First of all, a little about myself. I'm a 20-year-old girl living in London and I have ten piercings in total; three in each earlobe, one in each nipple and two in my hood. Not too many but I'm happy with them. I'm planning to get my nape pierced next spring, and I'm hoping to gat a tattoo on my thigh that continues over my ribs. That's a long way off though as I have to design it, find an artist and get used to the idea of it's permanency. Now that's done...
At A Glance Author Little Fish Contact Little Fish@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Julie Studio Cold Steel Location Camden, London UK The Background
In February 2006 I split up with my boyfriend of nearly 2 years. My own fault really as I have difficulty opening up and sharing things with those closest to me for fear of hurting them or making them worry about me. Instead of informing him about an unpleasant incident that happened a few months before with an old 'friend' from my secondary school, I closed up. I went off sex, avoided him for a week or so and just didn't talk about what was bothering me. I just didn't know how to bring it up. I felt sickened and blamed myself for it too. And so my own stupidity and inability to look at things objectively caused me to lose what I cared about most. I was low. Really low. I spent March drunk, avoiding university, cutting myself and generally being a big ball of angst-ridden doom. I had to do something about this. So, I decided to do something I'd been researching and thinking about for a while. I decided to get my hood pierced. It seemed like a great idea; when I got my nipples pierced I felt so much more confident about my body and myself, it would have time to heal as I wasn't in a relationship, and I wouldn't want to mark my legs if I had to go back to the piercers for jewellery changes. I still had some student load left, and ever since I had my nipples pierced I've felt like I should get pierced down there as well to balance it out, to make a sort of triangle. A perfect plan!
So, back to the internet I went. Re-reading experiences, healing times, what to expect etc. I already knew that I wanted a horizontal and when healed I'd wear a barbell in it, but I had a back up plan as well in case I wasn't suitable for it. If I wasn't able to get a horizontal I would go for two verticals, one either side of the centre line so I got a similar(ish) effect to a horizontal. Armed with a print out of my back up plan to aid my poor descriptive skills, I hopped on the tube to Camden and wandered off to cold steel (after stopping for good meal of course). I had the most welcome and satisfying cigarette of my life and then walked up the stairs...
The Piercing
After explaining to the lovely guy behind the counter what I wanted (I think his name's Cos?) I filled out the form and Julie led me up the stairs. I was quite glad to have Julie as she did my nipples about 6 months before and they turned out fine, plus she puts me at ease. So, upstairs in one of the piercing rooms it was knickers down and skirt up time. I was asked lie down, put my feet on the table with the soles together and have my bent knees flat on the table. Then she had a poke around and said that because of my anatomy I could go for the horizontal or the two verticals, but the bottom ball of one vertical would be slightly hidden if I went for that. She drew placement lines on me, which felt pretty strange in a tickly way. 'You could have two horizontals, or a horizontal with a vertical below it...' My mind started ticking. I thought a horizontal and a vertical might look a bit odd, but two horizontals... 'If you want we could do the top horizontal today, then you can decide if you want a horizontal or vertical below it and come back for it another day.' Sold.
Change of gloves, needle, clamps and jewellery gathered - it was time. No numbing cream was offered, but I didn't want it anyway. Not because I have a high pain threshold or I love the pain (I'm a bit of a wuss really), but because it's a pain I hadn't felt before so I wanted to experience it.
The clamps went on, and they didn't hurt or bother me. So far, so good. I started my breathing and Julie used that knack she seems to have for judging which breath is the right one to pierce on. The needle went though. And it hurt. I mean it really hurt. Thankfully it was for all of one second, then... nothing. No pain. Tender maybe, but it didn't hurt as such. It was really strange and nothing like having my nipples done, as they hurt for a while afterwards. The jewellery insertion (10mm 1.6 titanium bcr) wasn't painful. To be honest I was just glad I didn't bring my knees together during the piercing, I'm fairly thin and didn't want to knock her out with my bony knees. I got off the table gingerly but it was fine. Grinning, off I went into the world and did the usual aftercare shenanigans and resisted touching it. Four days later I was back at cold steel for the second horizontal. Same piercing procedure, same person, same room, same level of pain. Left cold steel with a huge grin again and carried on doing the salt soaks twice a day.
The Difficulties
However, about a week later the second lower piercing was still hurting, and it was a little pink and unhappy looking. It pinched when I sat down or was on my knees. Another problem I was having was the construction of all my knickers. I hadn't considered it before and none of the other experiences had mentioned it, but I found the seam that connects the cotton... gusset? caught the rings when I sat down and made them flip up. This hurt the fresh piercings and made me worry it might be causing it to reject or migrate, which would explain the unhappy piercing.
I walked down to cold steel again where I was told that the bead on the top ring was pressing down on the lower piercing, which was aggravating it and making it tender and uncomfortable. Fortunately it wasn't rejecting and hadn't moved. It was too soon to change the top one to a bar, which would have stopped the discomfort, so I decided to wear skirts and go commando as much as possible. This really helped, and I think the air getting to the piercings helped speed up the healing time. Plus it was nice to feel the movement of the rings when I walked. *grins* I carried on doing the salt soaks twice a day, and was able to change the top ring to a bar before going to Download (my first festival!). I wasn't able to have them both changed before then as the lower one wasn't quite ready, but it made an immediate difference just having the pressure off of it. The pinching feeling was gone and I didn't have to sit down gingerly anymore.
A short while later and I was able to put a bar in the bottom one too. It looks so gorgeous, I'm just so happy with it and it's caused me no problems since. I can even wear the rings in them now they're healed and it doesn't pinch. It must have just been because they were fresh.
And in Summery...
What would be my recommendations to you?
· If you're not sure about the pain but still want it done, bite the bullet and do it. It's not that bad and the results are worth it.
· Want a double horizontal piercing or a hood ladder? I'd say start from bottom, let it heal completely then do the one above.
· Ask your piercer for their suggestions. You might end up with something better than your original idea.
· Salt soaks are your friend : )
And sensations wise? Well, I got these piercings mostly for the aesthetics, but they do feel good with a partner or on your own. I think the rings offer a lot more stimulation than the bars, but neither makes walking down the road anymore interesting. The one thing I've noticed, mostly with the rings, is that I enjoy going to gigs more. I find certain frequencies at loud volumes make then vibrate ever so slightly, just enough to remind you that they're there. I think I enjoyed Tool a little too much at Download because of that. ; ) I'd go for any genital piercing because of it's aesthetics first and consider an improved sensation a bonus, that way you can't be disappointed.
When I find someone willing to photograph them for me I'll submit the pictures to BME. Curse you singledom!
Any questions, feel free to ask.