Cheaper sex dolls are inflatable, using air. These lower price-range (less than us$50) dolls are usually made of welded vinyl, and bear only a passing resemblance to women or men, but they have an artificial vagina or penis and their users are willing to overlook their shortcomings. They often burst at the seams after a few uses, although they are commonly given as gag gifts and therefore many may not be used at all.
At the middle market price-range (us$100 to us$200), dolls are made of heavy latex without welded seams, have plastic mannequin-style heads and styled wigs, plastic or glass eyes, and properly moulded hands and feet. Some contain water-filled body areas such as the breasts or buttocks. The manufacturing process causes most latex dolls to be delivered with a fine coating of zinc oxide covering the skin, which is usually removed by the consumer by placing the doll under the shower. Otherwise, latex is an inert and non-toxic natural material; although a tiny percentage of users may discover a latex allergy.
More expensive sex dolls (us$600 to $us7,000 or more) are usually made from silicone. They can be very lifelike, with face and body modelled on real people, with realistic skin material (similar to that used for movie special effects), and with realistic (or even real) hair. These dolls usually have an articulate PVC or metal skeleton with flexible joints that allows them to be positioned in a variety of positions for display and for sexual acts. Silicone sex dolls are obviously heavier than inflatable ones (which consist mostly of air), but are about half the weight of a real human of comparable size.
Silicone dolls are quite popular in Japan, where they are known as "Dutch Wives" ('dattchi waifu'). Their name originates from the term, possibly English, for the thick rattan or bamboo bolster, used to aid sleep in humid countries by keeping one's limbs lifted above sweaty sheets. There is even a business, Doru no Mori in Tokyo, that rents sex dolls and rooms to male customers.In March 2007 the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported that there are also rental businesses that bring the dolls to the customer's home, and that the specialist love-doll magazine Aidroid has a print-run of 10,000 copies per issue.
The middle market and high-end market emerged in the USA around 1995. The market has grown for two main reasons. Firstly, the last twenty years have seen huge improvements over earlier types of sex dolls, and customers come to realize this through using the web. Secondly, the method of retail purchase has also improved, now showing customers what the actual doll, seams, hair, and even orifices look like.
There are now sites that do not sell dolls, but just show them so that customers can make informed decisions on the aesthetics prior to purchase ,then the customers select online from stores instead of having to take "pot luck" in a sex shop, and a possible purchase can be discussed first in anonymous online forums with existing owners. Extras to customize a doll to one's personal taste (wigs, clothes, perfumes, etc.) can also be purchased online.
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