Materials and body safety: what to look for

If you read ten product pages in this category, you will encounter the same six phrases: body-safe, medical-grade, phthalate-free, hypoallergenic, non-toxic, premium silicone. Only some of them mean something specific. The rest are marketing, and a few are actively misleading. This guide is an attempt to sort them.

What "body-safe" does and does not mean

There is no single legal definition of "body-safe" in the United States for this product category. It is a claim a manufacturer makes, not a certification anyone grants. That does not make it meaningless — a responsible manufacturer uses it to mean the material is non-porous, free of phthalates, and safe for prolonged skin contact — but it does mean you cannot rely on the phrase alone.

What you can rely on is a material name. "Platinum-cured silicone" is a specific process with specific properties. "Silicone blend" is not; it usually means silicone mixed with a plasticiser, which is cheaper and more porous. If a page says body-safe but will not name the material, treat the claim as unverified.

The materials, ranked by how they behave

Platinum-cured silicone is non-porous, odourless, and stable. It can be boiled, it does not degrade with age, and it does not hold bacteria on its surface. It is the material we use for every device body in our range. It attracts dust, which is its only real drawback, and it should not be stored in prolonged contact with other silicone.

Glazed ceramic is also non-porous, provided the glaze is intact. It is heavier, holds warmth, and cleans easily. The risk is mechanical: a chip exposes porous clay underneath, and once that happens the piece should be retired rather than cleaned more aggressively.

Hard plastics (ABS, polycarbonate) are non-porous and durable but can be manufactured with phthalates in the softening process. A reputable manufacturer will state phthalate-free explicitly. These materials are fine for cases and housings; they are less pleasant as a body-contact surface.

TPE and TPR are soft, cheap, and porous. They cannot be fully cleaned, they degrade within months, and they leach plasticiser. We do not sell them. If a product is described as "realistic feel" and priced under thirty dollars, it is almost certainly TPE.

Jelly, PVC, and "cyberskin" are the older generation of soft materials. They are porous, they contain plasticisers, and they should not be used internally. This is not a matter of preference; it is a matter of what the material does when it is warm.

Reading a lubricant label

Lubricant is the product most likely to cause irritation, and the label is usually short enough to read in the shop. Three things to look for: glycerine, parabens, and fragrance. Glycerine is a sugar alcohol that feeds yeast and is the most common cause of post-use irritation in people prone to thrush. Parabens are preservatives with a contested safety profile; we avoid them. Fragrance is the single most common contact allergen in body products and has no functional role in a lubricant.

pH matters as well, though less than the marketing suggests. A healthy vaginal pH is around 3.8 to 4.5; a lubricant formulated at 7 or above can disrupt that. Our water-based product is formulated at 4.5. For anal use, a thicker, higher-viscosity product is usually more comfortable, and silicone-based lubricants last longer — but silicone lubricant will degrade silicone devices, which is why we do not sell one.

Oil is not a lubricant. It degrades latex barriers within minutes and is difficult to rinse from a silicone surface. It belongs on skin, in a massage, and nowhere else in this category.

What "phthalate-free" actually rules out

Phthalates are plasticisers used to soften PVC and some other plastics. Several are restricted in the EU and under US consumer product rules for children's items; the rules for adult products are looser. A phthalate-free claim is worth having, but it only tells you what is absent. It says nothing about porosity, which is the property that determines whether a material can be cleaned properly.

This is why we lead with the material name and treat phthalate-free as a secondary confirmation. A porous material that is phthalate-free is still porous.

Cleaning, in order of what matters

• Before and after every use: wash with warm water and a mild unscented soap, or a silicone-safe cleanser. Rinse, then dry with a lint-free cloth.
• Do not boil: only plain, unpigmented, platinum-cured silicone can be boiled, and even then the motor housing cannot. Assume no device in your house should be boiled.
• Do not use alcohol: it dries and cracks silicone over time and dulls a matte finish permanently.
• Do not share without cleaning: this is the one hygiene rule in the category that has no exceptions.
• Dry before storage: a damp object in a closed case is the most common cause of a musty smell that will not come out.

Claims we will not make

We do not describe any product as medical, therapeutic, or clinically proven, because none of ours is a medical device and we have not run clinical trials. We do not claim "FDA approved" — the FDA does not approve products in this category. We do not claim hypoallergenic, because there is no standard definition and any material can provoke a reaction in some people. We do not claim an item is "sterile" out of the box; it is clean, and you should wash it anyway.

Where we make a material claim, it is checkable: the material is named, the additive is named, and the absence claim is specific. If a page in this catalogue ever fails that test, it is a mistake and we would want to know about it.

If you have a diagnosed sensitivity — to silicone, to propylene glycol, to almond oil — write to us before ordering and we will tell you exactly what is in the product, including the parts of the formulation that do not appear on the front of the bottle.