It was a long hot day in Aridzona... and surprisingly the humidity was rather high...
At A Glance Author Ariven Contact Ariven@bme.anon Artist Ralph Studio HTC in Tempe, AZ Location Tempe, AZ After I got both my nipples pierced (my first serious piercing), I thought that I would be satisfied for quite some time. And as most of you could have told me, I was extremely naïve in thinking this (smile)... after a couple months; I got to thinking of what my next pierce would be. (Like you didn't expect that?)
I had been eyeing the Prince Albert for quite some time, but hadn't felt up to getting one. Today I finally got the nerve to do it, and took off from work at lunch to go get it done before I lost my nerve. For some reason the idea of sharp objects near my genitals causes me some stress and trepidation... Having a needle phobia isn't the best condition to deal with a piercing craving I guess, though after the tattoo and other piercings, I think I have finally overcome the worst of that problem.
Another obstacle to overcome was my wife, since her reaction to the entire subject of a prince albert (and any other genital pierces) was pretty much an emphatic "No way in HELL would I ever let THAT near ME"... so I pretty much had to nurse my desires along and slowly work on her attitude. I think the nipples helped, since she has had a few months to deal with them and learn to accept them. After it became clear that she was not totally repulsed by them, and in fact seemed to enjoy them I finally approached the subject with her.
The answer was an emphatic "No way in HELL would I ever let THAT near ME". (See a trend developing here?)... After a week or so of letting it lie, I was finally able to convince her to at least let me try it out and let her see how things develop...
When I was looking to have my nipples done I had done some considerable research on which piercing shop to go with. The company I settled on then was HTC, and that has since been confirmed with the good experience with both my nipples and my PA.
I went to HTC and told the counterperson what I was there for, and he insisted that I read the aftercare instructions before he would put me on the (short) waiting list to get pierced. I guess they just wanted to be sure that I knew what I was getting myself into with the pierce.
Being a speed-reader and having had my nipples pierced before, it was a fast read. I let him know that I was ready and he had me sign the release and took my money.
After waiting for the jewelry adjustments and bellybutton pierces ahead of me to get done, I was led into the piercing room by the piercer Ralph. After the preliminary aftercare instructions, he started laying out more implements than I felt were strictly needed for the pierce (smile).... Enough to pierce a small army it seemed... he explained the procedure, what each step was going to be and how I was to handle or act....
After cleaning, the first step was the receiving tube/clamp. Torture device from Hades I would think, but at least it wasn't in place for that long. When I read the experiences here on BME, and see the phrase "Receiving tube" it does NOT engender visions of a satanic cross between a metal straw and Vise Grips, but apparently this is an effective too for them, because it did the job. He had me do several deep breaths and then he pierced me. The pain wasn't too long, or even as intense as when I got my nipples done, and definitely was done at a decent speed, so I didn't have to endure it for long. He then used a taper to increase my hole size a bit, so that the jewelry would fit snugly, this was almost as painful as the piercing, but was worse overall due to the time it took to do it relative to the time it took to pierce.
The ring (Captive bead) was inserted and put together with a snap... and now that its been about 6 hours I can definitely say that it was a fairly smooth process... only a couple small spots of blood so far, and no pain... just minor irritation where the head is getting rubbed by my underwear/pants (had to go back to work afterwards, sigh)...
I can definitely recommend HTC in Tempe, they have a very clean and professional shop, and they treat their customer's right. The two piercers that I have dealt with (Phish for my nipples and Ralph for the PA) were very capable, efficient and friendly. If you have an occasion to need piercing done, at a very good price, check out HTC for what you need done.
At any rate, I am looking forward to trying it out, and as they say... at least I won't lose my keys now... (Smile)