What materials are used to make sex dolls?

Silicone and TPE are the most common materials in the sex doll industry today. Although, the choice of material becomes one of the first decisions you will need to make. Sex dolls made of silicone and TPE are among the top rated in the market, but there are also other options, such as thermoplastic, that are worth considering.

These two materials are usually the most popular because they are so realistic. They're also extremely comfortable, and with some practice you'll feel more like you're really there. Knowing the pros and cons of both options will guide you in making the right decision that will work best for you.

In the market for sex dolls? Did you know there is a sexual fetish called "Dollification"; a sexual fetish wherein one partner is transformed into a doll through makeup, mannerisms, or even plastic surgery. Know more about in our article on kinks, Why Do You Have A Kink?

TPE Sex Dolls

Thermoplastic Elastomer, or TPE is made of rubber and plastic, and possesses properties from both materials. This makes TPE dolls more flexible, slip resistant and shock absorbent. They are the most affordable of dolls.

Silicone Sex Dolls

The best sex dolls are made of silicone, a man-made material that is rubbery, heat resistant, and available in a number of forms. With so many uses and so many products made out of it, silicone is an incredibly versatile material. It's used to make baby teething rings, kitchen spatulas, breast implants for cosmetic surgery, and other products. Silicone sex dolls have have proven to be the highest quality available.

How can you tell TPE from silicone?

TPE is a thermoplastic elastomer, often called thermoplastic rubber. It is a very resistant type of plastic that can be stretched up to 5 times in length and is also soft and relatively inexpensive. That is why it is often used for various products that are in everyday use.

Silicone is a polymer that is found in many things. It is used for food packaging, dental fillings, caulking, flooring, toys, and even condoms. It's also an excellent heat resistant material. It's a wonderful material to use when you need to do something that needs to stay warm or hot.

The feeling

Everyone wants a very realistic feeling, and feel is something that will be very interesting. Both materials are soft and provide a realistic level of realism.

Silicone dolls give you a realistic feeling for things like the vagina, mouth, and other parts of the body. The body parts like breasts are very similar, as far as the exterior is concerned. Silicone is the slightly better option here, but generally speaking there is no big difference.

With TPE dolls, you'll have a look that's more realistic than silicone. They'll feel smooth, and the first time you'll touch them, you'll wonder how they look so realistic. You'll first have to decide if you want the feeling or look more important to you.

Whats better silicone or TPE?

Silicone has strong abrasion resistance and high temperature resistance, while TPE has better flexibility, but it's easy to deform and have permanent deformation. Even though they have a lot of difference, there is no "better" option. It is up to the customers to decide what is most important to them, whether it is the look, the price, the maintenance, or the feeling. Both materials are safe, soft and hypoallergenic, which makes them suitable for the vast majority of people.

Choose what's best for you, don't let people on the internet convince you otherwise. It is extremely important to be objective and find a basis to choose, yes. But, there's no use buying something you KNOW you won't enjoy.

Related: Maintaining Sex Toys

When did sex toys get invented?

The sex toy industry is one of the few industries that's both a grower and a shower. A few years ago, there wasn’t anything like it. It’s fun to think about sex toys, and even more fun to use them. In 29,000 BC, Neanderthals in the Swabian Jura region of what is now Germany began carving rocks into phallic shapes.

Sex toys have gotten a little more innovative and a lot weirder since ancient Greece. A variety of odd things were made as "toys". For some reason, though, most of them were stuffed with old loaves of bread. They were called olikbokkollikes, which are almost as difficult to pronounce as they are to wrap your mind around. Greeks first discovered how to lube up by using olive oil.

Related: 7 Steps to Get Your Wife to Use Sex Toys

Did they have sex toys in the Middle Ages?

Yes. During the 1300s, the Chinese became particularly good at manufacturing sex toys, and they included Ben Wa Balls stuffed with animal semen, cock rings made of goat eyelids, and double sided dildos.

Dildos weren't actually called by that name until around 1400 AD, but, back then, they were referred to as "pleasure" by the Italians or "dilett o" in their language.

1600s onwards

In the 1600s, French sailors invented the first sex doll. They called these "dames de voyage". In 1800s era England, fragile men began labelling anxious or unhappy women as having hysteria. It continued until the 1950s, it was treated with intense genital stimulation, among other things.

Hysteria spread like wildfire, and doctors were helpless, so the story goes that they invented vibrating machines to make women orgasms with less effort. The old-school sex toys have come a long way. They are not just for women anymore, they are for couples who want to spice things up in the bedroom.

American doctor, George Taylor was not the first to create a brain-controlled robotic arm, as there are many people who have done it before him, though. Joseph Morton Granville invented the first patent, named “Granville’s Hammer".

People used vibrators for a long time before it became common for them to be used for sexual pleasure. While they are often used for sex now, they originated to help relieve muscle cramps. Vibrators have been marketed as a bunch of different things throughout the 20th century, including scalp massagers, weight loss tools, and pain relievers.

The Magic Wand, a battery powered massager, came out in Japan around the same time. The women began using it for themselves. 'Back pain' caused demand to go up. In 1983, Japanese manufacturers like Vibratex started making vibrators that look like harmless (and sometimes cute) things. Some were modeled after animals, such as kangaroos, turtles, and rabbits, and came in bright colors.

Another major sex toy innovation came in 1995 when the Fleshlight was developed. Initially created to help collect samples from sperm donors. They soon discovered that the market for it could be bigger than they had anticipated and they started selling it. A few years later, RealDoll made its debut. RealDolls used silicone and mechanical joints to provide the most realistic faux experience of being with a woman to date. A far cry from the straw dames de voyage.

Thanks to the anonymity of the internet and ever evolving technological innovations, we're now living in the golden age of sex toys.

What was the first recorded sex toy?

A 30,000 year old siltstone phallus is regardes as the world's oldest known sex toy and it doubles as a fire starter. What an ingenious invention! It is said to have been made around 1,800 years ago, although some experts believe it could be older.

The relic was found in a cave in Germany and is being studied at the University of Tubingen. The find was rare since examples of "masculinity" from that time period are rare to find. The prehistoric phallus has marks where it was used for striking against flints, and carved rings around one polished end. It's easy to see what it was being used for. The multitasking tool was pieced together from more than a dozen fragments that were found in a cave complex.

Want to know how to care for your sex toy so that it wouldn't be regarded as a 30,000 year old artifact also? Check out our article here; on Maintaining Sex Toys.