I had my ears pierced when I was fourteen (or around then) and can't remember it. A few months ago, I started planning on getting another piercing. I can't remember what got the idea into my head other than I'd been discussing body mods with my boyfriend, and he showed my some male genital mods that just make you stop for a minute and think "Hang on, where... Oh!" which was amusing but not for me. But the idea kind of never went away. My parents are very anti-mods (there were tears when I showed them my tattoo) and I didn't want it to visible for reasons I couldn't quite put my finger on. More hunting on the wonders of the Internet came up with a list of piercings that could all be possible, but for some reason a horizontal hood just seemed "me". More Internet searching, I find various piercing/tattoo parlors nearby but being the sharing sort, I wanted my boyfriend to come along and watch. A few people on forums gave comments along the lines of "it wasn't good for a first-timer" or "You'll muck up the aftercare because you don't know what you're doing." But everyone has to start somewhere and I' wasn't going to get a piercing I didn't want and everyone could see just to justify getting the one I did want but no-one could see. So I made up my own mind. Or rather, at some point when I wasn't looking, my subconscious decided it was going to happen.
At A Glance Author Gasuyina Contact Gasuyina@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Juke Studio Jukz Location Salisbury, Wiltshire My first attempt was a place near Shrewsbury which just gave me the creeps. The artists weren't bothered, the place needed a good hoover and the music meant you had to shout to be heard. And there was only a curtain between the table and window into the street. After waiting for 10 minutes, I followed my gut and we left. Later in the month, I was browsing through images of hood piercings and saw a lot of impressive ones, but none that were "pretty". Chiding myself for being a big girlie, I figured it's not the most visually satisfying part of the anatomy and frankly, by the time anyone's there, they shouldn't be complaining about the view. I just couldn't shake the feeling it was worth it. The supposed benefits during sex, but mainly the idea that I would have something unusual, but only I and a select few would know about it. Complications with moving house meant I had all but given up hope of getting it done any time soon, but walking around Salisbury with the boyfriend, I realised the only reason I hadn't gone to Jukz was that I had heard nothing of it, good or bad. And it was raining, and they have a smoothie bar next to it. You know when you get that "now or never" feeling? I figured Jukz would be worth checking out at least. Walked up the stairs, saw the smoothie bar, got the giggles and eventually settled down to the form. The boyfriend went for a look round and seemed happy with it. He's more of a practical scientist than me and could name a lot of the instrumentation he saw. I just recognised the autoclave and same cleaning fluid I was advised by my GP once. I paid the extra £5 for a jeweled ball, and choose a pale blue crystal, a delicate colour. I've always had a soft spot for crystal jewelery presented in a nice case, and these brought out the little girl in me. The piercing itself took place in a small room that reminded me so strongly of the dentists (even down to the mobile on the ceiling) but without the scary chair. I've never had problems with the dentists, apart from getting bored, but this room had that same white, slightly crisp feel. Juke himself reminded me of a Maths teacher I had, who was more like a slightly embarrassing but friendly uncle than a teacher. But whilst I would never let my teacher come near me with anything sharper than a paperclip, Juke seemed very capable.
Whilst waiting for the anesthetic, Juke let me ramble on about dentists and the Shinto faith and having cold toes then spent a while working out where I had sensation and that the anesthetic had worked. The 15 minutes or so it took for the anesthetic to kick in was quite nice actually. It never even crossed my mind that I didn't want to do this, or that it was finally happening, I was just relaxed. I breathed in, thought about breathing out, and it was done. I jumped from the surprise and whilst
I was still breathing out, the ring was put through and attached. We went through the aftercare whilst Juke cleaned up, then I got dressed and that was that. Aside from the fact that I put my knickers on inside out because I was getting distracted talking to Juke, it was a good experience. Less stressful than the doctors by a long way! I had an incredibly pretty hood piercing, and spent the next few days trying not to tell everyone how pretty it was! Aside from slight moments of discomfort, looking after it has been fine so far. It's definitely improved the overall appearance, rather than just being a fun piercing, which is an unlooked-for bonus. It's only been three days, but it feels like I've had it forever, and can't imagine not having it.