If you thought fast fashion was SHEIN’s only hustle, think again. The mega-retailer, known for flooding our Instagram feeds with impossibly cheap clothing hauls, has now entered a new, booming market: sex toys. Yes, you read that right. SHEIN joined the $35 billion sexual wellness industry in 2023. But is the company with a questionable track record on ethical and qualitative production really the place you should be going to pick up your next vibrator? Experts say, not so fast.

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Then there’s the quality problem. In 2021, tests found that some SHEIN clothing contained excessive amounts of toxic chemicals, such as lead.

Surprisingly, sex toys aren’t subject to any specific regulation in the UK. Instead, they fall under broader consumer product safety laws. Consumer safety expert Dr Gordon Hayward notes that while there are no regulations tailored specifically to sex toys, faulty ones can still be recalled by government agencies if a complaint is filed. The situation is similar in the US, where sex toys are largely unregulated.

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Let’s get one thing clear: when it comes to sex toys, the materials matter. A lot. You wouldn’t shove just any random thing inside your body—or at least you shouldn’t. Medical-grade silicone, glass, and stainless steel are body-safe materials you can trust. But from SHEIN? They aren’t exactly transparent about what they’re using. Their sex toy descriptions offer vague terms like “silicone” or “plastic” without much else. In some cases, they’re outright misleading, listing toys as safe for anal use when they lack critical features, like a flared base, which helps prevent a trip to the ER.

According to Mashable, sex toy expert Poppy Scarlett warns that some toys sold by SHEIN could actually be harmful. Cheap materials like jelly and PVC might contain phthalates, chemicals so toxic they’ve been banned from children’s toys. Imagine those same chemicals leaching into your body during a steamy night in. Not quite the vibe.

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Still sceptical? Some savvy shoppers have gone full science mode, testing their SHEIN purchases to see if they pass the “flame test,” which is a method popularised by content creators where you hold a lighter to the toy to see if it melts. Silicone toys should remain flame-resistant. But guess what? Several SHEIN toys melted instantly. If the flame test proves that your “silicone” toy is actually plastic, SHEIN might be lying about its materials.

One TikTok user shared a shocking experience, explaining how her intimate areas nearly “caught fire” after using a trendy vibrator she bought from the fast fashion company.