The ability to hide yourself within a hood or a mask can be a huge turn on, allowing you to become a different person or to remove your identity altogether. Hoods and masks can be transformative, whether a Dom or a sub. For example, a sub may choose to wear a mask as it allows them to get in a more dehumanised headspace, or a Dom might wear one for the purposes of intimidation and becoming expressionless. Wearing a hood or mask can be an incredibly powerful experience, no matter what your role.
Hoods and masks can also be used to create a new persona or enabling the one inside you to be revealed. Guys into puppy play and superhero scenarios often refer to the changes in themselves that hoods and masks can bring out.
Hoods and masks can also create anonymity. When attending fetish events or parties, they can help guys get into headspaces and do things they may not be able to do if their face was uncovered. Many guys love anonymous play, and hoods and masks are perfect for facilitating this.
Like most other elements of BDSM, wearing fetish headgear can also relate to control and submission. Fetish hoods and masks can instantly and emphatically establish the balance of power between guys during play.
Doms may want their subs to wear a hood or a mask to subjugate and depersonalise them and restrict their speech and/or movement. Wearing a mask or a hood can objectify a sub during play, reducing them to whatever their Dom wants them to be.
Many fetish masks and hoods are specifically designed to limit or totally restrict certain senses, so a Dom can enjoy being in complete charge of what their sub can see, hear and anticipate. In this way, fetish headwear can be a means to sensory deprivation, an associated kink that involves a Dom impeding one or two of their sub’s senses to heighten the others, all the way up to completely cutting off all the sub’s five senses. Depending on the sub, a Dom can make their sub wear a mask or hood as a punishment for rule breaking or a reward for good behaviour.
Fetish headgear comes in a huge array of styles, fabrics and functions. As you might expect, masks tend to cover less of the face and head than a full hood, but, depending on how they work, can provide just as intense an experience. Masks include gags, blindfolds and mouth restrictors, and hoods cover the entire head and face. Some hoods have holes just for the eyes and/or mouth, while others have no holes at all, apart from small ones for breathing.
Leather, rubber, neoprene, silicone and Lycra are all popular materials for hoods and masks, and the fabric for you will just come down to personal taste. Obviously, a leather hood will fit differently to a neoprene one, so the material you go for will depend on how skin-tight you want your headgear to be, or the smell, look and sensation of your favourite fabric.
For newcomers to fetish headwear and/or BDSM play, it’s a good idea to start out with a less restrictive style and work your way up. When you’re starting out, it’s sometimes best that you can see the guy(s) you’re playing with and be able to read each other’s faces. So, unless it’s what you crave, hold off on full sensory deprivation till you’re ready.
Come along to Recon unSensored on Friday 4 May to titillate more of your senses, with a bespoke smoke room where you can pop on a gas mask and delve into the delights that await.
Want to meet guys into hoods and masks, or find out about other fetishes, join the recon community at www.recon.com