I had been umming and ahhing about getting a hood piercing for such a long time, about a year on and off. After all, it's not really the area you stick needles through if you're not entirely sure.
At A Glance Author Miss Box Contact missmellaniestyx@gmail.com IAM MissBox When It just happened Artist Nici Studio Hype Location Newcastle, England I had had been wanting a vertical piercing because I thought they were adorable, aesthetically. Today was the day I finally got around to calling Hype about changing the jewellery in my rook piercing, and asked, since they were on the phone if I could get a consultation for a vertical hood piercing. (If I'm entirely honest I had chosen to wear presentable underwear and make sure I was properly shaven because I had a feeling today would be the day) Nici said that sure, I should just pop in whenever.
I bought a bottle of water to:
A) Have something to drink
B) Make sure all was fresh down below.
It worked surprisingly well, I got a sports cap kind and just skooshed my lady parts, wiped with a wad of toilet paper and I was ready to go!
I got to Hype and it was way busier than I've ever seen it, I went to the desk and was asked if I was being sorted, and I said that I'd called Nici a little earlier and she'd said to pop in, she had a customer in so I had to wait. I looked at the tattoo designs on the wall, listened to the banter of the guys behind the counter (who were the tattoo artists) and listened to other customers. A guy who wanted a tribal arm band before he went on holiday, a girl that asked about lip piercing prices and then said "I'll come back tomorrow..." and ran away and many other equally amusing stories.
Finally Nici got around to me and we went downstairs and we chatted about this and that, she changed my jewelry and then she asked me to lay down on the bench, legs akimbo so she could check my parts. She took one investigative prod/look and said that I wasn't suited for a VCH as I had a very flat hood. She said that either inner labia or horizontal hood would be better. I said Horizontal and redressed to go fill in my forms upstairs. She had a girl waiting for a snug, so I filled in forms and listened to more banter and looked at more pretty tattoo designs.
When the time finally arrived for to be pierced I walked down the stairs yet again, and had the jewelry situation explained to me by Nici, she had been pondering the type of jewelry to give me, and decided that to make healing easier on my tiny parts, she wouldn't use a CBR but a circular barbell she would stretch out a little so it ended up being more of a super-curved barbell. This sounded good to me. She also explained that because of how I am constructed she would have to pierce through more skin than would normally be necessary, as some "controlled rejection" would have to take place until it would sit in the usual position. I trust Nici and so said this was all fine.
I stripped off most of my bottom half (I had chosen to wear a skirt too, more of my pseudo forward-planning) and lay back in the position I had vacated previously. Nici got everything prepared, took the clamps from their bag, popped the little sterile baggied jewelry on the stand, snapped on her gloves and got into position, as it were.
She chatted the whole time about god knows what. We both cursed Valentines Day (both single as we were) and discussed male genitalia, and gawd knows what else then the clamps were on and I was suddenly very aware of being half naked with a large quantity of fairly sharp things around my girl parts.
Nici tried to position it where it would "work" (which had been one of the reasons for my choosing horizontal hood over inner labia) and we were ready to go.
The clamps were applied (which I didn't feel at all) and then I was asked to take a slow, deep breath in, and then out and then the needle was pushed through. It felt like the needles you get at the dentist to numb your jaw, almost exactly like that. I cried out and then calmed, and then cried out a little more when the jewelry went through but really it was just surprise. Pain down there, even in a moderate amount is not usual.
It was all over rather quickly, I got dressed and Nici said she was very impressed that I hadn't had more of a reaction. She said I ought to be proud of myself, and I was, really. I'd done it ALL on my own and not really even freaked out at all.
I was told to take Ibuprofen for 3-4 days to reduce the swelling and overall discomfort, and wash daily with mild anti-bacterial soap.
I walked out of the studio walked to the store to buy my supplies and honestly almost forgot why I was buying them. There was ZERO discomfort; it would have been so easy to forget what I'd just done.
Anybody who is anxious about pain should go for it, as it lasts a second and isn't even a fraction of what I thought it would be; and if your piercer is good and professional you won't even notice being half naked. Go for it!