How To Clean Sex Toys

To clean general sex toys:

• Quickly rinse under warm water
• Spray your toy with the Lovehoney Fresh Sex Toy Cleaner
• Leave for 30 seconds or so, then clean any stubborn areas (such as ridges or nodules) carefully before rinsing away the cleaner solution with warm water.
• To dry, you can leave your toys to air dry on a clean surface, or speed up the process by hand-drying with a fresh clean towel.
• By cleaning thoroughly and drying your toys completely, you will prevent dust and bacteria build-up and keep your toys looking and feeling brand new.

Our Lovehoney Fresh Sex Toy Cleaner is user-approved too, with one customer saying:

“Having only used toy cleaning wipes previously, I found this product so much better. The amount you get in the bottle is really good, it cleans toys very well, and you get so much more use compared to wipes. It is easy-to-use and has no overpowering scent.”

Thankfully, there are tons of vibrators out there that are fully waterproof and/or submersible (look for an IPX7 rating when ordering from the Lovehoney website). For those kinds of vibrators, it doesn’t matter how wet you get them during cleaning, which is great, although you might find a few of your favourite toys use replaceable batteries – in which case, you need to take a little extra precaution.

For motorised toys like battery-operated vibrators, you want to be careful not to create water damage that will stop your toy from working. The trick is to use sex toy cleaner or soap with just a damp cloth to wipe the sex toy clean, without submerging it in water.

Here’s how to clean your non-waterproof vibrator:

• Rinse your toy with warm water • Try to prevent water from going into the battery compartment • Spray your toy with the Lovehoney Fresh Sex Toy Cleaner • OR wipe your toy with the Lovehoney Fresh Sex Toy Wipes • Hand-dry with a fresh clean towel, or leave to air dry on a clean surface • Store in a clean, dry place or use a sex toy storage bag that fits your toy

If your dildo is motorised (i.e. it uses batteries or is chargeable), then the same vibrator rules apply: don’t submerge your toy in water if it is not IPX7 rated and submersible. Instead, lightly rinse it under water and follow the same steps for non-waterproof vibrators.

For non-motorised dildos made out of a non-porous material, like silicone, stainless steel, stone or Pyrex glass, you can submerge your toy in water to properly clean it.

Here’s how to clean your non-porous dildo:

• Submerge your toy into warm, soapy water
• Spray your toy with the Lovehoney Fresh Sex Toy Cleaner
• OR wipe your toy with the Lovehoney Fresh Sex Toy Wipes
• Hand-dry with a fresh clean towel, or leave to air dry on a clean surface
• Store in a clean, dry place or use a sex toy storage bag that fits your toy

Cleaning anal sex toys might feel like it requires a more complex routine than other sex toys which are used in the vagina, on the penis or elsewhere. However, you can clean anal sex toys, such as prostate massagers or butt plugs using the same technique as your other toys: with warm water and a sex toy cleaner or mild soap. Just avoid submerging motorised anal toys.

Here's how to clean your waterproof anal sex toys:

• Submerge your toy into warm, soapy water
• Spray your toy with the Lovehoney Fresh Sex Toy Cleaner
• OR wipe your toy with the Lovehoney Fresh Sex Toy Wipes
• Hand-dry with a fresh clean towel, or leave to air dry on a clean surface
• Store in a clean, dry place or use a sex toy storage bag that fits your toy

If your anal sex toy is NOT submersible, refer to the same guidelines given for non-waterproof vibrators (first guide).

Realistic-feel sex toys are made from a mix of (usually trademarked) materials that are formulated to feel as close to real skin as possible. For realistic-feel sex toys, there's one extra step to take (which you don’t need for other kinds of toys) to keep them feeling soft and supple instead of sticky.

It’s simple: sprinkle your toy with a renewer powder, like the Thrust Lifelike Sex Toy Renewer Powder, to counteract that tacky feeling, then ensure the clean toy is stored separately from any others.

Don’t underestimate the power of a renewer powder, as customers like Horny_couple_69 have discovered: “After purchasing a CyberSkin cock and the hubby having a collection of realistic pussies, after washing and leaving to dry they always felt a tad sticky, so we knew we had to make this purchase. And wow, it really does put the life back into our toys and returns them back to their usable state again!”

To check if your toy is made from realistic-feel material and needs special attention, go to the product page on Lovehoney and double check the material under the 'How it feels' section.

Realistic-feel materials include: CyberSkin, Fleshlight, Futurotic Plus, LoveClone, Loveskin, Magic Flesh, Realskin, Refined Touch, Sil-A-Gel, Silk Skin, Skin Touch, SoftSkin, SoftTouch, True Skin, UR3 (Ultra Realistic 3.0), Virtual Skin.