Water-Damaged Toy: What to Do in the First Hour
Water inside a toy is a race, and the race is not about drying — it is about corrosion. In the first hour nothing has corroded yet. By the next day, contacts have started to oxidize, and by the end of a week the corrosion has usually reached a point where the toy charges unreliably forever even if it survives. What you do in the first sixty minutes decides almost everything.
This is the sequence, in order, with the three things people do that make it permanently worse.
The Short Answer
Do not turn it on. Do not plug it in. Do not charge it. Shake out the visible water, wipe the exterior, remove any removable parts, then leave it somewhere warm and dry with moving air for at least 48 hours — not rice, not a hairdryer, not the oven. Test only after two full days.
Powering a wet toy is what converts a recoverable situation into a dead one. Water plus current is what causes the short, not water alone.
The Three Things That Make It Worse
- Turning it on to see if it still works. This is the single most damaging thing you can do, and it is also the most instinctive. If there is water across the contacts, switching on completes a circuit where it should not exist.
- Plugging it in to charge. Same problem, with more current, and now the charging port is involved — which is the component most likely to corrode.
- Rice. Rice does not meaningfully pull moisture out of a sealed enclosure, and rice dust gets into charging ports and seams. It is a myth that has cost a lot of toys.
Also skip the hairdryer on hot and the air fryer and the oven. Heat above roughly 120°F softens adhesives, warps seals, and can distort a silicone shell.
The First Hour, Step by Step
- Get it out of the water and switch it off if it is currently on — long-press the power button rather than unplugging anything.
- Shake it, port-side down, with the charging port facing the floor. Gentle taps against your palm work better than vigorous shaking.
- Remove anything removable — a detachable cap, a sleeve, an attachment, a battery cover.
- Wipe the outside completely with a lint-free cloth, paying attention to the seam and around the buttons.
- Blot the charging contacts with the corner of a dry cloth. Do not insert anything into the port.
- Set it in front of a fan at room temperature, port-side down, on a towel, and leave it alone for 48 hours.
Moving air at room temperature is the effective treatment. If you have silica gel packets, put the toy in a sealed bag with several of them — those genuinely work, unlike rice.
After 48 Hours: Testing
Charge it first, on a hard surface away from anything flammable, and stay in the room. If it charges normally and runs at full power on every setting, you likely got away with it — but run a full cycle over the next week and watch for three warning signs: it will not hold a charge as long as before, it gets warm while charging, or it cuts out at high settings. Any of those means corrosion has started, and corrosion does not stop on its own.
If it does not power on at all after two days of drying, the toy is finished. Do not open a sealed lithium battery enclosure to investigate.
Why Waterproof Ratings Didn't Save It
Worth knowing for next time. "Water-resistant" means splash-proof, and it usually does not survive submersion. "Waterproof" without a rating number is marketing. IPX7 means it can be submerged in about 3 feet of water for 30 minutes — and that rating assumes the charging port cover is fully seated and the toy has not been dropped. The full comparison is worth two minutes before the next purchase.
Also: bath water is not clean water. Soap, bath oil and bubble bath lower surface tension and get past seals that hold against plain tap water. A toy rated IPX7 will often survive a bath, but a bath with bath oil in it is a harder test than the rating was written for. More in what is actually safe in the bath.
Where to Start
If you need a replacement that genuinely tolerates water, WAVEME at $79 is the one to look at — rated for full submersion rather than splash resistance, with a sealed body that does not depend on a port cover you remembered to close. For a bath-safe routine, POPPING at $79 is compact, IPX7-rated and easy to dry thoroughly afterward. Add Velvet Touch Lubricant at $21 — water-based, and it rinses out without leaving a film that clogs seals.
- WAVEME — $79 — fully submersible, the water-safe pick
- POPPING — $79 — IPX7, small enough to dry completely
- Velvet Touch Lubricant — $21 — water-based; silicone lube degrades seals over time
Related: charging safety and what to do about port corrosion. Browse the full Customer Favorites collection. Prices are list prices in USD.
Sources
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) — lithium battery safety, water damage and charging guidance
- International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) — IPX ingress protection rating definitions
- Planned Parenthood — sex toy cleaning, drying and storage guidance
- National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) — consumer guidance on damaged lithium-ion devices
Written by the GETAUVE Editorial Team. This article is general education and not medical advice. Prices are list prices in USD and may change.