I’m “product testing” this Combination Lock Collar.
A bondage buddy helped me get this collar locked around my neck — in such a way that I genuinely do not know the combination, and therefore I cannot take it off. I have had it on for 8 days now. Collars hold special symbolism for many as part of a Master/slave dynamic, and that is fucking awesome if you ask me. But for me, my wearing of this collar does not mean that. I am simply wearing and testing the collar as a piece of bondage gear, nothing more.
My thoughts on this item are below.
Appearance and Feel
I think it looks nice, and it is certainly very shiny and it is well made. It’s stainless steel, and it holds up just fine in the shower. The metal is smooth and shiny. But I am not sure about the way this fits. I just don’t think this looks very nice on me. It comes in two sizes: small/medium, at 17 inches interior circumference, and medium/large, at 19 inches interior circumference. I am wearing the larger one. But I think it might be a little too big. At least it seems so, when I look at it in the mirror. In terms of the way this feels, it is great. I love tugging on it, and it sounds really cool as well.
Comfort
As I mentioned, I have been wearing this for more than a week now. Sometimes I forget it is there. But, for the most part, it’s not the most comfortable collar to wear. In fact, if I did have the combination I would have taken the collar off way before now. It only weighs about a pound, but sometimes it feels like a ton. Sometimes I think I am getting a headache or a backache. Other times I think I am imagining things. During some of the exercises I do at the gym, when I am on my back, the collar puts a little too much pressure on my Adam’s apple. To make it more comfortable for hanging around at home, I have been pulling the hood of a hoodie through between my neck and collar, so that the collar wears outside the hoodie. That seems a bit more comfy at times. Sleeping while locked in the collar is no trouble at all.
Reaction from others
Nobody on the street can see it under all my winter clothes. I showed the collar to two different local friends, who are both into kink, and both said they think it is pretty cool. I have not shown this particular collar to any non-kink friends, but many of them have seen me in this chain and padlock collar. But this collar is a bit different. It definitely looks more conspicuous. I have been a bit self-conscious wearing at the gym and have kept it tucked in under my T-shirt as much as possible there. I have even been wearing a T-shirt and a towel around my neck on my way between locker and shower at the gym. Online chat buddies have had various reactions. When I got my hair cut this week, I had the collar tucked inside my T-shirt. This conceals it in the front, but in the back it sticks out. So at the end of the haircut when the barber is going to clean up the back of my neck, he said, “This is in my way.” His tone sounded a bit rude. “I can’t take it off,” I replied. Then, “What is it?” he asked. “A collar,” I replied. Then he proceeded to bang his electric clippers on the collar as he trimmed the back of my neck. I was not mad or embarrassed — this was the famous Astor Place in NYC, after all, where it’s more unusual for customers to not have metal body adornment of some sort. Anyway, if the barber (Ledo) had not been a dick about the whole matter, I would have gladly shown it to him and told him all about it and given him a Metalbond card and we could have even taken pictures. Maybe next time.
Security
It’s a four-digit combination lock. Normally, a lock like that would be hard to get out of, seeing that there are 10,000 possible combinations. But on closer inspection on the lock, I discovered that the digits run from 1 to 6, not 0 to 9, meaning that there are only a grand total of 1,296 combinations. So, it would be possible, I suppose, for me to run through all the combinations in an attempt to get the collar off that way. Start at 1111, tug on it. Then 1112, then try. Turn it to 1113, then 1114, then 1115, etc. I have not attempted to do this. I guess I have not gotten that desperate — at least not yet anyway. One guy I was chatting with online said it might be possible for me to “feel” my way out of the collar by manipulating the digits, but I have not tried doing that because that might be cheating. Again, I’m not that desperate — as of now.