Cleaning a toy is not the same as sterilising it
Researchers found viral DNA on toys a day after they had been washed.
A study that swabbed sex toys before and after cleaning found human papillomavirus DNA still present afterwards, and still detectable on soft porous toys twenty-four hours later. Hard, non-porous surfaces did considerably better. The finding is about what a material holds onto, not about how carefully anybody washed up.
For a soft porous sleeve the conclusion is short. It belongs to one person and is not shared, not between partners and not between friends as a joke. Where a toy really is going to be used by more than one person, the answer is a condom on it and a new one between people, the same as for anything else.
What to do with it
Treat it like a toothbrush. One owner, no lending, and no using somebody else's, however clean it looks.
If a toy really is going to be shared with a partner, put a condom on it and change it between people. That is the only method that works on a porous material, because washing it does not.
The same rules apply to everything else in the drawer: see cleaning and storage.
