Buying used sex toys can save you big bucks. Experts reveal what's safe to buy and what you should skip.
Crystal Cox/Business Insider
- Buying used sex toys can save someone hundreds of dollars, but it's not a risk-free purchase.
- Certain sex toy materials like PVC are more prone to harboring bacteria, including those from STIs.
- Choosing non-porous pre-owned sex toys and sterilizing them properly can minimize some risk.
Adding a sleek new sex toy to your pleasure chest could cost you hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. But there's a budget-friendly alternative — if you're willing to purchase a used dildo, butt plug, or vibrator from another person's collection.
Sex toy users have resold their unwanted devices through private Facebook and Reddit groups for years. And in 2021, two web designers and pleasure device enthusiasts launched Squeaky Clean Toys, a resale website dedicated to selling pre-owned adult toys.
The creators of Squeaky Clean Toys anonymously told Vice that friends find their venture "gross," but they said they have step-by-step cleaning instructions, which they leave up to all sellers and buyers to follow.
For some, the deals could be appealing. While sex toy brand LELO sells its Hugo prostate massager for $219, the same model is available on Squeaky Clean Toys for $90 from a seller who said they only used it once or twice before their husband realized he didn't enjoy it.
According to a disclaimer on the Squeaky Clean Toys website, used toys can still harbor germs and bacteria that could potentially lead to an STI or other painful infection. Sex experts agree.
"Using unclean sex toys can potentially introduce unwanted bacteria or other pathogens — like fungi — into the vulvar-vaginal environment that can lead to the overgrowth of bacteria known as bacterial vaginosis or cause a urinary tract infection," sexologist Amanda Morgan, who studies body-safe sex toy materials, told the New York Times. And if you're purchasing toys secondhand, it's impossible to know where they've been or if they've been thoroughly cleaned.
Pick toys with medical-grade silicone or other non-porous material
Knowing the materials a sex toy is made from and how to properly clean it can reduce your risk of getting an infection, sexologist Jill McDevitt told Well + Good.
Some sex toys are made of materials like thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) or PVC. These materials are porous, so they have imperceptible holes or pores that can trap bacteria even if cleaned properly.
That's why experts suggest sticking to used toys made out of non-porous materials. Non-porous materials include medical-grade silicone, borosilicate glass, and medical-grade steel, Alexandra Fine, the CEO and co-founder of sex-toy company Dame, told Well + Good. On the Squeaky Clean Toys website, it says that they only accept and sell toys made from non-porous materials.
To deep clean non-porous toys, first see if the toy has a motorized element, like a vibrator. If it does, you'll have to clean it by hand.
If you can remove the motor or it doesn't have one, boiling it in water on your stovetop is the way to go, according to Robert Huizenga, author of "Sex, Lies & STDs: The Must Read Before You Swipe Right," who spoke with Allure magazine. He told Allure that this method is ideal for glass and steel toys and takes about three minutes.
For motorized toys like vibrators, clean the surface with warm water and fragrance-free anti-bacterial soap, liquid hand soap, or castile soap for between one to three minutes until the surface appears clean, similar to when washing your hands. Then, let it air dry. You can also used a cleaner made for that purpose, which many sex toy brands now sell.
Wait 24 hours after cleaning and be honest about re-use
There isn't much research on sex toy cleaning procedures, but one small 2014 study found that the STI human papillomavirus (HPV) can remain on sex toys that have been vaginally inserted, even after they are cleaned.
The researchers used a commercially available sex-toy cleaner on vibrators made from either TPE (a porous material) or silicone (a non-porous material) after 12 women with HPV used them. They found that, even after cleaning, 44% of the silicone sex toys and 56% of the TPE toys had traces of HPV on them.
But after the researchers let the clean sex toys sit out for 24 hours, they retested them and found no traces of HPV on the silicone ones, while 40% of TPE vibrators still had traces of the STI. The Squeaky Clean Toys website cites this research and tells buyers to let their sex toy purchases sit out for a day before using them.
Telling any sexual partners about how you take care of your used sex toy collection is a good practice too, Fine told Well + Good.
"It's best to be honest about if a sex toy has been used previously with other folks, and to share info about if and when you cleaned it. That way, the person knows if there are any health risks or not," she said.