My trip to London to visit the Cold Steel piercing studio was originally in order to get a triangle piercing... but things don't always go according to plan, do they?
At A Glance Author Cleo Contact Cleo@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Jesse Studio Cold Steel Location Camden, London I think things are probably a little different in the States, but here in the UK it's really not easy to find a piercer who is both prepared to do a piercing like the triangle, and who also has experience in doing them.
Anyhow, upon examination I was declared unsuitable for the triangle!!
Apparently, despite already having a horizontal hood piercing, Jesse & the other piercers felt I didn't have enough room to accommodate the piercing. The believed that my outer labia would put undue pressure on it & cause problems.
I respected their decision not to perform the piercing, but remain unconvinced about my suitability. I will try to get a second opinion on it at some point... I've not given upon getting that triangle yet!
I reclothed & went back downstairs & rejoined my best friend, Emily, who was looking at titanium jewellery & contemplating a lobe orbital. I was still mentally prepared for a piercing & my initial disappointment gave way to thoughts of alternative piercings as I hung around the shop.
Emily decided to go for the orbital & this seemed to be the trigger for me to decide that I was leaving there with a new genital piercing, whatever happened!
I collared Jesse again & told him I'd like to go for a pair of inner labia piercings instead.
After a bit of a wait (a queue had formed by this point) I climbed the stairs again & re-entered the now-familiar piercing room.
This was my first trip to Cold Steel, which is situated right on London's funky Camden High Street. Don't be put off by the weird and hard-to-find entrance... the piercing rooms are immaculate and the staff were all friendly, helpful & professional.
The room I was in was spotlessly clean, nicely decorated & even had a low, comfy sofa in it, as well as the usual piercing table & equipment.
De-robing for the second time, I climbed onto the padded table. Jesse explained that the best position is to have the soles of my feet together - which fortunately I found very comfortable.
After a quick examination he told me that I have very small inner labia and that only one side could be pierced. I've always been rather proud of my very neatly constructed anatomy.. but it wasn't doing me any favours with regard to my piercings!
I felt that I would really only want a pair & that I would never be truly satisfied with an asymmetric piercing.
I quickly remembered seeing the fourchette and being quite intrigued by this, rather unusual, piercing. I knew I wasn't constructed the same as the girls whose photos are on BME, and so when I asked Jesse if I could get a fourchette done I really wasn't too hopeful - especially after my previous two knockbacks.
Incredibly, he said that I was 'borderline' suitable for it, but that he would be able to perform the piercing for me!!
*Yippeeeeeee!!!*
Jesse started to prepare for the piercing and I remember that from then on & throughout my whole piercing experience he changed his gloves for fresh ones frequently & was very particular about paying careful attention to hygiene & sterility.
He explained everything he was doing very carefully before he did it - which I think was partly due to his great professionalism & partly because of the intimate location of the piercing and its very personal nature. To be honest, by this stage I trusted him implicitly and was very relaxed and happy for him to go right ahead and get on with it!
He marked the entrance & exit points for the piercing and asked me if I'd like to take a look to see if I was happy. I told him that I was happy to let him be the judge of whether or not it looked right and didn't bother checking myself.
The first set of clamps he used weren't gripping me well enough, so it was another change of gloves & another pair of clamps. These were obviously tight, but not unbearable.
Jesse explained that once everything was lined up he'd get me to take a few deep breaths & then pierce me. He then asked me not to grab his hands and to try not to let my knees fly up.
Grab his hands???!! You must be joking! I knew there was definitely no risk of that happening whilst he had a sharp needle in them!
I said I wouldn't grab his hands and also promised not to crush his head between my knees...
So.. I took a couple of deep breaths and Jesse pierced me as I was breathing out, on the second breath. It was a very sudden, sharp (duh!), intense pain, which lasted just a fraction of a second & then was totally gone.
I didn't even make any noise when the needle pierced me - I'm afraid I swore at my piercer when I got my hood done.. but I think he rather liked being sworn at! ;)
Jesse explained that he had to use titanium jewellery as a result of some new EU nickel directive (I forget the details)... but he really struggled to get the ring open because it's such a hard metal.
Of course, once the jewellery was inserted into the piercing (which was painless) he had an equal battle on his hands to get it closed. Only this time the problem was compounded by the lack of space & the fact that it was a third buried in a fresh piercing.
I felt rather sorry for him as he fought the evil BCR. I'm not sure what happened at one point, he might have slipped & pulled on it.. but it did hurt a little & I let out an involuntary 'Ow!'.
Finally it was closed & the bead inserted. I had a feeling it might have bled a little bit, which it had - but not much. Jesse cleaned me up as best he could without getting too personal (despite him having just pierced my fourchette)! He handed me a mirror so I could see my new piercing... it was lovely!
He carefully explained that I should care for it with hot saline soaks and saline soaked cotton buds/cotton wool if necessary. He advised *not* to use antibacterial soap, and *not* to rotate the jewellery.
The piercing was so comfortable that I couldn't feel it, even when I put my thong & jeans back on.
Going back downstairs to greet Emily once more, I had to explain that yet again I'd had to choose a different piercing. Of course, she hadn't heard of a fourchette & her face was a picture of shock and amusement as I explained exactly where it went!
The piercing has never given me any discomfort, although it bled a tiny bit for the first couple of days. Obviously I had to be extra careful, when wiping, not to knock it, but I was pleased to find that urine didn't make it sting.
I followed Jesse's aftercare procedure and soaked my piercing with hot saline twice a day, using a shot glass. (Tequila anyone?) ;)
After a week I felt that the piercing was healing very well, but I knew I wouldn't be comfortable with 'playing' with it at this point.
Now, about a month on, it feels well healed. I'm not sure if it's toughened up enough to be really comfortable if treated roughly.. but as I'm presently single, it's not a problem!
I've now changed the jewellery to a zircon gold BCR (or CBR for you Americans :)) to match the one in my hood piercing. (Personally, I love zircon gold... it's titanium, but looks just like real gold. The gold colour is totally permanent, the jewellery is light in weight as well as being inexpensive).
I'm very pleased with my new piercing, which looks very beautiful and goes nicely with my horizontal hood piercing. I think it's very sexy and I'm certainly looking forward to taking it for a test-drive! :)
I hope you've found this useful - there aren't many fourchette experiences on BME. If you have any questions about the piercing, just email me & I'll be happy to help if I can!
Cleo
x x x
** Amused to note that the American spellchecker doesn't like some of my English spellings! Heehee! **