There are two ways to source your very first vibrator, and one of them requires mustering up your courage. You can head out to an adult store (that’s where that courage comes in!) or you can buy it online. (I would strongly recommend avoiding drugstores and department stores for a first vibe. The toys there are packaged to hide the important features and it’s not a very comfortable shopping experience.) Both options have advantages and disadvantages, but for a first toy I really suggest the store option. I don’t recommend getting a first vibrator, or any other first toy, online. Why? For two main reasons.
Descriptions may be deceiving
My first problem with most online buying is you can’t go by the descriptions. In adult-toy marketing land, all vibrators are “very powerful,” all silicone is “the absolute highest quality” and all surfaces are “sensually” something—soft, smooth, whatever. But none of this tells you anything about the toy itself. Plus, those descriptions may or may not be true. (It never ceases to amaze me how many words they can use to say absolutely nothing useful.) The reviews for each item, provided by brave humans, are definitely a better place to see what a toy is really like, just watch out for the occasional overly enthusiastic (raunchy) reviewer.
Size matters
Size is even more problematic. I used to have a visual joke I would tell in my store where I would go grab three very differently sized dongs (industry speak for a semi realistic phallus toy) from our stock and show that each of them were labeled as eight inches. It was funny because the smallest was barely bigger than my hand and the largest went from my elbow almost to my fingertips. If you believe the package, they were the same size. If you can’t tell how big something is by looking at it in person, how can you tell by a photo online? You can’t, of course. More recently, online companies have started noting the dimensions in product descriptions, and depending on the company, those can be very helpful. That said, I have spoken with an inordinate number of frustrated people who bought something online that was way bigger or smaller than they’d expected. And while some companies will include another item in the photo for scale, that tends to be because they’re selling larger-than-average toys.
In-person is best for your first
Put simply, in a store you can see, feel and smell the toys you are considering. It gives you a chance to get to know it before you give it access to your sex life (a good practice in general). In most stores you can even test the toy’s vibration manually. It’s just so much easier to make an informed choice in the first place and that is way more possible when you’re shopping in person.
