When I got my frenum pierced, I thought doing it at 10ga was fine. Of course one day while taking a look at my equipment I'm looking thinking to myself... "That's just too small." As with just about every other piercing I have that I still wear jewelry in, the time had come for larger jewelry. My tragus to date is the only piercing I still have at the original jewelry size, and I'm pretty sure it will stay there. My tongue jewelry which both started at (I believe) 14ga are now at 10 and 4ga. We all know what this means... So the next chance I get (which at the moment isn't often) I run down to my favorite piercer and ask about getting my frenum stretched. I had also lost the jewelry for my tragus, so I decided to fell two birds with one stone, or with one visit as the case may be. I should mention at this point that I'm rather shy, and working up the nerve to get my frenum pierced in the first place took quite a bit of time. (Nerve wasn't a problem, and pain wasn't an issue. As it happened, the piercing wasn't very painful at all. I just had to overcome my natural fear of total strangers seeing my most private parts with the added bonus of close inspection and a needle thrown in for good measure.) I more or less knew what to expect having stretched my tongue up to a 4ga over the course of some few years, and since I had the money and was going to be in the area I figured, to hell with shy, lets get this done.
At A Glance Author Badtz Maru Contact rahim@qx.net Artist Michael Danastorg Studio Sacred Heart Tattoo Location New York City, NY Once the idea of stretching got into my head, it became an issue of how big a gauge to stretch to. In the long run I want to get to the 6/4ga range, but after a RAB discussion I've been slightly rethinking that. The issue of size of male genital piercings came up and having never though of it, I was politely informed that size indeed can matter, and larger size in genital piercing jewelry can be uncomfortable. I suppose somewhere in the back of my head I knew that, but I had never really thought about it. I've only had sex with one person since getting the piercing done, and the 10ga jewelry hasn't been an issue so... but larger is better... what to do what to do...
Back to the story. If I had had an 8ga barbell at home (which luckily I didn't, as I don't own a taper to save my life) I probably would have tried to do it myself at home. Since I didn't, I walked myself down to sacred heart down on canal street in NYC and was glad to see Mike, who did my second tongue piercing, the stretching for my first one, and my frenum. After some small talk, I asked him about stretching my frenum, to which he responded that it would be no problem. I asked him about size, and he recommended going up one gauge at a time, which was a little upsetting, but no huge issue. In addition I purchased a labret stud for my tragus to replace the jewelry I had lost.
After the obligatory few minutes wait, I go into the piercing room. Much to my surprise, a young lady walks in with Mike, he asks me if I would mind letting the young lady in question (I didn't get her name) watch. I say no, and then realize what I had said. My silly shy self had just agreed to have some unknown female looking at my business... grumble grumble. Well buck up and bear it son, no point getting antsy over it now.
On to the actual work. First the tragus, fairly fast and simple, though the area was a little cranky, after losing the original jewelry I had popped in a clean regular ear stud just to prevent the hole closing (at the time I didn't know how long it would be before I got around to getting jewelry for it) and it seems my ear had a bad reaction to whatever metal the stud was made out of. After a funny moment where it looked like mike was going to drop the ball before getting it attached to the base, tragus was finished. I got myself ready, and hopped up and dropped trou expecting Mike to ask me to do so. Its not like I don't have pretty bawls or nuthin, so to hell with it, right? Anyway, as mike is working he's explaining to the young lady what he's doing and why and I'm thinking to myself, I wouldn't mind learning how to do this, even if only so I could do my own piercings... The taper goes in, Mike continues explaining, and meanwhile I've forgotten about said young lady and I'm watching and listening. A slight pinching feeling as the taper goes through, jewelry goes in... its over. Less painful than going to that 4ga with my tongue (which also got hella cranky afterwards) and I'm ready to go. I ask mike if he's ever taught anyone how to do what he does to which he responds yes, and if I'm interested to talk to him when I'm ready. Cool. I take myself home, and being the somewhat paranoid sort at times take a look at the new jewelry with the intention of giving it a good cleaning. Much to my surprise, there's the tiniest drop of blood near one end of the jewelry... it being rather late, and not wanting to wait till the next day if there's a problem, I find and introduce myself to R.A.B. and post asking about whether this is a bad thing or not. A few hours later some kind soul informs me that frenums usually stretch on their own and it is strange, but possibly the piercing wasn't totally finished healing, to keep an eye on it just in case, but to otherwise not worry. The piercing was at about 6 months old so... Three weeks later (after a week of keeping it nice and clean and making sure the area didn't get swollen/sore and there was no more blood) it seems to be happy with the new jewelry. I'm still thinking about moving up to larger jewelry, perhaps a 6ga (cause of course this will make the balls bigger, and to be honest, that's all you really see of the piercing) but this time I'm thinking I'll give the area a little longer to heal just cause... Otherwise more great work by mike at sacred heart, a nifty shop that you should stop into if yer ever in lower Manhattan (free plug).