Ask Lilly: How Can I Remove Butt Odors From My Silicone Sex Toys?

13 Tips to remove odors from your butt plug - photo shows a purple butt plug on a kitchen towel with coconut oil, vinegar and baking soda containers in the backgroundMany people like to wear a butt plug overnight or during the day, and we’re all told that silicone is a fabulous sex toy material – truly body-safe, essentially non-porous1, able to be sanitized, etc. Yet for all day wear like this it’s a secondary material to glass or stainless steel. Some people are not able to afford a good glass or steel butt plug or may have found that the material doesn’t feel as comfortable to them for all day wear2, so they stick with silicone only to find that sometimes when the plug is removed it basically smells like a fart. When you’re dealing with butt play, shit happens3.

I’ve talked to people who have even experienced some staining if they wore it for long enough and their rectum wasn’t completely free of fecal matter4; this can happen after one use or slowly over time. They all wonder how this can happen with silicone, it’s non-porous! It’s safe! Yes, but this isn’t uncommon. I’ve had it happen with silicone kitchen stuff – never let tomato sauce stick around on those more expensive, softer silicone spatulas, let me tell you. Also, never use a silicone ice cube tray for making ice cubes from anything smelly5. Softer silicone is more apt to staining. If the staining issue would be a concern to you, then purchase black or very dark-colored silicone plugs.

From what I’ve read the odors on your silicone sex toy tend to happen because the bond between the oil-soluble odors and the silicone is strong. One of the better tips I’ve seen therefore involves oil – smearing the silicone plug with coconut oil for a little while and then washing it well with a very mild soap and hot tap water. I’ve also heard that if you use a plant-based oil as your lube (and thoroughly coat the silicone toy with it) it can prevent the odors from clinging to the silicone.  Many people have reported that boiling their sex toy does nothing – while some have reported that a long (30 minutes) boil has helped.

Keep in mind that you should consider checking with the manufacturer of your plug before trying these. Tantus specifically has recommending baking but will this work for cheap $20 silicone butt plugs? I don’t know. I’d assume so, but I’m obviously not an expert on every brand.

13 Tips for removing odors from your butt plug:

  1. DO NOT shove the stinking plug into a plastic bag or other container and shut it. This will only trap the odors and make it worse.
  2. Try to simply air it out for a day or three. Even better if you can get it exposed to sunlight for awhile.
  3. Boil it! Add a little vinegar to the water, but don’t boil straight vinegar. This only works if the toy is 100% silicone, no other materials. (this option has worked less often)
  4. Bake it! Yep. Start out at 250 degrees for 20 minutes6. This only works if the toy is 100% silicone, no other materials.
  5. Some menstrual-cup companies recommend a brief soak in hydrogen peroxide, but I’ve also read that this could degrade silicone. Try it as a last resort.
  6. Try soaking it in room-temperature vinegar. A 15-30 minute soak should do the trick. Please be sure to wash it well as soon as you remove it from the soak, soap and water, and then let it air dry for awhile.
  7. Try soaking it in a 10% bleach solution. Please be sure to wash it well as soon as you remove it from the soak, soap and water. (this option has worked less often)
  8. Try soaking it in a liquid solution of Oxyclean for 15-20 minutes. Follow with a good wash in warm tap water and a mild soap.
  9. Create a solution of baking soda water – maybe a cup of baking soda in 4 cups of water, doesn’t need to be scientific. Soak for an hour to a few hours. Rinse well, air dry.
  10. DO NOT ever boil a bleach solution!
  11. Smear it first with coconut oil, let it sit like this for an hour or two and then wash well with mild soap and warm water.
  12. Don’t be afraid to try a few of these tips if one of them doesn’t dispatch the smell/stain 100%
  13. Try a bit of preventative measure: Pick up unlubed condoms (because most use a cheap silicone lube) and cover the plug with the condom; to be extra safe I’d recommend bringing the condom down over the base and tying it off like a balloon.

None of these options will work though if your sex toy isn’t actually silicone. Make sure that it’s not PVC, rubber, TPR, etc. If it is, then simply throw out the stink bomb and buy something in a better material.

If you have additional tips or can report one of these working well/not at all for you, please comment below and let us know!

