Why castile soap is the #1 choice to clean sex toys

There's a reason we decided not to stock a specific cleaning product to clean sex toys. You don't need one. If you have castile soap at home already, that's all you need. As a sex positive store, we sell lubricant and condoms, and encourage open conversation about sex and sexuality. We don't sell sex toys anymore, but we used to. We'll explain why further down the blog post.

Choose a fragrance free castile soap to clean sex toys

Choosing a fragrance free castile soap to clean sex toys is the best option. When the New York Times wrote an article about how to clean sex toys, they chose a liquid castile soap as the first option for cleaning. When Dr Bronner's talked about it on social media, they stood their unscented version up front and centre. Why?

We've been doing some research, and it appears that any essential oils in the scented version of castile soap shouldn't do any damage to silicone sex toys, but they do have the capacity to leave a scent behind. Even organic essential oils, while safe to use, will transfer to silicone, and in turn, the scent may transfer to your skin. While this may not be dangerous, it's potentially unpleasant and we recommend sticking to the unscented varieties. We have unscented castile soap in Dr Bronner's (USA brand) and both the Australian brands we sell, Dr Planet and The Australian Natural Soap company.

If you have used a scented castile soap to clean sex toys and it has left a scent behind, use the same methods that you use to get food smells out of plastic. Dilute some cheap white vinegar from the supermarket in water and let them soak. Be sure to check that your toys are waterproof before doing this, or only soak the portion that is.

What's the best method to clean sex toys when using castile soap?

Apply a little castile soap to your hands and work it in to a lather. Use your fingers to clean the toy as if it were any other part of your body. There's no need to go overboard with the soap, castile soap is concentrated and you only need a small amount.

Rinse your clean toy with warm water, ensuring it's only the waterproof sections that get wet.

The most important step is to ensure that your toy is thoroughly dry before storing it away. Water can be a breeding ground for bacteria. Either let it air dry or use a clean cloth or towel. Do not use a towel that you have previously used to wipe your hands or your body as it may contain bacteria that will transfer over to your toy.

Do I need to use antibacterial soap to clean sex toys?

No. You can, but it's completely unnecessary. Do you remember during COVID when it was explained to us by the experts that washing our hands with soap was more effective than hand sanitiser and the sanitiser was only necessary when you couldn't wash your hands properly? It's the same thing here. When you can wash your sex toys efficiently with a liquid castile soap, sprays, wipes and antibacterial products just aren't necessary.

Why don't we sell sex toys anymore?

It's a simple economic reason, and it's the same reason we don't sell coconut oil or period underwear, you can buy them almost anywhere, and they just stopped selling for us.

We were one of the first health online retailers in the country to sell sex toys (I believe we were the 2nd one, and were only beaten to the punch by a couple of weeks). Back then, it was really difficult to find sex toys to buy outside of a sex store. Many people, women in particular, still felt uneasy about shopping from a sex store, but felt comfortable adding one to their order while they popped a natural deodorant or bottle of shampoo in to their shopping cart.

We had so many women thank us for making them available and even an email from a doctor thanking us for giving women a safe place to buy a sex toy. The market has well and truly caught up with us. Sex toys are now proudly and loudly marketed all over the world and even appear in music video clips and celebrity collaborations are everywhere.

We're super proud to have been there at the start, and now brands like Vush and stores like LoveHoney are massive and have so much variety that we just couldn't keep up. Go forth and buy your sex toys and enjoy connecting with yourself or a partner and grab your castile soap to keep them clean and safe to use next time.