As someone new to anal play, the vast range of toys you can choose from can often be overwhelming. Finding something that suits your body, and the experience you’re looking to have is vitally important. Choosing the wrong toy can give you an experience you might not want to repeat, and potentially even put you off anal play completely.
In this article, we’ll go over some of the best choices for beginners or people who are relatively new to anal play, making the decision much easier for you.
Which Types of Anal Toy Should You Try First?
A butt plug is the ideal toy for your first steps into the world of anal play. These simple toys are easy to use, come in many different sizes (you’ll probably want to start small), and have plenty of options that can help you slowly make the play more intense.
But which kind should you start with?
Small Beginner Sizes
With a name like that, it should be fairly obvious that these are the best place for a complete beginner to start. Even the smallest butt plug will give you an idea of what anal stimulation feels like, and what it feels like to put a toy inside your sphincter.
Luckily there’s plenty of choice! You could start with the more traditional mini butt plug that mirrors the shape and design of the most common plugs. Or choose something thinner that will be easier to slide inside. There’s also plenty of colors, materials, and even versions with jeweled bases to try.
For your first butt plug, you can’t go wrong with something from our small beginner butt plug range.
Jeweled
While we mentioned these in the previous section, they’re worth considering on their own as well. Jeweled plugs (sometimes called princess plugs or gem butt plugs) are quite simply any plug that has a jewel set into the base. Most notably though, most jeweled plugs come in sets, giving you three different sizes to explore.
Generally you’ll want to start with the smallest, using it a few times to get used to how it feels. Then when you feel ready you can move up to the next size in the set, and so on until you reach the largest plug in the set.
Tapered
You won’t often find tapered plugs in their own category in stores, instead being mixed into the other categories. They’re important to point out to people who are new to anal play though, as their unique shape makes them much easier to use and often more comfortable when you first start stretching your anal muscles.
Rather than a teardrop shape which quickly gets wider as you insert the plug further, tapered versions are much thinner and increase in size much more gradually. Even if you’ve never even tried putting a finger in your butt, you’ll probably be able to handle one of these small, simple toys.
The best way to find tapered plugs is usually just searching for the word “tapered” to see all the possible versions you could try.
Vibrating Butt Plugs
Complete beginners might find vibrating plugs a little overwhelming, but they are definitely worth exploring early in your journey. Often people will start moving onto larger and larger plugs, find them to be too much, and quickly give up on anal play. But size isn’t the only way you can add extra stimulation.
Instead of going bigger, consider adding vibrations! Most vibrating toys come with a variety of different intensities and patterns, giving you plenty to explore. The most important point though, is that you can stick with toys that are a similar size and shape to what you’ve already been using, making it simple and easy to enhance your play.
Another great benefit to vibrating plugs for beginners is the insertion process. One of the biggest turn offs for a lot of people is the process of getting the toy inside your butt, feeling more like a medical procedure than a fun or sexy thing to try. The vibrations can give you a great distraction, letting you focus more on the feelings you’re experiencing rather than the physical action of pushing something up your butt.
Expanding
When you start to get used to using a small plug, you’ll probably want to try a larger size. The bigger the plug, the more parts of your anus it can stimulate. However, inserting larger plugs can be a big challenge for some people.
Expanding plugs solve this in an interesting way. Rather than a solid teardrop, the plug has 2-4 “petals”, which spread out from the center of the stem. When you insert the plug, you push all of these “petals” together to form the standard butt plug shape. After insertion, they spread out again, providing the same extra stimulation that a larger plug would but without having to squeeze something extra large into your anus.
Inflatables
In a similar way, inflatable butt plugs are another option for increased pleasure without increased difficulty.
These plugs are very similar to any other you’d find, but with one key difference. Attached to them (usually at the base) is a tube which leads to a bulb. Pressing the bulb pushes air into the plug, expanding it after you’ve inserted it into your body.
Inflatable plugs are also a great option for beginners due to their flexibility. If you aren’t sure which size plug you want, which you’re going to enjoy the most, or how big you’re willing to go, then you can use an inflatable to explore your options. Keep track of how many pumps you use while the plug is inside your body, then after you’ve removed it repeat that many pumps and see how big it gets. You can use that size as a guide when choosing other toys!
