I'd been thinking about getting a christina for about a year and a half before I finally did it. After a few months of student-induced poverty in New York, I decided that I couldn't make it through the winter without a piercing, even if it meant giving up groceries for a while. I'd spent a lot of time on BME researching different female genital piercings and knew that I really wanted a Christina - it's just a beautiful piercing.
At A Glance Author tigri When Six months ago Artist Brian Decker Studio Sacred Location New York After poking around different websites and talking to some friends who would know. All my other piercings were on the West Coast, so I had to do some research before I found a place in New York. It was hard to pick a new location because I'd been so familiar with piercing parlors in San Diego (I really recommend Didier Suarez in Pacific Beach - he does amazing work and is absolutely the sweetest guys - or Chronic tattoos and piercings). Eventually, I decided to try Sacred Tattoo, mostly because their website had some really impressive piercings (my favorite was a triple orbital through the rook and upper ear cartilage, which I actually also had done at Sacred a few months after the Christina) so I contacted the piercer, Brian Decker and asked him about the procedure for Christinas.
Brian was really helpful - he suggested coming in on a weekday, when it would be slower, so that he could have jewelery custom made for me. I came in, thinking it would just be to have the jewelery fitted, but when I got there, Brian was totally ready to pierce. I'd sort of wanted to have a friend with me for support, but eventually decided to just go for it. There were some initial embarrassing moments - like when I had to confess that I wasn't exactly prepared for a Christina. As in, I wasn't shaved. I thought maybe this was a sign that I should come back later in the week, better prepared and with a friend, but with some minor encouragement and the offer of a razor, I decided to do it anyway. Embarrassed but hoping for the best, I stripped, shaved with a razor that Brian provided (he had offered to do it for me, but I thought that would only embarrass me more, so I did it myself), went to lie down on the table and tried not to think about the possibility of pain.
Brian gave me the choice of a 14 versus a 12 gague bar and between large and smaller balls. Not wanting something that was going to catch on my clothing (although now I think that was a pretty irrational fear), I opted for the smaller size. He fitted some 14 guage jewelry into a staple-like shape, with the middle being flattened to the thickness of a 12 gague. He then explained that his method would be to punch two holes, one above the clitoral hood and one in the pubic mound. He would then insert a needle from one puncture to the other, and insert the jewelery. I had expected a procedure similar to my navel piercings (having the bottom shelf of the navel pierced had sort of been like a surface piercing) so I had a few questions about the method Brian wanted to use. Specifically, I was a little nervous about the prospect of rejection, I asked Brian about the chances of this piercing rejecting. Both because I knew I couldn't afford to get the Christina re-pierced and because I didn't want to deal with the pain twice, I wanted to know ahead of time about the likelihood of rejection. Brian said with his method, there was almost no chance of rejection.
After the cleaning, the jewelery disinfection and multiple glove changes, Brian was ready. I was too - more or less. The first step of the piercing, piercing the public mound, barely hurt; I was surprised at how easy it was. The second piercing hurt more, but still wasn't that bad. Inserting the needle between the two was a a bit worse, but Brian was great and did it really quickly. Then the jewelery was in and I had the sexiest piercing I could ever have imagined. For the next few days, I kept making up excuses to run
As for after care, I didn't have any problems. I used the hot water soaks Brian suggested and my Christina healed really, really well. In the first two weeks, there was sometimes a weird pinched feeling, like maybe the skin was sticking to the piercing or something, but other than that, it was painless. It's now been about 6 months with the Christina, with no signs of rejection. I can honestly say that it's one of the best and fastest-healing piercings I've ever had. And I couldn't recommend the piercing more highly.