7/29/09
Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silicone Toys

tantus_silicone_vibeSilicone “Theta” from Tantus

Silicone is an inorganic polymer. Or, better put, the safest soft material for anything you’re going to insert in your bod — no contest. Here’s the long list explaining why: There are no pores to harbor bad bacteria, you can put it in your dishwasher, you can sterilize it by boiling it in water or cleaning it with a 10-percent bleach solution, you can swab it with alcohol, it’s hypoallergenic, it’s inert (so it won’t react with other materials), it’s long-lasting, and it has little to no odor. Plus, silicone toys are often made by small companies that design them in-house — they hand-pour the molds in small batches to create effective, functional toys. For all these reasons, silicone toys cost more, but they’re oh, so worth it!

Make sure the product is advertised as 100 percent silicone; otherwise, it may be mixed with jelly or other crappy material (sneaky bastards), nullifying all its kick-ass qualities. Keep it away from your cats; they love the feel of silicone, but one scratch and you’ll have to donate it to their squeaky-toy collection for good. The only real bummer ’bout silicone is that, historically, manufacturers haven’t been able to manipulate it into super-soft and super-funky textures like they can with elastomers and jelly rubber. But even that’s changing with the invention of VixSkin, a lifelike material made from 100 percent boilable silicone.

Examples of silicone toys include Tantus, Vixen Creations (careful, these are anatomically correct, if you know what we’re saying), and Fun Factory numbers (all brands available at GoodVibrations.com). In general, silicone lubes should not be used with silicone toys, due to a weird chemical reaction, but there’s an exception to this rule — tune in tomorrow for it!

Trivia tidbit: Silicon, the element, is often mistaken colloquially for silicone, as in the poignant pop classic “Objection (Tango),” where Shakira sings, “Next to her cheap silicon I look minimal” (lyrics off her official website). Though we like the sentiment, it should really be, “Next to her cheap silicone I look minimal.” Class dismissed.



2 Comments

  1. You forgot to mention one of the selling points of pure silicone toys: LATEX ALLERGY!!!! Those of us with this particular allergy, latex, rubber, “jelly rubber” “godknowswhat material” from less than honest toy sites and ALL “fun” condoms are out of the running.

    Fun Factory has had some problems with their battery compartments (had to send our beloved Boss Lady II back to Babeland for a replacement, and we are hoping the broken battery guards were a fluke) but when they work, they are wonderful. And no “weird” smells. Who wants to walk around smelling like a strawberry flavored shower curtain, even after a bath, after using a cheap vinyl toy? (OK, I’ll tell you. Me. I don’t want to smell like that.)

    Now, if the condom manufactures would only get the message. Some of us Latex Allergy freaks would like to try the vibrating ring condoms without latex, or even be able to buy Magnum Condoms again (nothing else fits my man without pain, and the Latex Magnum might cause anaphylactic shock in me, so it’s not usable since the allergy asserted it’s nasty presence a few years ago..)

    Silicone is the most inert material, this side of glass, and adding vibration to a silicone toy doesn’t scare the crap out of you, like the one (that I know of) glass vibe does.

Comments are closed.