Self Bondage Safety Guide

Here’s my personal safety tips, which I have observed from first hand experience having done well over 100 hours of self-bondage.

Self-bondage

While self-bondage is a way to practice bondage and get used to using toys and gear, you can easily find yourself stuck if things go wrong. Self-bondage should only be practiced at your own risk. If you do practice it:

• Make sure you are familiar with your gear
• Make sure you have several sets of keys available for cuffs
• Make sure cuffs, ropes and restraints are all well maintained so you don’t have any technical issues mid-session!
• Avoid putting things around your neck and in your mouth - this goes without saying
• Make sure you don’t cut off circulation to limbs. This can also happen in restrictive positions easier than you think. Problems can escalate quickly
• Don’t practice self-bondage when tired, drunk, on drugs or in bad-health
• Always have multiple release methods in place in case one of them fails. For example, this can be your chosen release method, plus an ice release method as well. It is also useful to have your mobile phone to hand in case you need to call a friend or neighbour, should things really go not according to plan!

Basic things which can potentially go wrong during a self-bondage session

• When locking cuffs, make sure the keyholes are on the correct side. This is especially important for rigid cuffs
• Double locking is recommended as you don’t want cuffs unexpectedly tightening on you!
• Don’t accidentally close the cuff with the handcuff keyring on the arm of the cuff!
• Always make sure you have the right key/s needed for the cuffs you are using - if you own multiple pairs, the keys can all be slightly different sizes and may not necessarily fit universally
• When using ropes, make sure you know the knots well. Some knots can tighten and it might not be possible to undo them when tight. Also be aware that when ropes are wet, they can be hard to undo.
• Using a part of the bed as an anchor point (e.g. the frame) can potentially be dangerous as you may break it and/or the bed completely!
• When using ice release methods, do not underestimate how a different room temperature can significantly alter the thaw time of ice. In some case it might double - always do some ice thawing tests beforehand to see how long it will take your chosen release method to defrost and release.
• Practicing standing self-bondage is dangerous and should generally not be attempted alone.