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Immerse a battery operated sex toy fully in water.
Don't do it. If you HAVE done it, take it out ASAP, take all the bits
apart that come apart, and lay on tissues in the airing cupboard, or
near something warm.
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Use soap to clean a silicone sex toy. Just no. For one
thing, soap is abrasive on some materials, and on others it doesn't do a
good enough job. Why does soap get a look in at all? The reason why soap
works as an anti bacterial agent is by making it hard for germs to stick
to surfaces. That's about it. Some soaps contain chemicals that break
down the walls of bacteria and break apart the structures of viruses.
The kinds of products you will be using will be chemical based, but
formulated in such a way that makes them safe to use on sex toys that
will come into contact with your innermost areas.
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Use bleach when you clean your sex toy. This is a
really bad idea. For one thing it can really damage the material of your
sex toy, and for another it can damage YOU. Bleach does not belong
inside your body. The other down side to using bleach to clean your sex
toys of course is that it smells really horrible. Clean with proper
products instead.
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Put your sex toy in the dishwasher. Another no no,
unless you like finding pubes on your plates. Plus, the high temps will
damage the silicone, rubber, plastic, whatever else your sex toys are
made from. This is not what dishwashers are made for. Do it properly.
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Clean your sex toy without taking out the battery part
first. Oh man, this happens so often. Batteries do not mix
with water.
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Leave in old, dead batteries. Leaving in fresh
batteries is one thing, but when you know the batteries have stopped
working you really must take them out otherwise they are going to leak.
What is worse than having battery acid leaking from your sex toy? Well,
a lot of things, it's true, but this is one thing that you can avoid
quite easily by checking the batteries and just taking them out when
they are dead.
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Use petroleum jelly based lubes with your sex toy.
Don't do this, for several reasons. There are much better lubes on the
market, plus that old petroleum jelly can be a real pain to get off your
sex toys when you are cleaning them. Stick to good old KY jelly instead.
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Neglect to clean your sex toy if it has been unused for a long
time. It is good practice to keep your sex toys clean when
you have used them, but you should know that if you have not used your
sex toys in a little while, or even for longer, then you should clean
them again before you use them again. It is easy for bacteria to
accumulate if your sex toys have been left for a while. You may have
done a great job the last time, but even a few bacteria left over can
grow into a culture that can be dangerous and hard for your body to
fight. Make sure you clean your sex toy before you use it again if it
has been too long.
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Use a sex toy in your anus and then in your vagina without
cleaning the sexy toy in between uses. If you really want a
vaginal infection that can be very hard to clear up, then go for it by
all means, but good hygiene dictates that you should not use a dildo in
your vagina if you have used it in your anus. You can transfer germs
that do not belong there, so err on the side of caution and either have
separate sex toys for the vagina and the anus, or clean your dildo very,
very well before switching it up.
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Share, or lend out, sex toys. It can be tempting to lend out your dildo
or other sex toy to a friend of sexual partner, but you may want to
think again before you do this since this is a good way to spread
infections from one person to another. Of course, if you are having sex
with a partner and using your sex toys in a shared way then you may not
be able to avoid this. If you have some wipes that you can use then this
is a good way around the issue, although you should not worry too much
if you are in a very intimate thing with someone else since you will
already be sharing everything with each other anyway and it becomes a
moot point. Make cleaning your sex toys part of the fun as a good
workaround for this issue!