Body-Safe Materials: Silicone vs. TPE vs. ABS

“Body-safe” gets printed on almost every listing, whether or not it’s true. There’s no single regulator checking the claim before a product goes up for sale, so the only real way to know what you’re putting on or in your body is to understand the materials yourself. It’s less complicated than it sounds — there are really only three you’ll run into most often.

Silicone

Medical-grade silicone is non-porous, which is the single most important property a material can have here. Non-porous means bacteria and residue sit on the surface instead of soaking into it, so a proper wash actually gets it clean — no lingering odor, no buildup over time. It also doesn’t degrade the way softer plastics do, so a well-made silicone toy from three years ago should still feel and perform the same as the day it arrived.

The catch: “silicone” isn’t a protected term either, and manufacturers sometimes blend it with cheaper filler material to cut costs while still calling it silicone on the label. A giveaway is price that seems too low for the size and features — pure silicone costs more to produce, and that cost shows up somewhere.

It’s also not just an enthusiast preference — Global Market Insights puts silicone at roughly 41% of material-segment revenue industry-wide, ahead of every other material by a wide margin. When the softness, durability, and ease of cleaning are all real, that shows up in what people actually buy.

TPE and TPR

Thermoplastic elastomer and thermoplastic rubber are what give a lot of realistic-feeling toys their soft, skin-like texture, and they’re a large part of why the mid-range of this market exists at all. The tradeoff is that both are porous. Under a microscope, the surface has tiny gaps that trap bacteria no amount of surface washing fully removes.

That doesn’t make TPE unsafe to use — it means it comes with rules. Use a condom over it if you’re sharing it with a partner or switching between activities without a full wash in between, replace it more often than you would a silicone equivalent (most people find a year or two is reasonable depending on use), and don’t expect it to last indefinitely the way silicone does. If a listing doesn’t say which of the two it is and just says “skin-safe material,” assume TPE and shop accordingly.

The porosity isn’t the only concern with cheaper “jelly”-type plastics, either. Independent lab testing cited in a legal review of the industry — a Greenpeace Netherlands study and a separate Danish government survey — found phthalates (chemical softeners linked to hormone disruption) in some tested toys at concentrations as high as 70% of the product’s total weight. For comparison, US law caps several of the same chemicals at 0.1% in children’s toys. There’s currently no equivalent legal limit for sex toys, which is exactly why checking the material yourself, rather than trusting a vague label, actually matters. See are sex toys actually regulated for the full picture on why that gap exists.

ABS plastic

This is the rigid plastic used for outer shells, handles, and remote controls — the parts that don’t touch skin directly. It’s not a safety concern in the way silicone and TPE are, since it’s not designed for prolonged skin contact. The one thing worth checking is whether any part that does touch skin (a button, a seam) has a cheap coating that can flake or peel with use.

Materials worth knowing about but rarely advertised

Glass, stainless steel, and (less commonly) certain hardwoods are all non-porous and can be body-safe when properly finished — glass and steel in particular can be sterilized in boiling water, which neither silicone nor TPE can handle without risk of damage. They show up less often because they’re more expensive to manufacture and less forgiving in design (no flex, no give), but if you see one from a reputable maker, the material itself isn’t something to worry about.

What to actually check before you buy

Does the listing name the specific material, or just say “body-safe” with nothing else? Vague language is the biggest red flag.
Avoid “jelly” or “jelly rubber” entirely — this is an older, low-grade material that’s fallen out of use among serious manufacturers for good reason, and it still shows up on marketplaces with no oversight.
A strong chemical smell right out of the packaging usually means low-grade plasticizers off-gassing. Body-safe silicone is essentially odorless.
If you can’t find the manufacturer’s name anywhere, or they don’t have a real website, that’s worth weighing against the price.

Bottom line

If you only remember one thing: non-porous materials (silicone, glass, steel) are the safer long-term bet and porous ones (TPE, TPR) are fine with the right precautions and a shorter replacement cycle. Neither is “wrong” — it’s a genuine tradeoff between upfront cost and ongoing maintenance.

Phthalate testing data via Stabile, E. (2013). Getting the Government in Bed: How to Regulate the Sex-Toy Industry. Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, 28(1), 161–184.