Hi, silly question but I don’t know who else to ask! I have a dildo, I think it’s made of soft plastic that I usually use vaginally. The other day I put a condom on it and used it anally. Is it OK to use it vaginally again since I used a condom or should I relegate this one to anal play only?
Done this a few times, condoms are great barrier when it comes to all that stuff. Ill put them in a toy and tie a knot sometimes just to make sure lol. You can always give it a little wash just to make your self feel better about the situation. But it may be nicer to just get a butt toy anyways for the future, save the hassle or worry.
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I’d be careful about putting condoms on soft plastic toys as the lube in the condom can interact with the material of the dildo.
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It’s not a silly question at all. It’s also not a simple one to answer as there are quite a few unknowns about this so let me give you some of the things to think about and then you can make a decision:
- Soft plastic is a porous material so using it in multiple holes without a barrier does risk bacteria being transferred between these holes.
- To soften plastic, plasticisers are added. These are often contain oil. Oil will degrade latex condoms. If your toy had a chemical smell then you are risking the condom breaking anyway.
- Most standard condoms are lubricated with silicone lube. Silicone lube isn’t generally compatible with soft plastic. There isn’t any real testing in this to see if a small amount of lube, used for a short period and washed straight off will damage the toy or whether it needs longer exposure.
- Non latex, non lubricated condoms may be a better option however
- Condoms are tested to see if STIs and semen can get through. There is no guarantee all types of bacteria can’t get through (definitely avoid lambskin/natural membrane condoms, they stop semen but have a much lower rate of preventing STIs)
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Always impressed with your encyclopedia of sexual related knowledge.
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Thanks @Toolman31, @steevo68 that’s what I hoped!
@Ian_Chimp That’s interesting, never thought of the effect on the toys! I use non latex condoms which have a silicone lube on them which is the same type as the lube I use personally and have used on my toys for a while (except the silicone ones of course). To be honest, it’s a really old dildo that hasn’t had much use until now so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it didn’t survive long.
Wow @Calie, how do you know all this stuff! Thanks for the info. It seems it wasn’t quite as simple a question as I thought! Maybe I should just invest in a silicone dildo, that would solve most of the problems. Apart from the obvious not being able to use silicone lube of course
Even that’s not quite so simple. 
In a lot of cases you can use good quality silicone lube with a good quality silicone toy. Though there’s so much variation in materials and recipes it can be quite tricky to pin down exactly which with which.
I did a test on a couple of old Mantric and Desire toys using the LH silicone lube, and they were/are fine. But a patch test on an unimportant area is still a good idea.
What can I say, I’m just a geeky wanker.
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I was reading up on this a while ago too because I love a silicone lube and my favorite toys are also silicone. It seems there are conflicting opinions. I’m just going to stick to waterbased for my silicone toys for now.
Brilliant! I’m a geek (and proud!) but a novice when it comes to toys / sex (learning fast though)
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The whole silicon thing always throws me, I have used the lub on plenty of toys no issues, then I tried it in a mid range butt plug that was silicon and said good for all lubes and it got a sticky tar like coating on it rather quickly. There really needs more testing done on this… Maybe a full LH testing board, could use broken toys or something.
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There are also the hybrids like Sliquid Silk. They have a much smaller amount of silicone in, and can be used with silicone toys too. 
Edit: Actually, I remember a previous topic that called that into question too:
It’s a minefield. 
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That would be a near impossible undertaking. There are too many variations in both silicone lube and silicone toys to be able to do it simply. You’d also need a full scientific analysis so it would be ridiculously expensive for what would still probably amount to a list of “lube 1 can be used with toys a,t,z and lube 2 can be used with a,b,n,q lube 3 can’t be used with any, toy m can’t be used with any” etc etc” which would then be coupled with people on the internet saying that they only use lube 3 and all their toys are fine. So, a lot of time and money spent for not much more clarity.
There are some indie dildo makers who do list which lubes they’ve tested on their dildos and are happy to discuss it but that wouldn’t be feasible for a large company like Lovehoney who don’t make all of the products they sell.
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Interesting might have to look at different lubes, I use the pjur silicon which is great for long play.
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Yes this should be completely fine!!
If you think about it condoms are designed to be great barriers so rest assure that the dildo is complexly fine to use vaginally again! xx
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This is a great question that I thought I knew the answer to but I’ve learnt a lot from all the replies.
I never thought to check my favourite condoms for lube type and having checked now find that it’s a mix of silicone and water based lubricant. We use condoms on all our butt toys and I will now look for different condoms specifically for toy use.