Body safe materials

The category is loosely regulated in most places. Items intended for internal use are frequently sold as novelties, which exempts them from the testing a medical device would face, and the word premium on a package is a marketing term with no material meaning. The only reliable approach is to learn the small number of materials that are genuinely non porous and treat everything else with suspicion.

Porosity is the central concept

A non porous surface has no microscopic structure to hold fluid. What is on it can be washed off, and washing genuinely removes it. A porous surface is riddled with microscopic voids that draw in fluid by capillary action, and once fluid is inside the material, nothing applied to the surface reaches it.

This is why a porous toy cannot be sterilised. Not because cleaning has been done badly, but because the contaminated volume is inside a material that cannot be opened. Bacteria and fungi persist there, and the surface is recontaminated from within. It is also why a porous toy develops a smell that returns after washing.

The practical rules follow directly. Porous items should never be shared without a condom over them, should not move between anal and vaginal use at all, and should be replaced periodically rather than trusted indefinitely.

The non porous materials

Platinum cured silicone is the default good choice. It is inert, non porous, tolerant of heat, soft and warm to the touch, and it can be boiled if it contains no motor. The platinum cure matters: it is a cleaner curing process than the older tin cure, leaving fewer residues and a more stable material.

ABS plastic is the hard glossy plastic used for handles and for smooth rigid toys. Non porous, easy to clean, completely rigid and straightforward to manufacture well.

Borosilicate glass is far stronger than ordinary glass and resistant to thermal shock, which is what allows it to be warmed or cooled deliberately. It is non porous, completely smooth, compatible with every lubricant, and it can be boiled. It will break if dropped on a hard floor, and a chipped glass toy must be discarded rather than smoothed.

Stainless steel, usually grade 316 or 304, is non porous, extremely durable, heavy, and holds temperature better than anything else in the list. It is also the most unforgiving material for pressure, which some people prefer and others find too much.

Sealed ceramic and hardwood appear occasionally. Both are acceptable only when the seal or finish is intact and body safe; a scratched or worn finish exposes a porous substrate underneath, at which point the object is no longer non porous.

The porous materials

TPE and TPR are thermoplastic elastomers: soft, stretchy and very common in sleeves and soft toys. They are porous. They can be surface cleaned but not sterilised, and they degrade over time.

PVC and jelly are the older soft translucent materials, frequently strong smelling out of the packet. Soft PVC requires plasticisers to be flexible, and in low grade products those are often phthalates. Plasticisers are not chemically bonded to the polymer, so they migrate out over time, which is what produces the smell, the oily film and the eventual stickiness. Some phthalates are restricted in other product categories for that reason. This is the group to avoid entirely.

Latex and rubber are porous, degrade with light and oil, and carry an allergy risk that is worth taking seriously in an internal context.

Identifying an unlabelled object

• Smell. A strong chemical or plastic smell out of the packet indicates plasticisers. Silicone is close to odourless.
• Feel. Silicone has a slight drag against dry skin and does not feel oily. Jelly and soft PVC feel slippery or tacky.
• Translucency. Soft, squishy and see-through almost always means jelly or TPE. Silicone is usually opaque, though not always.
• The flame test is sometimes suggested and should not be used on a toy that will be used again, since it damages the surface.
• Silence on the label. A seller who states nothing about material is telling you something. Sellers using non porous materials say so, because it is the part that distinguishes them.

Practical consequences

Never store silicone toys touching each other or touching soft plastics: silicone can react at the contact point and end up bonded, discoloured or tacky. Do not use silicone lubricant on silicone, for the reason given in choosing lubricant. Do not use a porous toy anally and then vaginally under any circumstances. And replace anything that has gone sticky, changed colour, developed a persistent smell or lost its shape, since all four are signs the material itself is breaking down.

The condensed comparison is in the material table, and the washing method for each material is in cleaning and storage.

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