Parts 1 through 3 of this series detail my piercing experiences from April 1991 to September 1995 (3 ear lobe piercings, a nipple, a PA and a navel). Here follows part 4, in which we return below the belt...
At A Glance Author GothPaul When Ten years ago or more Artist Jan Studio Paul's Tattoo Studio Location Bedford, UK Time passes after my navel piercing (about 6 months, bringing us to March 1996) and I return to 'Paul's Tattoo Studio' for another two 16G studs in the left ear. Both are installed by Jan with a gun. The first, about 5mm up from lobe where the cartilage starts, is slightly misaligned, too deep and still aches from time to time. The second is my rook and believe me, cartilage piercings with a piercing gun throb for a couple of weeks after they're done! Again, this paragraph is included only for the sake of completeness (and because gunned ear piercing doesn't warrant inclusion in BME in its own right!)
Six weeks later, May '96, and it's time for another endorphin fix. I went back to Paul's and they were having a quiet day. Jim was out again and Paul and Jan were bored.
Over coffee and few cigarettes, the conversation turned to piercings and what I thought I'd like next.
"I'm not sure," I replied. "Something down there, maybe?"
Paul then told me that Jan had never done a Lorum or a Hafada and, if I was willing, they'd be happy to do them for a discount, as a learning experience.
I agreed and signed the obligatory disclaimer.
The plan was to do the lorum first right where the penis met the scrotum, then a pair of hafadas, one on each side, a bit further down, to give a kind of flying V effect.
We adjourned to the piercing cubicle, which was quite crowded with three of us in there, and, after the usual cleaning and preparation, I was asked to drop my pants and sit in the chair.
I was a bit reluctant to get my tackle out in front of Jan at first. Strange, I was quite happy to let a big hairy biker man stick needles in my most sensitive areas, but balked a bit at the idea of his wife doing it. What if I got hard? What if... What the Hell, they'd probably had stranger stuff happen! Therefore, I only blushed maroon as I got naked and sat, legs spread, with my valuables trying to crawl back into my body.
A couple of bad jokes about how cold it was and the obligatory reference to a mushroom and half a walnut and I started to relax.
With Paul supervising, Jan proceeded to clean the area and mark the positions of the piercings.
Jan positioned the clamp for the lorum, asked if I was ready and pushed the first needle through, followed by the 1.6mm (14G) x 12mm CBR. I barely felt a thing. One down, two to go.
After allowing me to recover for a couple of minutes, the clamp was placed for the left hand hafada.
"Ready?" Nod. Sting! Not bad pain, but more than the lorum. Another 1.6mm (14G) x 12mm CBR in place.
Five minutes recovery later and the final clamp was in place on the right hand hafada.
"Ready?" Nod. STING! Even more pain this time; apparently, adrenalin makes your scrotum contract and the skin thickens, so it becomes harder to push the needle through it; probably some kind of primitive defence mechanism. Eventually the third 1.6mm (14G) x 12mm CBR was in place and I could open my eyes, look down and breathe again.
The new rings looked amazing. Placement seemed to be spot on and they looked like they had always been there.
Standard aftercare instructions; keep them clean, sea salt soaks twice daily, wash hands before and after touching them, if they look inflamed, a bit of 0.5% peroxide solution will sort it out, any problems come back and we'll help you out.
I hung around for another half an hour or so, had another coffee and a couple of cigarettes, then paid (£45 for the three instead of £60) and made my way home.
Close inspection at home showed that the right hand hafada (the last one done) was a little deeper than the left hand, (I currently wear an 8mm long banana in the left and a 10mm one in the right). I put this down to the skin tightening effect I mentioned earlier. The perfectionist in me isn't happy with the slight lack of symmetry, but piercing is never a mathematical art, so I'm not too upset about it.
Healing was, as I was coming to expect, uneventful, although I hadn't realised until then how much sweat actually accumulates around a scrotum in the summertime! They were all healed within 6 weeks and have been no trouble since.
The only issue I had was, until now, all my piercings had been on my left hand side (ear, nipple) or on the centre-line (PA, navel). Now, while one of the hafadas and the lorum fit into this pattern, there was also a hafada on my right hand side! What to do?
The answer, when it came, almost a year later (and documented in One Man's Journey pt 5), was simple; get more piercings on the right!
Enjoy