How to Clean a Vibrator

Learning how to clean a vibrator should be one of the first things you do after buying your first vibrator. Contrary to popular belief, cleaning sex toys is not at all difficult. You just have to get the right know-how and you can avoid the stress of worrying about the negative side effects of using a dirty vibrator.

So, if you’re ready to learn the proper process of how to clean a vibrator after use, and more, keep reading.

Main Benefits of Learning How to Clean Vibrator

The benefits of cleaning a vibrator are enormous. When you learn how to do a proper job at it, you can enjoy the following benefits.

• Remove bacteria and other harmful substances from the surface
• Ensure a longer life span of your vibrator
• Prevent nasty smells coming from the device

Is Your Vibrator Porous or Non-Porous?

First of all, knowing the answer to this question is actually very important. It will determine how you clean your vibrator later on.

So, is it porous or non-porous?

Porous vibrators are more difficult to clean. Bacteria stick to this material much more compared to non-porous materials. Examples of porous materials are rubber, some plastics, jelly, PVC, and similar.

Additionally, porous toys can’t really be sterilized, presenting a huge problem when it comes to cleaning them. The best advice you can receive here is to either cover the porous vibrator with a condom before use or just buy non-porous vibrators instead.

Non-porous vibrators, on the other hand, are extremely easy to clean. They can be perfectly cleaned with as little as normal sex toy wipes, warm water with soap or sex toy cleaner.

Examples of non-porous vibrator materials are:

• Silicone
• ABS Plastic

Tip: If you don’t know whether your vibrator is porous or non-porous, you can look at its package or Google its official product name.

How to Clean Non-Porous Vibrators

Nowadays, non-porous sex toys such as silicone vibrators are becoming more and more popular, especially among beginners with sex toys. There’s a reason behind it, though.

Silicone vibrators are super easy to clean, have a very smooth surface and come in some of the most satisfying shapes and sizes you can imagine.

So, if you want to know how to clean silicone vibrator, you need to follow these steps:

Step 1: Clean its surface under running water that’s not too hot. Even if your vibrator is not fully waterproof, you won’t damage it by holding it under gentle running tap water.

Just make sure you don’t submerge it fully underwater and stay away from the charging port.

Step 2: Grab some mild soap and ensure you cover the entire insertable surface of the toy. It’s best that you use unscented soaps but the choice is yours.

You can also use antibacterial soap for extra insurance, but it’s not always necessary. Just don’t use any dish soap, other harsh soaps, or anything you wouldn’t even wash your hands with.

Step 3: Let it sit for about 10 to 15 seconds, rinse it off, and dry it with some clean paper towels or unused washcloths.

Note: You can also buy a regular spray toy cleaner, spray the toy after use, and clean it under running water while being careful not to get any water near the charging port or battery case if the toy isn’t waterproof.

How to Deep Clean a Vibrator

What you just learned in the previous paragraphs is merely how to clean a vibrator after use. It’s a process you simply must do each and every time after you’re done having fun with your vibrator. Best of all, that’s all the cleaning you need to do with most non-porous sex toys.

Great news, huh?

However, you may also once in a while do a deep clean on all of your vibrators.

A deep clean makes sure to disinfect your vibrator a bit better, ensuring a higher level of safety and stress-free stimulation.

Method 1: First, surface clean the vibrator by following the steps above. Then, fill a clean pot with warm (not boiling hot) water. Submerge the vibrator in the pot, thoroughly clean its entire surface inside the water with a gentle soap or antibacterial soap, and leave it in there to soak for about 5 to 10 minutes.

After that, take it out of the pot, rinse and either dry it with a clean washcloth or let it air dry, and you’re done.

ONLY do Method 1 if your vibrator is fully waterproof, not splashproof. Only WATERPROOF!

Method 2: Get some safety gloves and some bleach. Then, grab a clean spray bottle and fill it with the following formula solution.

Make a 10% bleach solution (10% bleach, 90% water) and spray the toy.

If the vibrator is fully waterproof, you can also just make a 10% solution and let the toy soak there for about 10 minutes.

After that, you need to rinse the toy with water and soap once again to complete the deep cleaning process.

These methods are pretty much all you’ll need to properly deep clean your vibrator. Also, don’t get too stressed about this process.

Most of the time, if you regularly clean your vibrator after each use, you don’t even need to resort to deep cleaning methods.

How NOT To Clean Your Vibrator

So, we’ve basically covered the main and most effective ways to clean all the different types of vibrators out there. But you also need to be aware of ways not to clean vibrators.

Dishwasher

As you may be aware, “vibrator” stands for vibrating sex toy. This means that there is an electrical motor and batteries inside your toy. With this in mind, it would be dangerous to put such a device in a dishwasher.

Yes, dishwashers are actually great for some sex toys, but not for vibrators.

Just with water

Holding the toy under just running water won’t do the trick. You need soap. But, you don’t need expensive soap. That’s the best part and is why cleaning vibrators is so easy. All you need is some type of gentle or mild soap, or even antibacterial soap (and a sex toy cleaner if you have one). That’s all there is to it!

Use sex toy cleaner in addition to cleaning the vibrator with water and soap, not instead of it!

Boiling

Once again, yes, boiling some sex toys is an amazing way to remove 100% of the bacteria on their surface. But, this is absolutely terrible for vibrators. With this in mind, NEVER BOIL YOUR VIBRATOR.

How Often Do You Have to Clean Your Vibrator?

When it comes to surface cleaning a vibrator, you have to do this after every single use. Even then, sometimes bacteria will remain on the surface and can build up over time.

In this case, you may need to occasionally perform a deep clean if you are suspicious of your vibrator’s cleanliness. However, you don’t need to go overboard and use the bleach solution too often. All you need is to do a more thorough clean with warm water and mild soap most of the time.

The bleach method is for very old toys that you still want to keep using or toys that have gotten extremely dirty in a short period of time.

What Happens If You Don’t Clean Your Vibrator?

If you fail to properly clean your vibrators, there is always the chance of getting bacterial infections. Not that this will always be the case, but it is definitely not worth risking it. Especially when learning how to clean a vibrator is remarkably easy.

Main Takeaways on How to Clean Vibrator

• For non-porous vibrators, all you need is warm water and gentle soap. It’s that easy!
• We really suggest you buy a sex toy cleaner. Seriously. Just do it. It doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s a very handy way to clean a vibrator and the bottle will serve you a long time. Also, you don’t have to use it each and every time (though you can) but just once in a while. I use it once every 3-6 uses just in case.
• Never clean vibrators by boiling them in water.
• Do not fully submerge your vibrator underwater if it’s not waterproof or if it’s only splashproof.
• It’s always better to use condoms on porous vibrators.
• You won’t regret doing a quick clean before using vibrators as well, especially with silicone ones as they attract a lot of dust and lint.
• Storing your vibrator properly is a huge part of cleaning it and ensuring it has a long lifespan.

Summary

The main thing you should remember from this guide is that learning how to clean a vibrator and doing it after each use is extremely important. It’s highly preferred for everyone who owns and uses any type of sex toy, not just vibrators.

With this in mind, now you also know how to clean a vibrator after use, how to do a deep clean, and other important facts to keep in mind before and after you do the cleaning.