How Often Should You Clean Sex Toys? A Frequency Guide by Material and Use

By Jake Turner  ·  Senior Editor  ·  May 2025

The standard answer is: before and after every use. But the full picture is more nuanced — different materials, different use types, and different storage conditions affect how frequently toys need cleaning and how thorough that cleaning needs to be. This guide covers minimum cleaning requirements, when more thorough disinfection is needed, and the practical signs that a toy needs immediate cleaning or retirement.

The Baseline Rule: Before and After Every Use

The universal minimum is cleaning before and after every use. After use addresses the obvious: bodily fluids, lubricant, and surface bacteria need to be removed promptly. Before use addresses what happens during storage: dust settles on surfaces, packaging off-gasses on some materials, and anything that contacted the toy since last cleaning needs to be removed before the toy contacts your body again.

This two-way protocol (before and after) is what sexual health organizations and sex toy manufacturers recommend. Shortcuts in either direction — skipping the post-use clean (“I’ll do it later”) or the pre-use clean (“it’s still clean from last time”) — are where most hygiene failures occur.

Why Clean Before Use Too?

Most people understand why you clean after use. Fewer consistently clean before. Reasons the pre-use clean matters: dust and airborne particles settle on toy surfaces during storage, even inside a closed box. Silicone surfaces are slightly tacky and attract particles. Some storage pouches shed fibers onto toy surfaces. Cleaning before use takes 60 seconds and eliminates any doubt about surface cleanliness.

For shared toys — used by more than one person — pre-use cleaning is critical because you’re removing any contamination from the previous user even if the toy was cleaned immediately after its last use.

Cleaning Frequency by Material

Non-porous silicone (solid, non-motorized): Before and after every use. For disinfection between users, full sterilization (boiling, bleach, dishwasher) as needed. These tolerate frequent thorough cleaning without material degradation.

Motorized silicone toys (vibrators, etc.): Before and after every use. Thorough surface cleaning with toy cleaner or mild soap and water. Waterproof-rated toys can be rinsed; non-waterproof must be cleaned with a damp cloth. Because you can’t sterilize by boiling, wipe with isopropyl alcohol (70%) and allow to fully air dry between partners.

Stainless steel and glass: Before and after every use. Full sterilization possible and recommended before sharing. These materials are the easiest to clean thoroughly because they’re fully non-porous and withstand any cleaning method.

TPE/TPR (porous materials like Fleshlight): After every use without exception. Pre-use rinse before use. These materials hold bacteria in their pores; delayed post-use cleaning allows biofilm to establish in the porous structure. Once biofilm is established, cleaning becomes inadequate — the toy must be retired.

ABS plastic (hard toys): Before and after every use. Easy to clean, non-porous, responds well to standard toy cleaner or soap and water. Isopropyl wipe is fine for deeper cleaning.

When Deep Cleaning Is Required

Standard cleaning (toy cleaner or soap and water) handles routine use. Deep cleaning — boiling, bleach solution, isopropyl saturation — is required in these situations:

Before and after shared use between partners. After any anal use before vaginal use. After any use with body fluids other than the usual. When a toy has been in storage for more than 6 months without use (pre-use deep clean). After any illness that may have contaminated surfaces. After a toy was handled by someone other than the intended user.

How Long Can a Cleaned Toy Sit Before Needing Recleaning?

A properly cleaned toy stored in a closed, clean container (preferably a pouch inside a closed box) can sit for weeks without needing recleaning before use. It’s not exposed to new contamination in a sealed storage environment.

However, if a toy has been in storage for several months, a quick pre-use rinse or wipe is prudent even if the toy was cleaned before storage. Dust in storage accumulates slowly; the rinse takes 60 seconds. For toys stored in open drawers, pre-use cleaning is more important because the surface has had continuous dust exposure.

Signs a Toy Needs Immediate Cleaning or Replacement

Persistent odor: A toy that smells after cleaning — particularly a sour or chemical smell — has surface contamination that standard cleaning isn’t reaching. For porous toys, this typically means biofilm. For non-porous toys, it may indicate inadequate rinsing (soap residue) or material degradation.

Visible discoloration: Staining that doesn’t clean off, dark spots on silicone, or cloudiness on glass indicates surface contamination or material breakdown.

Surface texture change: Silicone that becomes sticky, TPE that becomes brittle or flaky, or ABS that becomes tacky indicates material breakdown — clean, then assess whether to retire.

Residue that won’t clean off: Lubricant residue that cured on the surface, dried cleaning product, or embedded particles that don’t rinse away.

What Happens If You Skip Cleaning

Skipping post-use cleaning allows bacteria to multiply on the toy surface between uses. On non-porous toys, a subsequent cleaning is still effective. On porous toys, delayed cleaning allows bacteria to migrate into the porous structure where they establish biofilm that cleaning cannot fully reach.

The practical risk: vaginal bacterial infections, urinary tract infections, and skin irritation from bacterial transfer during the next use. The risk increases with porous materials and decreases with non-porous ones, but is present across all materials when post-use cleaning is skipped.

Building a Cleaning Schedule

The simplest system: clean immediately after use, every time. Don’t defer post-use cleaning. The longer a used toy sits uncleaned, the harder cleaning becomes (dried lubricant is more adherent) and the more bacterial growth occurs. Make post-use cleaning the last step of use — not a separate task for later.

For deep cleaning: do a full disinfection run on all toys every 3 months whether or not they were used for sharing, just to maintain hygiene standards. Check storage for any issues during this review.

Store Clean Toys in a Code-Locked Box

Frequently Asked Questions