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Your Nightstand Is a Biohazard—Start With Your Sex Toys

Time to clear out that cum dump.

By Gigi Fong | Reviewed by Ysolt Usigan

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Your nightstand might look sexy and harmless, but if you haven’t cleaned that drawer in a while, congrats, sexy. You’ve basically been curating a tiny, chaotic Petri dish of cum dust, lube residue, and questionable life choices.

Yeah. You’re gonna want to deep cleaning your sex toy drawer, but with special attention to the toys that literally spend most of their time inside of you.

Why It’s Important to Wash Your Sex Toys

We’re not going to judge you based on the last time you cleaned your toys but…. let’s not go too long without doing that moving forward. Unsanitary toys can lead to fungal infections, yeast infections, urinary tract infections… Literally any kind of infection can breed and grow without good hygiene. That’s not even considering sexually transmitted infections.

As Planned Parenthood shared, infections can be spread if the objects are shared and someone has an infection. AKA: If one lover has an infection, and you’re not cleaning toys, you can pass on those germs to yourself and other lovers when using that same toy.

How Long Do Sex Toys Last?

By the grace of science and every higher power, most sex toys are meant to last up to a decade. That means that you don’t have to go through your sex toy drawer or bag every 6 months, as you do with perfume or makeup, to dispose of expired products. Haven’t been doing that? Add that to the list, too.

DOES sex LUBE EXPIRE?

Yes, lube does expire. According to sexual wellness leader Lovehoney and Dr. Megan Fleming, who medically reviewed the article, “If a lube is organic, then, yes, it can expire. This is because all the ingredients are plant-based, which are perishable. Check your labels! Some personal lubricants need to be kept in the fridge, so they last longer.”The World Health Organization (WHO) says that “lubricants shall have a minimum shelf life of 3 years from the date of manufacture.” Make sure you’re checking your lubes for a shelf life symbol with a number of in it indicating its shelf life.

Some signs that your lube has expired are oil-based lubes smelling rancid, the consistency of water-based lubes being… not right or the same as when you first opened it. Generally, if it’s been a year since you last changed your lube,........

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