Toy Materials Guide

This is a guide to the materials Male and Female adult toys and vibrators are made from and what kind of personal lubricants and massage oils are suitable to use with your sex toys.

Some of the more common materials that sex toys are made from are glass, silicone, cyberskin, jelly, ABS plastic and Latex.

Some of the more common lubricants are water based and silicone, some come in different flavours, some are perfumed and some are fragrant free.

Massage oils can come in different flavours, perfumed or fragrant free and most are water based.

Cyberskin/TPE

Cyberskin is the most realistic and is the closest thing to feeling like real skin, it is soft, stretchy and pliable. A lot of male sex toys eg artificial vaginas and masturbators are made from Cyberskin due to the real feel material. Cyberskin warms to body temperature to mimic the elasticity and softness of human flesh to look and feel like real skin. It does not contain phthalates, PVC (polyvinyl chloride), heavy metals or latex.

Water based lubricants are best to use on Cyberskin, and oil-based lubes and mineral oils should be avoided as they will cause damage to these products.

Silicone

Modern Silicone is soft but generally firmer than TPE, it is hypo-allergenic and phthalate free. Silicone warms to body temperature and retains the warmth for a long period of time. More realism can be offered by having Dual Density or Dual Layer Silicone which offers a softer external layer, while a firmer inner core provides realistic sturdiness simulating an erect penis.

Silicone lubricants are not recommended for silicone toys as they may damage the toy.

Jelly/PVC

Sex toys made from jelly are cheaper than silicone and are made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride) but are still a popular choice of material for a sex toy, it quite often has softeners (phthalates) added to it to make it more pliable. Jelly made sex toys are inexpensive, soft and usually come in many different translucent colours, they are now more resilient than the older rubber sex toys. A number of jelly sex toys may have a slight jelly smell to them, it is not unpleasant but if you don’t like the smell you may need to choose a different type of toy made from a different material.

Water based lubricants are recommended for jelly sex toys so as not to damage the jelly material and to stop any sticky type feelings you can sometimes get from jelly sex toys.

Latex Rubber

Latex or Rubber sex toys are generally much firmer than the jelly or silicone sex toys and don’t generally tend to be so realistic or skin like. They are not as flexible as jelly or silicone but are much cheaper than jelly or silicone. Recently latex has fallen out of favour in the industry due to latex allergies in some people.

Water based or silicone lubricant both can be used with latex and rubber products, however oil-based and mineral oils will generally cause damage to latex products.

ABS Plastic

Sex Toys made from ABS Plastic (a common thermoplastic material) is used to make light, rigid and moulded products, vibrators made from ABS Plastic contain a vibrating motor so the vibrations are usually much more stronger, this is because the motor transfers all its power into the solid plastic. Bullet vibrators are a popular choice because they are hard and give very intense vibrations. Plastic vibrators come in many different colour and sizes and can be smooth or ribbed and are phthalate free and hypo-allergenic.

Glass

Made from hypo-allergenic glass it is non-porous and body safe, its free from chemicals such as phthalates. It can be heated by hot water or in the microwave or cooled down in the fridge or freezer.

Water based lube is recommended for glass vibrators only.

Types of Lubricants

Water Based Lubes

Water based lubes are water soluble and you are generally less likely to have a reaction to it, although you may need to reapply more often as they seem to dry out quicker, most water based lubes are latex friendly and are compatible with condoms and most sex toys.

Silicone Based Lubes

Silicone based lubes retain lubrication for a long time so you may not need to reapply often, however they are not compatible with silicone toys. Silicone lube is waterproof so it is ideal for use in water play.

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