Cleaning Your Gear 

Alcohol and bleach are great for cleaning, however, they won't get rid of most diseases that can be transmitted through some of the fun activities leather/kinksters like to do.

Our best advice is to use a product called CaviCide, a disinfectant used to clean medical devices and surfaces.

It comes in wipes, sprays and gallon containers and is available locally in San Francisco at Mr. S Leather.

This method is a big improvement over using bleach. However, we wouldn't want to leave the impression that it's 100% effective. Condoms are still a good idea to use with your dildos or other toys.

There are two basic types: porous and non-porous.

If the item you want to clean is porous, like a leather collar, you'll want to wipe or spray it, then let it sit for at least 10 minutes.

If it's a non-porous metal or plastic, you should soak it for 10 minutes.

While CaviCide is primarily designed to disinfect non-porous surfaces, we believe it is also our best bet to rid porous surfaces of tuberculosis, hepatitis, HIV, fungi, bacteria and viruses.

Putting on a pair of latex gloves is the first step when cleaning anything potentially hazardous.

Once the gloves are on, spray the surface to be cleaned, or use a wipe.

Remove any visible debris with a paper towel, then discard it.

Apply CaviCide one more time, leaving it on for three minutes if the surface is non-porous, or ten minutes if it's porous.

Wipe once more with a paper towel and discard it.

If there's a chance that the item could wind up in someone's mouth, a rinse with potable water is required.

Let it air dry.

Most of the time, the items you'll be soaking are non-porous: metals, glass and some types of plastics and ceramics.

A three-to-ten minute soak will do the trick.

If there's a chance that the item could wind up in someone's mouth, a rinse with potable water is required.

You can also soak non-porous items too. Many people find that soaking the tips of a whip in a zip-lock bag works well.

Not everything should be cleaned and reused.

Piercing needles and hypodermic needles should always be disposed of properly in a sharps container.

Residents of San Francisco can pick up a free sharps container at any Walgreens pharmacy. This city also has one of the best needle disposal programs in the country.

Here's how it all came about...

STOP AIDS recently had a visitor from ACON, an Australian HIV organization, who showed us a copy of their annual report. Inside, there was a safe injection campaign called 'Don't Share a Bloody Thing.'

We flat-out told him we were going to steal the tagline, put our own spin on it and use it for a campaign within the leather/kink community.

Our aim was to create something that looked a little Tarantino, different than a typical public health campaign. We knew the perfect designer: Killer Bob. He didn't disappoint and is a great guy to work with.

If you'd like to stop by and pick up one of our t-shirts, they're available for a $20 donation to STOP AIDS. All you have to do to get one is contact Jorge.