Materials Information
WHAT IS TPE?
TPE stands for ThermoPlastic Elastomer. Which essentially describes how it's made.
TPE is a rubber like material (elastomer), that melts when heated, and hardens when cooled. So it is processed like a plastic under heat (thermoplastic). Combined with other oils and chemicals, the end result is a product that has great elasticity, retains it's overall shape, jiggles, and has a huge range of firmness options.
But why does this matter? Why would you need to know this?
There are a number of attributes that are unique to TPE, that can guide you to making a properly informed purchase. It isn't just a discussion for collectors or academics.
Price
The main advantage to using TPE is price. By far, the items you most encounter will be made with TPE.
TPE is cheaper to acquire, and faster to manufacture. And so the savings from using this material are passed on to the customer. In the vast majority of cases, TPE toys will be cheaper than silicone equivalents.
Does this mean TPE is "cheap"?
The accurate answer to this is; it depends.
Molecular Structure
The structure of TPE is "loose", meaning that at it's very core, it's unstable. This "unstableness" is exactly what makes TPE an attractive material however. It can be stretched to 3x it's size without tearing, is easier to repair because of how it responds to heat, is lighter than silicone, and can provide a good analogue to human skin. There are some down sides to this structure however.
TPE toys use fillers to help bind things together, but mostly as a further cost reduction measure. The primary filler is mineral oil. Using the picture to the left as an example, the clear liquid represents the mineral oil, and the coloured balls the TPE. You can see this oil helps bind the structure together, but it also showcases that the excessive oil presents a problem: Leaking.
The cheaper the TPE toy, the more oil is used.
Therefore the toy itself will feel oily, and will leak. This will cause staining on whatever the TPE is sitting on, and will leach other oils from other toys it touches. This means you will need to powder these items more often in order to keep the matte, non-tacky finish that often comes from the factory. Cheap TPE toys will also smell and requires time to off gas/dissipate, though this can be mitigated with washing and powdering.
You can also deduce the second largest problem that TPE has: Porosity.
TPE is porous, and so it is safe to assume that whatever gets on TPE, gets in TPE. Highly susceptible to colour and pattern transferring, this material requires an increased amount of care and maintenance.
High Quality TPE
We've established that low end TPE will use more filler to further drop costs. BUT BE CAREFUL! Because the price of an item does not always correlate with the quality of the item. Reputable brands (what we sell on this site) use smaller amounts of filler, and have little to no smell.
Higher quality TPE toys also possess increased durability, shape retention, and reduced yellowing with age. Properly maintained, your TPE toy can last for up to 5 years before requiring replacement, and is also recommended to do so. The porosity of TPE only increases with age, and since the material can never be sterilized, it's important to replace the old ones.
Are All TPE Toys Soft Then?
No!
This is completely up to the manufactures recipe. Some toys have more filler and end up extremely soft and floppy. Others have far more Thermoplastic in them and are quite stiff.
The scale to determine the firmness of something is called the Shore Hardness Scale. The Shore Hardness Scale is used to determine the hardness of certain materials in a category. For example, The Shore 00 scale is used for materials such as rubbers or gels, whereas the Shore A scale is used for materials like flexible mold rubbers. There is overlap between scales, but TPE and silicone will most often be included in the Shore A scale.
From the example to the left, you can see that the rubber bands can be measured both in Shore 00 and in Shore A. This is because the Shore 00 scale is more applicable to softer materials. There's nothing in the Shore A scale that is softer than 0, and so TPE and silicone fall into Shore A because they are never softer than that. Shore 00 of 60 = Shore A of 20.
TPE sex toys can run from a 0-60 Shore A. 60 feels hard, especially on your genitals, but it's only classified as Medium Hard on the official scale. So toys that are labelled as "Hard" or "Firm" on this site will generally refer to a MAXIMUM rating of 60, as this reflects what most people would consider to be "hard".
Important to note here, is that the more hard the material, the less elasticity it has, therefore more prone to tearing or breaking.
Conclusions
Pros
- affordable
- jiggly
- non-toxic (unless toxic chemicals are added to the mixture, in order to further reduce the price of manufacturing)
- variety of firmness options
- repairable
- retains it's shape fairly well
- stretchy
- partial colouring available
Cons
- vulnerable to heat
- vulnerable to shearing
- porous
- leak oils
- smelly (though higher quality TPE toys reduce this greatly)
- less detailed designs
Overall Rating
Price: 3/5
Safety: 4/5
Longevity: 3/5
Detail: 3/5
Realism: 4/5
WHAT IS SILICONE?
Silicone is a rubber. More accurately, it's a Thermoset, Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR). Thermoset is fundamentally different than Thermoplastics mentioned above.
Thermosets undergo an irreversible chemical change called "curing" when heated or mixed with a catalyst. In the case of LSR, the catalyst is platinum. The process combines two elastomers, and a curing phase facilitated by platinum. The end result is a product that is high in tensile strength with a high shape retention, realistic jiggle, and extreme heat tolerance.
