Fresh ball gag - headgear by PHS International - review by lexical

This product is intended to be used as a tool to quiet a partner (or yourself) during your sexual escapades. It muffles the sounds of pleasure (or pain) one may make. It gives you something to sink your teeth into when your whole body is wracked with sensation.

It's a gorgeous, well-made twist on the more traditional black leather versions, and may be less intimidating for someone who is curious about the world of kink. For someone looking to spice up their sex lives with a little bit of kinky fun, or for those who are more experienced and serious about BDSM, this gag is a great piece to add to your collection.

The rubber ball is the perfect size for me at 1.75" in diameter. It has a bit of give for me to bite into the ball, but doesn't leave lasting teeth marks. The gag is downright adorable and clearly well-made with clean stitching and quality materials. It's comfortable and easy to fasten in place, with a large amount of holes to fit a range of sizes.

There may be a need for a few more holes to fit someone smaller, but this is an easy fix if you have a hole punch for paper or, even better, a leather punch with adjustable hole sizes. The polyethylene straps are silky soft to the touch and are animal-friendly, for those of you who steer clear of leather.

I did have a few minor issues with the design and materials. First, The blue ball on my item is slightly off-color at the "seams", where it came out of the mold. It is greenish-tinged and almost looks old or stained, or something. As you can imagine, that was a little bit off-putting for me.

Also, there are still some marks on the ball that I initially thought were residue from the plastic wrapper that was around it, when I first took it out of the package. The ball is still smooth to the touch, but it looks like it may have some sort of flaw of the rubber or the mold on the surface of it.

Second, the strap could really use another keeper. When I put the gag on, I use the second to last hole; so that leaves a whole lot of excess strap dangling around behind my head, and hanging against my neck, and upper back. Maybe it's just me being anal, but I like my bondage nice and tidy. I'd really appreciate a second keeper to hold the end of the strap up, alongside the rest of it and keep it out of the way.

One last problem I had, which was the most striking one, was with the way the strap is rolled up so that the ball can be strung onto it. The strap is rolled in such a way that the edges of it point towards the wearer's face. This causes the edges, which are surprisingly sharp, to dig painfully into the sides of the wearer's mouth. I even had a small cut on the corner of my lower lip from my first time wearing it.

This is easy enough to fix, luckily. All you have to do is slide the ball down, and roll the strap in the opposite direction, so that the edges of it point away from your face and the curved, rounded parts then press against the corners of your mouth instead. Mine is fighting with me on staying rolled that way, and wants to twist back to its original position, so I've been storing it with a pen through the hole in the ball and rubber bands wrapped around either side to "train" the strap to curl the way I want it to. If it continues to be a problem, I may wrap it with some electrical tape so that it has no choice but to stay in place. But I don't want to deface this gorgeous toy in that way, so I'm hoping my pen and rubber bands technique works, lol!

Overall, the design and materials are extremely attractive and put together very well. My complaints are all things that are easily fixed by the user, but would be even more easily fixed by the manufacturer.

This thing is everything I hoped it would be. It feels amazing. It's comfortable, stylish, and is a complete turn-on. Just putting the ball in my mouth and strapping it into place puts me in a delightful mindset. It didn't leave my jaw aching, even after extended periods of time wearing it. The Fresh Ball Gag is everything it claims to be, and more. It keeps me quiet and makes me feel deliciously submissive.

The rubber of the actual ball does appear to attract some fuzzies if not stored in something protective like a Ziploc baggie, or even in the original packaging. Overall, the toy is quite simple to care for. After use, I would suggest washing and rinsing the ball, to clean off any saliva from its surface.

The packaging for this product is adorable and simple to open, which is always a plus as I'm usually too impatient to even wait till I get home from the post office before I open up my new toy. Simply to keep the gag as clean as possible (since, obviously, it's placed in the mouth and I'd prefer not to have a higher risk of germs there) I'm going to continue to store the gag in its original packaging, which is a simple plastic form that snaps shut. There are no instructions included, which is all right because I think this toy is quite self-explanatory :)

I know that some people have concerns about being able to properly breathe with a ball gag in. I'd like to put those worries at ease. This gag does not completely block off your mouth (though there are some gags specifically designed to do so).

It's easy enough to pull back your lips and breathe through your teeth, even if they're clenched hard around the ball. It certainly does not compromise your breathing unless you keep your lips sealed around the ball, and that is completely within your control. It also helps if you can breathe through your nose as well.

Be sure that you can get your partner's attention, if you start to feel yourself having any kind of trouble breathing or having any other kind of discomfort, whether it's related to the gag or not. BDSM play is meant to be enjoyable for everyone involved. Don't be afraid to stop play, and right the situation before continuing. Especially in the case of your ability to breathe ;)

On that note, if you're curious about BDSM play, you may have heard of "safewords". One of the inherent risks of playing with gags specifically is that you will be unable to use your voice and thus unable to employ your safeword if the need arises. Before starting play, make sure you've established some other kind of signal, be it a series of taps or grunts or even holding onto an object that will make noise when dropped or squeezed to draw attention to your need to stop or pause in your play session.