Rope maintenance
The ongoing care of bondage rope after its first conditioning: re-oiling when it dries out, washing only when needed, storing it well and checking it for wear.
Conditioning prepares new rope; maintenance keeps it usable over its life. Mo Bights of Shibari Study and Karada House both repeat the oiling steps whenever natural-fiber rope turns dry or fuzzy, more often for rope in heavy suspension use than for occasional floor rope. Karada House washes rope only when it must, for example after contact with body fluids, and stresses drying it under tension, as does Nawa Kenshin. For storage it recommends a cool, dry, ventilated place out of sunlight, and loose rather than tight hanks. Handling doubles as inspection: running rope through the hands reveals soft spots and other defects, and Karada House treats thinning, popped or high strands, heavy fuzz and lasting dryness as reasons to retire a rope from suspension or move it to less demanding uses. Synthetic rope generally needs no treatment (Shibari Study).