But why does this matter?
Platinum cured silicone is widely regarded as the gold standard in silicone products. This standard however comes with an increase in cost.
It's Expensive
The number one thing you will first notice, and can rely upon for determining material, is price. Practically every silicone toy you will find, will cost more than an equivalent TPE version. And this is true for small onaholes all the way up to full sized dolls.
Molecular Structure
After the curing process completes, silicone becomes rigid at the molecular level. The bonds hold without the need for fillers or additives. What this translates to at the macro scale, is a number of impressive qualities.
Stability
Silicone possess strong shape, texture, and colour retention. Fine details are imparted onto the material (moles, goosebumps, razor bumps etc.) and they persist even after years of washing. Breasts won't sag, colours won't wash away, and it is not susceptible to surface texture transmission (textures or patterns that may "transfer" onto to another material)
Extreme Heat Resistance
Silicone can be properly disinfected with high heat. Dildos can be boiled! This isn't to say silicone is immune to extreme temperatures, but it will not melt. Instead, it will char and crumble.
Non Porous
Unlike TPE, silicone does not absorb lube, fluids, foreign colours etc. And it also does not leak anything out. There's actually nothing in silicone to leak; it's free from fillers and plasticizers!
Drawbacks
There is much less to consider when looking at buying a silicone toy. But there are some very important things to know.
Allergic Reactions
Some members of the population are allergic to silicone, though this is exceedingly rare. The cause for the reaction is more often due to contamination of the silicone product, instead of the silicone itself.
Irritation
Another issue that can occur is Irritant Contact Dermatitis. This is caused by friction or pressure of the silicone on your body. Silicone can feel harder than TPE, and can also require more lube to reduce the friction during play. Keep that in mind when using silicone toys, that a good lube can remove this issue altogether.
Tearing and Repairs
Silicone, though durable, is not immune to tearing. And due to it's ability to retain it's shape, a tear in silicone often results in an ugly repair, never returning to the original smooth finish. This is largely due to the fact that you cannot add more silicone to the final product, and it won't melt back together under heat. Repairing TPE however allows you to glue and shape the tear back together, resulting in a much cleaner finish.
This may not be an issue if you only plan to purchase handheld onaholes, as both TPE and Silicone onaholes are "affordable" enough to repurchase after degradation. But if you're choosing to spend $600, or potentially over $1000, you're going to want to know how to implement some DIY repairs.
Is Silicone Soft?
If we take a look at our Shore Hardness scale again, we can see where silicone will most often lie. Dragon Skin is a brand of silicone that's widely used in makeup and prosthetics for movies, as well as sex toy production, and therefore the range of hardness is what customers would identify as soft - medium.
Interesting to note here, is that the Shore range is reduced on silicone compared to TPE. That's not to say all silicone feels the same, but on the extreme ends of things, TPE is more likely to be what you'll end up buying.
Onaholes, dolls, breasts etc. can vary in hardness, but generally speaking they will belong in the 10-30 category. Dilidos occupy the 40+ range, and vibrators somewhere in the 10-30 range. Vibrators often feel stiff because they are plastic that is wrapped in soft silicone, so it is not the silicone itself causing the feeling of hardness.
Conclusions
Pros
- extremely durable
- non porous
- non-toxic
- variety of firmness options
- can be sterilized
- retains it's shape
- highly detailed designs and molds
- many different colour and pattern options
- odorless or neutral scent
Cons
- expensive
- repairs are generally ugly
- allergic reactions in some people
Overall Rating
Price: 2/5
Safety: 5/5
Longevity: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Realism: 5/5
Which One Feels Better?
This is the question on everyone's mind, and truth be told, the answer is subjective. But let's break this down so you can make a choice on where to spend your money.
If you took a flat slab of TPE and silicone, and placed them next to each other, TPE could feel more like real skin. In part, this is the reason companies use TPE for the products, but label them as proprietary formulas. CyberSkin, Fanta Flesh, Real Touch. etc. are all just TPE with different ratios of TPE and filler. TPE is generally softer on the touch, and allows your fingers and hands to "sink" into the material more. Generally speaking, TPE is less dense than human skin and muscle, so touching it feels more like squishy skin and fat.
Silicone will generally feel more taught, with a density closer to human muscle; more like an athletes body. But the real advantage of silicone comes in texturing:
High quality dolls, torsos, hips etc. take advantage of the pattern retention that silicone provides. Human skin is uneven. There's bumps, colour changes, roughness changes etc. and only silicone can provide those additional textures. TPE may feel more closely to human skin if you remove any additional factors. But silicone provides a much higher level of realism once textures (and paint!) are applied.
Silicone has no smell or taste, which makes it a much better option than TPE for oral play.
Both materials allow for multiple layers of different densities to be included in one toy. Silicone allows for Liquid Silicone to be used inside breasts, to further enhance the realism. TPE can use multiple hardness options as well to make a toy that is stiff on the outside but soft in the middle.