Made from cotton, the Sh! Bondage Rope is a softly-braided rope designed for rope bondage. Available in three colors (Red, Purple, or Black), this rope is 10 meters in length and standard in thickness (about 1/4″). The ends of the rope are taped to reduce unraveling.
The Sh! Bondage Rope comes in pretty basic packaging – but it’s packaging that will protect the rope until it makes it to your doorstep. This cotton rope comes packaging in a open-side cardboard box with a layer of plastic that keeps the rope in the box. The box seems a bit unnecessary, but I’m sure it allows the company to easily stack and display the rope in-store and in their warehouse. Outside of the box, the rope doesn’t include any information or instructions, so you’ll want to pick up a rope bondage how-to book while you’re at it.
10 meters is about 32 feet. This makes this a decent length for various torso or chest ties, but it probably won’t be enough length to be a full-body tie on someone (especially a larger someone) without adding more rope to it. This is well-over what you’ll need to do most wrist or ankle bondage, but the excess length means you can use the rope to tie your partner to an external bondage point. Just be aware that it’s a medium-amount of length. This is about the length that most Shibari-bondage experts will use, but they’ll keep 6-12 bundles of it, so be aware that you may not be able to use this particular length for everything.
The ends of the rope are taped up with, well, actual tape. It looks like some type of high-quality Scotch tape. This is certainly not going to last. For your first couple uses, you most-likely won’t have any problem with this fastening. However, as you use the rope more and more (or if you wash it in the washing machine), you’ll most-likely need to replace this. You could knot the ends or you could replace the ends with new pieces of tape. I’m a bit disappointed with the tape design as it definitely isn’t going to last long-term.
If you’re someone that enjoys gentler bondage and sensation, the Sh! Bondage Rope is a good choice for you. Unlike Hemp or other scratchier types of rope, cotton is a pretty soft sensation. Similar to Nylon in softness, this type of rope allows you to bind your partner without worrying about scratching them or getting any roughness on their skin. At the same time, the softer material means that rope marks don’t display quite as prominently on the skin after the rope is removed. You’ll still have rope marks, but they won’t be quite as easily-achieved as with a rougher type of material.
Be aware that this rope is NOT AT ALL designed for suspension or any hardcore weight-bearing ties. Made from super-comfortable cotton, this rope offers a pretty good amount of stretch – that is not a good for suspension or weight-bearing play. You should stick to doing floor work and floor ties with this rope. Body harnesses, chest harness, and wrist/ankle bondage would all be good uses for this rope. Suspension is not.
However, as long as you’re not suspending someone, the Sh! Bondage Rope does a pretty great job with bondage. The knots stay in the rope relatively well, but be a bit careful of overtightening as they can be slightly difficult to get undone if you let the rope pull itself really tight. However, that’s true of a lot of ropes – not just this one. It does a good job of holding the knots that you give it, and the thickness of the rope means that it’s well-suited to a good chunk of general bondage. This is a good, well-rounded, non-specialized rope for most general bondage use.
When it comes to cleaning, it’s hard to go wrong with cotton. Cotton rope can be tossed into the washing machine on a gentle cycle in a lingerie bag. In fact, depending on how long you want your rope to last, this rope could be dried on a gentle cycle in a dryer as well. (I’d recommend air drying, but if there’s a time commitment, the dryer will work.) For the most part, try to avoid getting the rope near bodily fluids to avoid the amount of times you’ll need to wash it, and use gentle cycles (and gentle soap) when you need to. For storage, avoid storing it with knots in it, and you’ll be fine. Cotton rope is pretty forgiving.
Overall, the Sh! Bondage Rope is a fantastic choice for beginners. Along with being affordable, it has a pretty good length along with a standard thickness, and it’s going to feel soft against the skin. It doesn’t require any particularly storage concerns, and it’s available in some fun colors. I wish the ends were finished a bit differently, but it’s still some good rope that does exactly what it needs to – comfortably and safely tie up a partner. Thanks to Sh! Women’s Sex Toy Store for sending along this cotton soft bondage rope for my Sh! Bondage Rope review.
