some say that the cheaper chemically softened materials (even if it doesn´t contain any dangerous phthalates ) could mean that the product will wear out quicker, or that the material might break down faster. So at the very least, we would advise changing that toy to a more recent version,  or a better quality altogether. (This is yet another reason why we do not support the selling of softer non-porous toys on the Squeaky second-hand toy marketplace.)

Full transparency

We want to make it easy for our buyers and sellers on the marketplace to be as transparent as possible. So we encourage you to ask questions publicly about the products on the comments thread of the listings.

We provide easy tick checklists for sellers when they list their toy, so that they can give as much factual information as possible. We have a long & comprehensive blog post for buyers and sellers called How it Works covering all you need to know about the process of buying and selling on the marketplace.

But what if someone ticks the wrong box – e.g. they say it´s made of silicone but it looks more like a jelly toy !  Well, it´s true that pictures can be deceiving, but this is where we need you to be upfront and ask the seller to confirm the material. We also have a very strict pre-approval process so that we can also check the item out and make sure the details are, to the best of our knowledge, correct.

Our FAQ page has several questions advising what to do if you feel that a toy has not been accurately described. If you write on the public comments, it can help other people too. After you press the BUY button, your conversation is not public – but our moderator can see it too.

You might also find that a toy material consists of a combination of materials, which is why it is perfectly correct to say silicone, but it may not be silicone alone. This, is why people bang on about it having to be 100% silicone, to know it’s tip-top, absolutely-only made of silicone – if that is what you’re after.

Worst Materials

But, whilst the world gets itself sorted out, this is all about minimising the risk. If you took no risks at all you would never leave your house, and it seems there are already so many risks right there in your house ! So it´s about being wise, being informed, and getting the balance right. Do read up on Recycling sex toys in our blog article.

The main toxin talked about is phthalates, and the main culprit material seems to be jelly like toys. That does not mean that every jelly-like sex toy is absolutely, definitely unsafe, but it is something to be extremely aware of. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission prohibits any children´s toys that have more than 0.1% phthalates, so we feel it should be the same for adult toys too.

¨In the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), Congress permanently prohibited children’s toys or child care articles containing concentrations of more than 0.1 percent of three types of phthalates: di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP); dibutyl phthalate (DBP); or, benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP).¨

Source: US Consumer Product Safety Commission 

Naughty or nice materials ?

PVC / Vinyl are next to explore on our naughty list, so be aware of these too. It´s the soft vinyl that needs phthalates to make them soft and DEHP is the worst type of phthalate, so read the ingredients if you´re going to put it inside you.

However – there are definitely some vinyl / PVC vibrators our there that have been tested and they´ve been found to be phthalate free (source: womensvoices.org) YAY – that´s a really positive step!!! But as it´s not regulated, you can´t always be sure, and the jury is still out on what they´re replacing the DEHP with !

Dame products are very pro body-safe materials, and they say in their blog…

 ¨Modern flexible PVC doesn’t necessarily contain phthalates, and some of it can be medical-grade. Like silicone above, “PVC” doesn’t necessarily means “bad” or “good” — it’s a case-by-case situation.¨

…but of course, these are still POROUS materials.

We also do see the phrase “medical grade TPE” written, especially for dolls. When we asked one manufacturer about this they said it was 50% silicone and 50% TPE. So, whilst there can be confusion or unknowns about a material, and there is a possibility that they can be porous,  we err on the safe side and do not accept them on the SQUEAKY marketplace. This is one of the reasons why we don’t accept any porous materials for insertable/penetrable toys in particular, even if they are new. 

Safer Materials

Materials that have never been chemically altered in the first place are of course the safest when it comes to leaching any add chemicals – as they are usually natural materials like glass, steel, and wood. However even these can come in different qualities.

Next, it just so happens that the non porous materials like Silicone, and the harder ABS plastic and Lucite / plexiglass are also safe.

It also appears that manufacturers have been finding ways to not have phthalates in some porous and non porous materials –  for example Elastomer (i.e. TPE / TPR) materials.

Toys made more recently are more likely to be safer, but that´s not all set in stone. In fact, speaking of stone, there is very little information about what natural substances can come from stones or crystals once it´s inside you.

Don´t just depend on one blogger, as their post may have old information. Don´t just depend on the supplier label either on the front of the box. Try to always look at the ingredient list – on the back or base of the box.

Back to silicone ( sometimes written silicon ). It is heralded as the top toy material as it is a silky smooth, hypo allergenic material that feels a little soft to the touch. The quality of the silicone has to be good however, low grade silicone can still contain chemicals apparently. Of course, medical grade silicone is the tip top choice but really we are finding most say that food grade silicone (FDA approved) is as far as you need to go.