Silicone, ABS, and TPE: A Plain Comparison
Three words on the box decide how it feels, how it cleans, and how long it lasts before it goes tacky.
Most listings name these materials without explaining the trade. This compares all three in plain terms, then shows how to tell them apart by hand.
The Short Answer
Silicone for anything that touches skin, ABS for anything rigid, and TPE only if you accept a short lifespan. Silicone is non-porous and holds up for years. ABS is the shell, the handle, and the buttons. TPE feels soft and costs less, but it's porous, it absorbs oils, and it typically goes tacky within 6 to 12 months.
Three Materials, Three Jobs
Silicone is the soft, skin-contact layer. It's flexible, it tolerates heat, and it doesn't hold onto much. A good piece will still feel the same after 2 years of weekly use.
ABS is the hard plastic underneath. It's the shell, the collar, and the battery door, and it's what gives a device its shape.
TPE is the soft alternative to silicone. It's cheaper, it stretches further, and it degrades faster.
Most devices use at least two of the three. A silicone head on an ABS body is standard, and that combination is fine. On a Sunday, with both in front of you, the difference is obvious: silicone feels cooler and springs back faster.
Silicone: What It Is and Isn't
Real silicone is non-porous at the surface. That means it doesn't absorb moisture, oil, or lubricant, which is why it cleans with soap and water rather than a scrub.
It's also stable. A quality silicone piece can last years without changing texture, and it doesn't take a smell.
The catch is that "silicone" on a label covers a range. A platinum-cure silicone with a 2 mm skin is a different product from a silicone-blend coating over foam.
If a listing says silicone blend, assume the blend includes something else, and treat the surface as semi-porous.
ABS: The Rigid Parts
ABS is the plastic used for shells, handles, and buttons, and there's nothing inferior about it. It's hard, it holds tolerances, and it doesn't flex when a motor runs.
A 2 mm ABS wall is what keeps a housing from drumming. That's an acoustic job as much as a structural one.
ABS is also easy to clean, and it doesn't react with water-based lubricant. It will react with some silicone-based lubricants over time, which is one reason water-based is the safer default.
The limitation is feel. ABS is hard by definition, so it's used where hardness is the point.
TPE: The One to Think About
TPE is a thermoplastic elastomer, and it's genuinely soft. It stretches, it warms quickly, and it costs less than silicone.
It's also porous at a microscopic level. That means it absorbs moisture and oils, and once it does, it's hard to get them out.
Practically, a TPE piece has a working life of 6 months with regular use, and 12 months at the outside. After that it can feel tacky, hold a smell, or develop surface cracks. At 11 p.m., with the lights low, that decline is easy to miss until the surface feels wrong in your hand.
That's the trade. You pay less, and you replace sooner. Neither is wrong, as long as you know which one you bought.
How to Tell Them Apart in Ten Seconds
Stretch it. Silicone resists and returns. TPE stretches further and stays slightly deformed. Ten seconds of pulling tells you most of what a spec sheet leaves out.
Smell it. TPE often has a faint plastic or rubber smell out of the box. Silicone smells like nothing.
Look at the seam. A molded silicone piece usually has a thin parting line, often under 0.5 mm. A coated piece can show a visible edge where the coating ends.
Check the weight, too. A silicone body with an ABS core at 8 inches will feel denser than a TPE piece of the same size. A 1 mm coating over foam feels lighter than either, and it dents under a thumbnail.
Where Blends Make Sense
Honest limitation: pure silicone is expensive, and a full silicone body with a motor inside is heavy. Most well-made devices use silicone where it matters and ABS where it doesn't.
Skip it if the piece is a handle or a cap. You'd pay more for a property you don't need.
Pass on TPE if you want one purchase to last 3 years. It won't, and the failure is gradual rather than dramatic.
Worth knowing: a silicone-blend surface can be fine, as long as you clean and dry it properly. The problem isn't the material. It's assuming it behaves like pure silicone.
Three Pieces, Three Surfaces
If you want to feel the difference between a silicone surface and a rigid body, a set lets you compare without guessing.
- Self-Love Ritual Bundle: three pieces in one purchase — HOPSTAR, a suction-style stimulator with a silicone contact surface, GODLIKE, an insertable model with a silicone body over an ABS core, 12 intensities, and 3 patterns, and Velvet Touch, a water-based lubricant that's compatible with both materials. Best for someone who wants to compare surfaces and shapes before committing to one. Try one piece per session.
- Browse the Customer Favorites collection for silicone-first options.
- Related reading: silicone versus ABS, pH and silicone inertness, and what body-safe means beyond the label.
Sources
- Planned Parenthood — guidance on body-safe materials and cleaning.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration — general material safety information for skin-contact consumer products.
- American Chemistry Council — reference material on silicone and thermoplastic elastomers.
- GETAUVE — published material specifications for HOPSTAR and GODLIKE.
Written by the GETAUVE Editorial Team. This article is general education and not medical advice. Stop using any piece that develops cracks, a persistent odor, or a tacky surface, since those are signs the material has broken down.
