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Silicone lubricant destroys silicone toys

The single most expensive thing people learn by ruining something.

Silicone lubricant destroys silicone toys

There are three families. Water-based is compatible with everything — every condom, every material — and only needs reapplying. Silicone-based lasts far longer and works in water, but bonds chemically with silicone surfaces and degrades them, leaving a permanently tacky, unhygienic finish. Oil-based destroys latex condoms outright, within a minute of contact.

Material matters as much. Body-safe means non-porous: medical-grade silicone, borosilicate glass, stainless steel, ABS plastic. Porous materials — jelly rubber, PVC, anything labelled only “novelty” — cannot be fully sterilised, because the pores hold bacteria that no surface cleaning reaches.

Sources

Danish EPA survey of sex toys (2006, 2015); Swedish Chemicals Agency (2018)

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General information, not medical advice. Anything persistent or painful belongs with a doctor, who has heard it before.