TPE vs. Silicone Sex Doll: What’re the Differences? 4 Selection Tips

The sex toy market has boomed in recent years, especially amid the hard COVID-19 time. From small toys to life-sized sex dolls, now customers are given more choices to have an orgasm, breaking the monotony with more pleasure. With a sex doll, for example, a normal female sex doll, one can own the favorite face and body shape, define the skin color and hair, and have sex with “her” via the vagina, anal, oral, or breasts, and hands just like a real person. Then for newbies, after knowing about reasons to get a doll, when choosing the first sex doll, the top question that they must get to know is surely about the sex doll material.  Currently, TPE and silicone are the most popular material used in solid sex doll production, then  TPE sex doll vs. Silicone sex doll, what should I choose? If you have the same question, after reading this article, you will know how to choose better.

What Material Are Sex Dolls Made of Now?

Sex dolls have been there for a longer period of time than you might know. From initial homemade cloth dolls to cheap inflatable blow-up sex dolls, vinyl/halex dolls to TPE and silicone dolls, TPE and silicone are currently the mainstream sex doll materials you can see anywhere. More often, a sex doll store will have categories from them respectively since there is a great volume of the search.

1. TPE Sex Doll

TPE sex dolls are love dolls made of thermoplastic elastomer or say thermoplastic rubbers, which is commonly known as TPE. TPE is actually a combination material of rubber and plastic, which is widely used in many industries like automotive, construction, electronics, and consumer products thanks to its great flexibility of molding, stunning electrical resistance characteristics, ability to reduce vibration, etc. Another crucial strength of TPE material for sex doll making lies in its affordable price. Both love doll factories and the customers gain benefit of this point. Less cost, why not?

2. Silicone Sex Doll

Silicone is now the main material competitor of adult love dolls, which has another name called “polysiloxane”. Similar to TPE, it’s still a polymer containing many elements like silicon, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The nature of good durability, flexibility, and environmental stability makes silicone see wide use in many industries, too. The solar panels, adhesives, cookware, coatings, etc., are all like silicone. To produce a love doll with silicone, the doll can be firm enough to retain pressure and more heat resistant. That’s the exact reason for silicone love dolls have longer lifetimes compared to TPE ones. Related: Inflatable vs. Solid Silicone/TPE Sex Doll: Which One Is Better?

TPE vs. Silicone Sex Dolls | Pros and Cons

First, a glance at the pros and cons of TPE and silicone sex dolls respectively:

	TPE Sex Dolls	Silicone Sex Dolls
Pros	– Realistic modeling – Odorless （inferior fake sex dolls might have pungent smell） – Much softer than silicone dolls – More affordable than silicone dolls	– More lifelike than TPE dolls – Non-porous, resistant to stains, easy to clear – Great heat resistance, even with high-temperature water – ROS/Real Oral Sex with movable jaws and toe is only available in silicone head for better blowjob – The makeup on silicone head looks more realistic and keeps longer
Cons	– Less humanlike than silicone – More porous than silicone. If not cleaned well, the TPE dolls’ inner fluid will lead to more germs and bacteria – The head is too elastic to implant hair – Quality may differ between brands and factories. – Some cheap TPE love dolls are made of inferior (reclaimed) materials and toxic.	– Harder and firmer than TPE. – Heavier than the TPE doll with the same model. – More expensive, costing at least twice the price of a TPE doll with similar parameters. A quality full-size silicone sex doll will cost at least $2000.

From the comparison table above, it’s easy to understand why TPE sex dolls have a high popularity nowadays. This material is not only cheap but also features modeling for a realistic lover with a soft and smooth touching feeling. As long as you get the doll from a reliable manufacturer and pay more attention to the maintenance, you can easily use it for years. It doesn’t mean silicone love dolls are not cost-effective. For people who prefer a more delicate face and longer longevity, dolls made of silicone are more suggested. In addition, since the silicone is non-recyclable material while the TPE is recyclable one, you won’t take any risk to have a sex doll with recyclable material if you get a silicone sex doll.

TPE or Silicone Love Doll, Which One to Choose?

Provided that you haven’t had such a sex doll before, for your first time to buy, you can take the following tips regarding cost, feeling, appearance, maintenance, and care as a reference.

1. Want to cost less? Start with a cheaper TPE sex doll

If you don’t have enough budget (say less than $2000/ $1000) or just want to try this new thing to see how it looks like and works, you can start with a TPE sex doll. Since the price of a TPE doll is determined by many factors, such as doll brand, height, body style, advanced features, and the shipping fee, choosing an expected doll model type and height first, then comparing the prices between different sex doll stores online and place an order on an in-stock doll with the proper price and fast free shipping. What’s more, with the same doll material, the general price rule is the shorter, the cheaper.

2. Want to get a  love doll with more confortable touch feeling? Go to a TPE doll

If you care about sensation, softer TPE love dolls will be the ideal option for you. Although both TPE and silicone dolls support heating and are easy to be warmed up to human temperature, the body of silicone ones is harder and the breasts and butt are unable to wobble just like what the real person does during sexual intercourse.

3. For the most realistic looking? Trust the power of silicone

Love dolls are not only tools for sex. They can stay with you through tough times, listen to you, and even talk with you if they are embedded with AI tech. Some people even play cosplay games with them or take them as models to demonstrate clothes or take the perfect picture. This way, silicone sex dolls have an advantage over TPE ones. They do look more like a true person. Considering a lot of customers are unwilling to invest in too much in the love doll, factories usually release the “silicone head + TPE body” model to save some money.

4. For hassle-free and longer maintenance? A silicone sex doll won’t disappoint you

Silicone love dolls are commonly regarded as the ones that can last longer. That’s because they are firm, non-porous, have higher-temperature resistance, and resist better to both stains and water. Porous TPE love dolls are just the opposite. Doll owners should take good care of them so that to have them here for a longer period of time, for example, cleaning and drying them completely every time after use, not putting them under water higher than 40ºC, etc. EnjoyMyDoll collects a lot of high-quality TPE sex dolls and silicone sex dolls from hot brands like Irontech Doll, Piper Doll and CLM. Browse and pay for either of the ready-to-ship ones can you receive it within 3-7 days.

5. Sex doll torso can be an alternative

You can’t have your cake and eat it. For those with tight budgets，we suggest to take the mini sex doll and doll torso into consideration. The former one maintains the full body but owns less realism while the latter one offers better realism but is lacks of legs, arms, or even the head.

Ending

After finishing this TPE vs. silicone sex doll post, you must already know which one to choose for the purchase. In short, every coin has two sides. Only when the sex doll material meets your actual personal requirement can it be the best. Surely besides the TPE material, you will have to consider some other things like price, brand, and so forth. To get them clearly, you can visit how to choose a sex doll.