I have been into piercing for 10 years or so, but more so for the last 5 years or so since I worked with a girl who was a mass of metal and looked great. Shortly after, someone bet me to get my hood pierced, but I failed (got lost in the pub!) but I was at uni, away from home, and my parents could no longer interfere with how I wanted to look. At the time I was in Cambridge, and having a had my navel, nose (gunned.... argh!) and various ear piercings done there, I discovered that the Piercing Clinic there (Just Gold) was just not the kind of place I wanted to get *that* piercing anyway (the lecherous old guy who worked there and kept trying to persuade me to get my nipples pierced just kind of made my skin crawl...) And anyway, I figured hood piercing would hurt rather a lot.
At A Glance Author Titanium Angel Contact Titanium Angel@bme.anon Artist Anne Studio Cold Steel Location London Anyway, I moved to London, and discovered Cold Steel - I was so impressed with the way they were portrayed on their website - all clean and responsible and young and unlecherous - that I vowed to get pierced there one day! Lots of pretty piercings ensued, done by their trainee, Julie (she's great!), and it was Julie that started me off thinking about clit hood piercing again (its amazing how comforting it is talking to people who actually know about a piercing and how much it hurts...rather than ill-informed people who are guessing about things and actually just judging you out of hand). Off I trundled to good old BME, spent 2 weeks when I should have been doing college work just glued to the experiences thinking, 'why not?'
So one Friday evening I finally plucked up courage, rang up Cold Steel and booked an appointment for the following Tuesday. Spent a sleepless weekend panicking and thinking 'what have I let myself in for?', comforting myself with more BME experiences, I mean, all these people have done the same thing, and are happy and bouncy and alive to tell the tale!
On the monday before the piercing was due, I dropped in to Cold Steel on my way to work to pay my deposit... and that is where all my careful plans went wrong... turned out the piercer who was meant to be doing it was not going to be in, so I could either wait or do it that day... decisions, decisions, but I figured it was a now or never type situation and I *really* wanted a good night's sleep again!
So I did it, five minutes later! Did the usual disclaimer filling out stuff, chose a pretty purple titanium BCR to go in my new hole, paid for the piercing and some provon to clean it, got given my aftercare sheet, and worried a bit... (while being told comforting things by the nice receptionist guy about how its really not that bad...). Then I was taken into the room to be pierced. My piercer, Anne, was really friendly and carried on cheerily telling me how easy the piercing is and her own good experiences while I took off my jeans etc (dammit, I had planned on wearing a skirt, but was at least wearing a long-ish shirt so didn't feel *too* exposed!). Then it was onto the chair to be perforated!
And, honestly, it really wasn't bad at all. Less humiliating and uncomfortable than a smear test, I'd say!
Anne cleaned the area with iodine, and put the receiving tube in place - it did look a little bit like a torture instrument, for some reason I wasn't expecting a shiney metal tube... but she explained why she was doing it, and hey, I trusted her anyway... then got me to take a deep breath and pierced me. Its all a bit of a blur, but I think I limited myself to a sort of pained expression and "christ that hurt", and that was more as an outlet of all the tension that had built up over the previous days than a genuine expression of pain! She thanked me for not slamming my legs shut on her like some people do... nice to know I was doing something right!
It was all very quick, and the pain was different to the type I am accustomed to - after years of piercing cartilage, where it feels like you've been punched in the head, this was a quick, sharp pain, like pricking your finger on a needle. The needle just slipped through, it felt like no pressure at all. It felt and looked beautiful. It didn't throb, the pain just subsided... And it didn't bleed, which is a bonus!
I hopped off the table (litterally!) and got dressed again. While Anne cleaned the room up she told me about the aftercare regime I should follow and said about changing jewellery after the piercing has healed, apparently the hole stretches as it is soft tissue, and you can put larger gauge rings in it. Perhaps I will, but I kind of like the idea of a barbell as well, with a cute little jewel :) Still I have only had it 2 weeks, so theres plenty of time to decide.
Just for the record:
I didn't shave my pubic hair, but did trim it quite short, and they didn't seem to have a problem with that (I had spent ages worrying about the pubic hair etiquette of hood piercing, but did ask when I rang to book the appointment - I guess they get questions like that all the time!)
I clean it with provon in the shower every morning. I tried salty baths, but they made my shin dry and itchy, so now if I have a bath I either add nothing or a few drops of lavender essential oil; that seems to be okay.
I don't have orgasms just walking down the street (not sure if thats a good or a bad thing) but it definitely is nice :)
So girls, especially all the waverers out there, go for it, it really is a doddle compared to most piercings (though thats what the piercers told me and I still didn't believe it till the needle slipped through my hood!). And its pretty :)