Spandex open-mouth hood - headgear by Pipedream - review by leopardprint

The spandex open-mouth hood is a good introduction to play with sensory deprivation, hood/mask play, or anonymity fantasy play-- among other things. Someone looking for anything constrictive, completely opaque, or adjustable should seek hoods elsewhere. This is not a cheap version of a leather hood; it's spandex, which is totally different. This hood covers the eyes, ears, and nose, but has an opening over the mouth. This is good for anyone with anxiety about being able to breathe. The wearer can breathe unobstructed through the mouth opening and reasonably well through the hood itself.

There are few design flaws with this piece; for the most part, it met my expectations. I was expecting a simple, single-seam spandex hood with a mouth opening, and lo and behold: that's exactly what it is! The mouth opening itself is exceptionally large for my mouth, but my nose doesn't make an appearance. This would make the opening useful for gags, if someone wanted to do both to enhance the sensory deprivation experience or there was some power exchange going on.

The mouth opening was not quite an oval, however. The top was smooth, but the bottom of the opening had been sewn in a manner to give a ^ shape rather than a line. I don't think this is intentional on the part of the manufacturer, and looks a little funny. It is quite easy to tuck down inside the hood, though, or if you have sewing skills, it would be simple to fix.

The part that goes around one's neck is probably the part that larger folks would have an issue with; it's serged and double-layered, so it's not as stretchy as the rest of the hood. If you have a large neck, it could be uncomfortably constrictive. My neck is pretty small (maybe 12 or 13 inches) and had no problems, but I could see this being an issue for people who are larger than I am.

I can also see it being issues for someone with lots of piercings on their ears or face-- watch out for those! I would not recommend this hood for someone with a fresh septum piercing, since the nose gets a fair amount of pressure.

The material is spandex; man-made materials & no animal products involved. I like spandex because it's washable and easy to care for. It feels smooth and comfortable, but fresh out of the box, it was pretty smelly. I washed it in the sink and a lot of black dye came out (not enough to fade the mask) but I would highly recommend washing this item before putting it to use. If someone sweated the dye out and it got in their eyes, I would be worried.

This hood met my expectations as an accessory for play. If I was looking for a serious sensory deprivation tool, I would probably not go to this as a catch-all item. It does obscure vision somewhat (but you can make out shapes and where light is coming from); a blindfold would do a better job (or a combination of hood and blindfold). It does not block out any sound. Application of noise cancellation headphones or earplugs first would be a better plan. The tightness of the hood will depend on your size, but it felt to me like my head was being cradled all around and was somewhat comforting in a way. There is a feeling of encasement with the hood, which can be a turn-on for some.

I think that this hood could also be used in part as a means to prevent someone from undoing their bonds, if the top was to put their hands into the hood and tie/restrain around the outside of the hood. I haven't tried this, but it seems workable if you're a creative bondage type.

Since this item is spandex, it's not recommended that you throw it in the dryer every time you wash it, but I imagine it would hold up just fine in a washing machine (maybe get a lingerie bag if you're worried about it catching on something). It would probably keep odors, so if it came in contact with cigarette smoke or something, it should probably be washed to get the smell out. It's small and easy to hand-wash.

Storage is simple: it's small and folds up to an even smaller size. It would be easy to keep in a ziploc bag once dry or tucked away somewhere.

The packaging (see photo) is NOT discreet! However, it is recyclable. The box for the item is actually excessively large for the product contained within (which is also actually in a small bag). There were no instructions, but this item is pretty self-explanatory.