  1. I say essentially because it is technically porous, but bacteria/mildew/yeast/etc cannot live in the pores
  2. Although every report I’ve had about the Njoy Pure Plugs has deemed the very comfortable for all-day wear
  3. Sorry. I couldn’t resist.
  4. And I think it has to do with your body, your health, etc
  5. Before I found powdered buttermilk I would freeze my liquid buttermilk in cubes since a carton would go bad before it could all be used up in baking recipes – after doing this twice the silicone retained an odor I couldn’t remove, but then I never tried these tricks. It was no doubt the fat in buttermilk making the odor stick around
  6. Tantus has stated it’s safe for their silicone to go to 350 degrees for 30 minutes

11 Responses

  1. o p i u m says:

    You can in theory mask some odor with Dr Bronners castile soaps – turns things from smelling like bum to smelling like mints!

  2. Lunabelle says:

    Seconding this. I have Dr. Bronner’s soap with peppermint oil and a good soak does wonders. Guessing that the mint aroma bonds the same way less pleasant odors do. This also works for tobacco smoke odors if a toy was stored in a smoker’s home and has a lingering scent.

  3. Actually I wonder if it’s the oils in the stuff? The bad odors stick to the oils and the peppermint stays behind? I assume you’ve never noticed a peppermint scented vagina from using toys cleaned this way? LOL oh the image I just had.

  4. Lunabelle says:

    I have not experienced that, though you might have just inspired next year’s April Fool post. Also Peppermint Vagina would be an excellent band name…

  5. Pleasure Forge says:

    In the medical device industry we use IPA (rubbing alcohol) to remove leachables from silicones because silicones are hydrophobic. And silicones, despite what toy companies want you to believe, are not inherently body safe OR nonporous. I have yet to see a single company post their ISO 10993-10 certs for their material that would prove they are. Which, if you buy body safe silicone, comes with the raw materials so it’s not as if it’s hard to provide. My guess is that the majority of toy manufacturers buy the less expensive non certified platinum cure silicones and call them body safe knowing that since they are selling as novelties they don’t have to back up their claim. Probably related to why so many “non porous” toys absorb odors so readily.

  6. Pleasure Forge says:

    This is actually a pretty good guess. Silicone does not like polar solvents, like wate, but it’s tots fine with non polar solvents like most oils and alcohols and will let them solvate chemicals that are absorbed into the material. Water can generally only get at the surface contaminate.

  7. Sara Testarossa says:

    Gonna have to try more of these. Tried to be preventive with tip 13 but it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. Odor clung to a dildo after only one use *with a nonlubricated condom on*, even after washing, which was surprising (my nose is very sensitive to butt smells though). It’s sitting out airing for now, and if that doesn’t work I’ll try vinegar soak or baking soda solution soak. Fingers crossed.

    Told my partner before using it on him it was going to be an anal only toy for him only but that’s given my paranoia about butt bacteria getting places they don’t belong. I didn’t expect it to pick up an odor through a nonlubricated condom.

    Now I’m wondering if it’s not actually silicone. It’s a Blush dual density Ergo (from the real nude line) and iirc other recent Blush silicone has been legit (Blush has questionable morality in some ways I know but I kinda hope they don’t lie about their silicone). I’m not sure if I want to attempt a flame test.

    Sigh. Maybe I should have sprung for Tantus instead (does anyone have any experience with if their dual density has odor retention issues?). But none of the dual density ones my store has were the right size/shape and I really wanted to take advantage of my significant discount, and have the dildo THAT DAY because sometimes you need one urgently XD.

  8. Sara Testarossa says:

    I loved that soap as a kid. I should get some for old time’s sake and to try for this. Thanks for the idea!

  9. Pat says:

    I travel a lot, & found that cheap hotel hair conditioner (the kind that looks like key lime pie filling or spoiled milk) works MIRACLES to remove ass smell – I also use it to clean my anus thoroughly (never had any irritation)

  10. Sara Testarossa says:

    I meant to reply to this ages ago with an update. Better late than never.

    Letting it sit out for a few days near a window for exposure to sunlight did the trick.

    Also I’m convinced it’s really silicone. it passed the flame test pretty obviously. And then I got a little fire happy and flame tested another dildo and my contact lens that I was gonna trash that night anyway. Heh. (Hey, I remembered reading contact lenses were one of few things made of at least near Crystal clear silicone).

  11. The Palimpsex says:

    So appreciative of this article. Only wish discussions like these were happening more in the sex blogging universe, maybe then odors would be less stigmatized.