Anal Trainers / Plug Sets
We’ve touched on sets throughout this page, but butt plug training sets (sometimes called anal training kits) are one of the simplest and easiest ways to start exploring anal play. These kits usually contain 3-4 plugs, each of a different size and sometimes with different shapes or textures.
If you’ve found a specific style of toy that you’re interested in from our list so far, then you can probably get a kit with that kind of plug in it. Start with the smallest version, and once you feel comfortable move onto the larger ones, all with one purchase!
Another great benefit to choosing a set when you’re starting out is that you can find different kinds of toys in them. You could try one with anal beads or a vibrator to explore different kinds of anal play before committing to one in particular.
Materials Change The Experience
So far we’ve only focused on the types of toys themselves, but these aren’t the only things you should consider when starting out your journey. What the toys are made of can also have a massive impact on your experience.
Most anal toys will be made of either silicone, metal, glass, or TPE/plastic. While there are benefits to each, for beginners we usually recommend silicone.
Silicone
Soft, smooth, easy to clean. Silicone plugs have a lot to offer a beginner. The soft, smooth surface slides in easily with only a little lube, and it’s slightly flexible so it can be much more comfortable to wear. The material is very lightweight, so won’t put too much pressure on the sensitive nerves when you’re just starting out.
Silicone is also 100% body safe (in fact, some medical instruments are made with it), so you don’t have to worry about harming yourself by using your toy. It’s non-porous, so you don’t have to worry about bacteria building up in the material, and a simple wipe with warm soapy water will get your toy ready to go again.
You also have plenty of choices when choosing your silicone plug. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and most importantly different colors!
Metal
Metal plugs are the other common material you’ll find butt plugs made from, and share a lot with silicone. They’re still smooth, non-porous, body safe, and easy to clean.
The two main differences are weight and temperature. Metal is heavier than silicone, so you may find that your anal muscles become tired out much quicker when using a metal plug. This means you can’t wear it as long, which means less pleasure. Over time these muscles will become stronger though, so it may be worth holding off on a metal plug until you’ve got a little bit of experience under your belt.
Temperature is a surprising difference that many people don’t think about when choosing a beginner toy. Silicone will normally be about room temperature, whereas metal will feel much colder. This can be shocking when you start to insert the toy, and your butt might tense up making it even harder. We recommend warming the toy up by placing it in some warm water for a few minutes before you start, but also make sure it doesn’t get too hot so you don’t burn your butt.
Glass
Once again, a smooth, non-porous, and easy to clean material, are you noticing a theme yet? Glass plugs fall somewhere between the two previous materials. Not as soft as silicone, not as heavy as metal. Don’t worry though, sex toy glass is actually pyrex, making it incredibly strong and stopping it from breaking when you use it.
The real benefit to glass is visual. The transparency can be a real turn on for some people, as they’re able to see their butt being stretched open by the plug. Any dirt will also show up very clearly on a transparent surface, so they’re probably the easiest to keep clean.
Glass plugs also just look great! Usually these are marketed as a more luxurious option, and the shapes and designs of these plugs are far more attractive than metal or silicone versions of the same shapes. Glass can also be infused with color, giving it an extra bit of visual appeal.
Colorize Your Pleasure; Black, Rainbow, Purple, Pink And More!
Blue butt plugs, pink butt plugs, gold butt plugs, white butt plugs, jewels, tails, spirals, beads...
There’s truly no shortage of options when picking a plug that looks more interesting than your standard black teardrop. Taking a little extra time to find a toy you’re really excited about can make your first steps much more enjoyable. Whether it’s something simple like just finding your favorite color, or wanting to see what the jewel looks like once you’re wearing your plug, you can’t underestimate the benefits of looking forward to your toy.
Start Your Anal Training Journey Now
There’s never been a better time to try out anal play. With so many different styles of toy to try, and the greater acceptance and discussion around this kind of play, you can make your first steps simple and easy and discover something you’ve been missing out on your whole life.
Choose your first toy now from Loveplugs massive range, and let us join you on this exciting new adventure.