Sensory deprivation is a fetish many enjoy indulging in, restricting or controlling one of the five senses. Blindfolds, hoods, earplugs, gags can be used to deprive one of sight, sound, speech and hearing.

They increase the feeling of helplessness or sometimes aid in turning one into a mere object. Sometimes that in itself is hawt.

There is a great deal of trust involved in this type of play and should not be given lightly either. Especially if you are just starting out. Use your noggin … that thing on top of your shoulders that houses      the brain….

I for one love being blindfolded and bound, having one of my senses taken away heightens everything else. I however am completely freaked out by having things over my head. So when I opened a ‘box ‘o’ goodies’ from Carrie Ann I squirmed. A hood sat there grinning at me.

Well if it had a mouth it would have had a sadistic grin staring back at me. Hoods generally freak me the fuck out. I have an issue with claustrophobic spaces and hoods have the same effect. The wonderful thing about the hood I got is it’s suited for beginners who are curious about what a hood would feel like without being completely overwhelming. Hoods are excellent items to have in the kink toy box to heighten arousal, objectify and encourage the whole anticipation aspect. They are also excellent additions in a play party situation where you need the focus more controlled and less distractions of sight involved.

Eden Fantasys stock a couple of hoods from Pipedreams (they make a range of fetish hoods), this one being a Spandex Full Face Hood, they have one with an open mouth as well. It’s also unisex, totally cool for guys and gals.

It’s well made, sewing is tight and boasts a seam that runs down the center of the hood, down the middle of the face is not at all irritating. The hood sports overlocked sticking on the neck area which is double thickness at the base and not likely to come apart in a hurry. Good quality, black spandex material that has a decent amount of stretch but firm in give, breathing and hearing is not restricted and you can make out shadows and outlines of objects in a well lit room but in a darker setting alot harder to really work out what’s around you. So basically it does impair vision enough to have an effect.

The shape indicates the back and the front so you can work out which way around it sits on your head. The box states ‘one size fits most’ and it will be a tighter fit on larger heads, my head isn’t overly huge and it was a tight fit and the bottom part sat midway on my neck. A friend who is a good six foot in height and a bigger head than mine tried it on and it sat directly under his chin so it’s not really designed for larger skulls.It fit me well and my skull is 22inches around so that should give you an idea of size/fitting.

It arrived in a small cardbox box (see image above) which is about the size of a small paperback and not discreet so beware of opening it around people who might feel a little uncomfortable hehe. It had no distinct smell when I unpacked it so there was no immediate need to wash it straight away and it actually feels quite smooth and comfortable on the face, it did squish my nose and my ears were flattened to my skull which just enhanced the whole sensation of wearing a hood. Constricted and squashed. I hate having to just try breathing through my nose so I had my mouth slightly open when it was on.

Because of the material and foldability of the hood is totally travel friendly and can be hand washed with a gentle fabric detergent and air dried. Personally I would treat this as any other delicate if you want to look after your hood well.

So wearing the hood? How does it feel? Like I am not there, I can escape into my own little world for a while. Did I like it? Just quietly … yuppers! I quite like that sensation and I am keen to explore it a little further and see where it takes me. It can get a little warm if you have it on for a while. If you want to enhance the sensory deprivation aspect a little more add a blindfold and/or some earplugs and have fun!

If you are curious about hoods and would like to explore a little sensory deprivation then this hood or the open mouth one could be a gentle introduction before moving onto more serious hoods for BDSM play.

$14.99Spandex full-face hood Hood by Pipedream Material: Spandex Buy from EdenFantasys

This product was provided free of charge to the reviewer.