The Blindfolds

From Piñata to Spicing up your love life!

Blindfolds have been around a very long time. A basic blindfold is a scarf of some other similar long rectangular shape of fabric that is wrapped around a person’s head to cover their eyes so that they can’t see what is happening. It can also be a hood or sack placed over a person’s head.

A modern blindfold has a cover for the eyes and is held in place with elasticated head straps and it achieves the same effect.

What does a Blindfold do?

At a simplistic level there are for two key reasons to want a blindfold, either a) to take away the use of the user’s eye sight (sensory deprivation) or b) block unwanted light.

Uses of a Blindfold

There are many uses for a blindfold and the range is from not so pleasant uses such as interrogation and execution to children’ s games, to adult games, to mind and body development, to food tasting challenges as seen on Master Chef or Hell’s Kitchen restaurant TV shows, dine in the dark experiences, meditation, medical such to protect eyes during an MRI Scan and of course block light to help a person sleep… just to name a few.

Children’s Games

Think back to your childhood, do you recall playing games such as Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Blindman's Bluff or Piñata?

In these types of games require the child to be blindfolded while they have to perform tasks without the use of their eye sight. Take away the child’s vision and they need to rely on other senses to get the task done. From my memory it was always funnier to be the observer rather than the person with the blindfold as the results of the antics are most amusing.

Risqué – Adult Games

In the new book 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James show just how erotic a blindfold can be.  Silk or Satin Blindfolds have always added some wonderful mystery and excitement to bedroom activities. When partners use a blindfold as part of their love making, the loss of sight can be very arousing and stimulating. Sometimes the blindfold is used in conjunction with hand or leg constraints.

To help you Sleep

A sleep blindfold allows a person to experience a state of pure darkness. In a state of pure darkness, receptor cells in the eyes alert the brain to the onset of night and cause the manufacture in the body of the chemicals of sleep.

Darkness helps us generate melatonin, a naturally occurring chemical produced from a gland inside the brain that helps us to unwind and fall asleep. The onset of darkness starts the chemical release. A Sleep Mask which is a rather sophisticated Blindfold blocks the unwanted light and helps the body generate melatonin which in turns helps you to fall asleep faster and enjoy a deeper sleep.

Dine in the Dark

This is a relatively new use for a Blindfold. User’s eat at home or a restaurant wearing a Blindfold. The loss of one sense (sight) means that the experience of eating, taste, texture and smells is greatly heightened and eating is a whole new world. There are restaurants dedicated to Dining in the Dark and there are many fund raisers Dine in the Dark events where you get to wear a Blindfold.

Traveling

A sleep blindfold or sleep mask should always be an item you carry with you as you travel. On aircraft you can block unwanted daylight or TV monitors and courtesy lights when you want to sleep. In Hotels or unfamiliar bedrooms light may be coming in through doors, curtains or electronic devices in the room. The sleep blindfold can stop this unwanted light and help you get sleep and speed up your jet lag experience.

Sleep blindfolds find great use as well for travelers that want to get a little shut-eye on long air, car, ship or rail journeys and allow them to arrive at their destinations more refreshed.

Mind & Skill Development

By taking away one of your senses experts have discovered that other skills and senses are developed at a more rapid pace. There is a school in South Korea that has discovered that when student’s sight is taken away they can learn much faster as they have to focus on sound, touching smell etc.

For meditation it allows for inner focus and concentration without distraction of outside images or activity.

Blindfold Review

Choosing a blindfold depends on what you want to use it for. Here are the Editor’s choices if you are looking for a simple no frills Blindfold…

Satin Eye Mask - A SilkySoft Blindfold Solution, amazing quality and at a bargain price

Silhouette – A Very Good Quality Blindfold

Bamboo Breathe – Natural with a rather cool looking design

Escape – Luxurious Mask, the Black one is a perfect Blindfold

Shop Sleep Masks Now!