How to Know if a Sex Toy is Really Silicone?

Premium sex toys are almost always made from materials that are durable, waterproof, and body-friendly. These include stainless steel, borosilicate glass, and medical-grade silicone, and we think that these are all great choices. But when you’re paying premium prices for premium sex toys, you want to make sure that you get what you’re paying for. Our tech reporter and analyst, Andy K, is going to help us understand how to tell if a sex toy is actually made from silicone. Read on, and get ready to play mad scientist!

1. Check the Label and Packaging

Good sex toys from reputable manufacturers and retailers will be clearly labeled; if they are not, you should consider if you want to do business with a business that does not take your safety seriously. You should know exactly what you are putting on or in your body. Look for terms like “medical-grade silicone,” “body-safe silicone,” “body-friendly silicone,” or “100% silicone.” Manufacturers that use expensive, high-quality components will want you to know that.

2. Give It a Smell Test

Genuine silicone has no smell of its own. It can absorb odors over time, but a brand-new toy straight out of the package should not have any noticeable smell. Make sure that you are smelling the body of the toy and not the packaging, which may have smells of its own.

But if you do notice a chemical smell or a plastic smell, this is a sign that the toy may be made of inferior materials. You don’t want to buy a product that’s been deliberately mislabeled, because if a manufacturer cuts corners in one area of safety, they probably also do so in others. And even if it is made of genuine silicone, the presence of an odor indicates that it has been contaminated and therefore may not be body-safe.

3. Check the Feel and Texture

Good-quality silicone toys have smooth, soft, somewhat flexible surfaces. They should have a consistent texture without holes, pores, or other imperfections. Silicone is by nature non-porous, so it can’t absorb liquids; therefore, it should not feel tacky, sticky, or moist. If you have high-end silicone utensils in your kitchen, you can compare them to the sex toy in question. It should feel similarly smooth and solid.

4. Try the Flame Test — Carefully

Dangerous Lilly advises that the flame test is a very reliable way to determine the authenticity of a silicone item, if you are comfortable trying it. Silicone does not burn and it is heat-resistant, which is one of the reasons why it is so sought-after in kitchen tools.

To do a flame test, you will hold a flame to your silicone sex toy. I suggest using a yellow flame and not a blue one (which burns hotter). We also recommend that you try this on a small area at the base of the toy. True silicone will not hold the flame and it will self-extinguish when the flame is removed. It won’t melt, but it may turn to ash — this is why you should test a small, inconspicuous area.

5. Pinch It and Pull It

Real silicone will stretch but it won’t deform and it won’t tear easily. Pinch a small area of your silicone sex toy and pull it gently. You should be able to stretch it, but then it should quickly revert back to its original form. Lesser materials will tear instead of stretch, or they will stay pinched and not return to the same shape they had before.

Some non-silicone materials have similar elasticity, so “passing” the pinch test does not prove that your sex toy is genuine silicone — but if it fails, it definitely is not and you should return it to the manufacturer or retailer (and let them know why!).

6. Turn Up the Heat

As we mentioned regarding the flame test, real silicone can handle very high temperatures. If you are not comfortable playing with fire (and this is very reasonable), you can do a hot water test instead. Boil some water in a pan large enough to hold the entire sex toy, and then submerge it for a few minutes. Use tongs to remove it and examine it. It should not melt, deform, or show any changes in the texture. Basically, it should look exactly the same as before you boiled it. If it does, this suggests that it is likely authentic silicone.

7. Shop Carefully

The best way to get sex toys that you can trust is to buy them from trustworthy manufacturers and retailers. I recommend Lovehoney, SheVibe, and Peep Show Toys, but this is not an exhaustive list. Good sex toy sellers make quality and transparency a priority, and they understand that their reputation is their greatest asset. They will provide clear and complete information about all the sex toys that they sell.

Shopping from established, reputable retailers not only ensures that you get genuine and good-quality toys, but it sends a message that we as consumers expect this level of honor and honesty. Don’t settle for less, and don’t support vendors that offer less.

8. Do Your Research

We think that we are one of the best places on the Internet for this kind of research, and we hope that you do too, but we know that we’re not the only ones. There are plenty of forums, including an entire subreddit, where users share reviews and experiences about the sex toys in their lives. This kind of grassroots research helps you make informed decisions.

9. Consider Professional Testing

This is not necessarily practical or cost-effective for most folks and most sex toys, but if you have reason to believe that an item (especially a very expensive item) is not what it claims to be, you may want to know for your own peace of mind. There are laboratories that are able to run material composition tests to verify what your toy is actually made of. One example is Intertek.

Final Thoughts

If you pay for a silicone sex toy (and sometimes we pay a lot for silicone sex toys!), you want to be sure that you have a silicone sex toy. Obviously, we want what we paid for, and we don’t want to support manufacturers and retailers that are anything other than completely honest and transparent. But also, there are real benefits to the silicone material, and we want to enjoy those benefits. Heat resistance means that we can clean and sterilize the toys, a smooth non-porous surface means that it won’t harbor bacteria, and elasticity means that it won’t stretch out of shape.

Happy vibing!

Andy

Andy is a tech analyst covering major industry trends and emerging innovations. With more than 15 years of experience in Silicon Valley, he brings sharp insight and real-world context to every story.