THE FEEL

HYGIENE

OTHER PROPERTIES

DURABILITY

PRICE

MY

RATING

Silicone

Smooth, soft, flexible, and jiggly. Silicone resembles real skin. It even retains body heat for a lifelike feel. When you run your hand on silicone you feel no blemishes. Used in high quality sex toys.

Silicone is smooth and not porous. This allows you to sterilize silicone-you can even put it in the dishwasher or boiling water, assuming the sex toy is completely waterproof. Or wash it with soap and hot water.

Silicone is hypo-allergenic-few people are allergic to this material.

Very sturdy and durable. Sex toys made with silicone tend to last a long time.

One of the more expensive materials, but well worth it.

*****

Glass

Look for glass sex toys made from medical grade borosilicate glass ("hard glass") of which Pyrex is a brand-essentially "lead-free crystal." It is smooth and totally rigid. You can change the temperature of glass to your preference. Some people like it cool or even cold for an almost shocking sensation. Others like to put it under warm water and get it more body temperature.

High quality glass dildo sex toys will withstand extreme temperatures as well as physical shock without compromise to it's structural integrity. You can disinfect it in boiling water or wash it in the dishwasher

Quality glass/pyrex is completely non-toxic.

Glass dildo sex toys are very sturdy; however, if hit on a hard surface with enough force they will break. Glass dildos will last forever if handled properly. They can be scratched though.

Expensive due to special hand processing.

*****

Cyberskin

CyberskinTM sex toys will amaze you. These sex toys feel like the skin on a human body. Very realistic. Technically, it is called thermal plastic. While extremely flexible, it has "memory" so it can revert back to it's original form.

CyberskinTM is extremely porous, making it difficult to clean and easy for germs and dirt to hide. (Don't share without a condom) CyberskinTM sex toys are extremely sensitive and should be cleaned following every use with warm water and stored in a clean dry place. (It's very important to follow the manufacturer's instructions on these products.)

CyberskinTM is designed to be used with it's special talc powder to ensure it's lifelike texture. It also has a specially formulated lubricant to use with sex toys made with Cyberskin.

CyberskinTM takes a bit of maintenance but it is well worth it.

Moderately expensive.

*****

Jelly

Jelly sex toys (a kind of rubber) feel good and they're very flexible, but jelly sex toys fall short of silicone. Jelly just doesn't have the feel of skin-not as smooth as silicone. You'll enjoy jelly toys most when adding a water-based lubricant.

Jelly material can't be sterilized like silicone-so no boiling water. You shouldn't use soap either as the chemicals in soap can break down the material. Just use warm water with these sex toys. Since jelly sex toys can't be sanitized they can't be shared-unless you put a condom over them.

You can buy them scented, as jelly's normal scent is slightly rubbery.

Jelly holds up well, but doesn't last nearly as long as silicone.

About half the cost of silicone based sex toys.

****

Plastic

We are all familiar with hard plastic. It does not bend and it's cold. That said, there are many people that like the feel of a smooth, cool, rigid plastic sex toy vibrator-especially for insertion into the vagina. Also, you can really feel the intensity of the vibration with a plastic encased vibrator-no soft silicone, jelly or rubber to absorb the pulsing of the vibe.

Plastic sex toys are easy to clean using a paper towel with rubbing alcohol or soap and hot water, (note: don't submerge any battery operated toy unless it states it is waterproof). However, plastic sex toys dcan melt in boiling water, like in the dishwasher.

It is very rare that someone would be allergic to plastic.

If handled properly, plastic sex toys last a long time. However, plastic can crack or break if thrown or stepped on.

Very inexpensive.

***

Rubber

Latex rubber is the most common material used in sex toys. While rubber sex toys are bendable and somewhat soft, you won't confuse it with the more "real" feel of jelly or silicone. It's much firmer.

Being very porous, latex sex toys do not clean well. You can make a rubber sex toy last longer and keep it cleaner by using a condom over it each use.

Some people are allergic to latex.

Latex rubber won't last nearly as long as either jelly or rubber.

Very inexpensive

**