D.I.Y.
At A Glance Author Bernard Contact Bernard@bme.anon Artist I did it Studio Home Location ORLEANS (France) Well, it all started a few years ago, on one of the largest nude beaches available in France : I noticed someone with a little something glittering in the sunshine, at mid-level. So I came a little bit closer and was surprised to see a ring on his scrotum.
At that time, piercing was almost unheard of in France, and only a few weirdos had their ears pierced. That guy was Dutch. But the message got home almost instantly : you must have one !
OK, fine... But where and how ?
I was thinking of something down there, but did not really have the pluck to go and see a jeweller (most are girls, on top of it) and ask him/her for a piercing below the waist. To make a long story short, I had my left ear pierced the standard way, with a standard stud, by a standard jeweller.
The pain was nil, but the looks I got were not, believe you me! I am a teacher, and the clear message was "How dare you set such a poor example, etc !"
I kept it for years, and, one day, decided for a genital piercing. The same problem immediately arose : where and who ?
And the answer was limited : tattoo parlour available, but no piercing at the time (by the way, France seems to be trailing light years behind the States and Great-Britain for that sort of thing !!!)
Or I had to go to Paris, make an appointment, etc.
Come, come : that, plus the price you have to pay for it - fair enough, I can afford it , but when you are not sure you want it here and not there... - made me finally turn to that decision : I will do it myself.
On top of it, there was a funny feeling: why should I go to a piercing studio ? Not that I don't trust them, far from it, but I think the experience is deeper and more personal if you manage to do it from beginning to end. See my point ?
And this is precisely why I am writing this report : I have been through the various stages one comes across, I suppose. Why not let it be read by those who want to do it themselves and give them a few handy tips ?
All in all, I have had now some twenty different piercings (not too bad, uh ?) with different locations : foreskin - the very first one -, hafadas, guiches, frenum.
The problems met were of various sorts :
1) first of all, have it/them accepted by my wife. The first one, it was an earring used for the foreskin, scratched her when ... , and she was against it from the start. Which was why I removed it !
Then I turned to hafadas. Mind you, she did not really like them, but
accepted them. Now I have a frenum, two hafadas, a shaft and a guiche, and she does with them all...
2) the piercing itself : I started with a safety pin. OK for piercing, but when you take it off and try to force the barbell or whatever through, it won't follow the same way, because too thick or curved, or, rather, because you can't find the hole again.
Which made me turn to something bigger, a sharpened nail: it is definitely better when you want to find your way with the barbell, but it tears you open (on a very small scale !) and the healing can be a bit long. Then I found that, should you put a cork on the other side of the piercing, it doesn't pierce you too badly. The hole is bigger than needed, and the follow-through easy enough.
Naturally, all this being done properly with clean hands and nails, disinfectant and the rest.
Finally, I came across the tapered needles used by professionals (I bought one from a London studio) : in fact you should have two : the first one for piercing, and the second one when you want to take off a jewel and put it back, for cleaning reasons or others.
The first one should be sharpened (their standard tips are rounded) and it will pierce without much pain, provided you insert it in a handle (I took a piece of wood 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide and drilled a hole about 2/3 of an inch long in it) so that you can have a sufficient pressure on the skin - much more difficult without the handle ! - and do the piercing on an expiration.... And, last but not least, when it has pierced the skin the way you wanted, you take off the handle (the needle is NOT stuck in it and can come off when you want it to)and insert the jewel inside the hollow part of the needle : you push everything through and bingo, you have done your OWN piercing, from beginning to end !
I suppose that is what professional piercers do, really, but I was really happy to find it for myself !
3) one of the big problems is symmetry, and you might feel a bit disillusioned (and sore !) if things don't go according to plans: I wanted my last guiche to be "perfect", and had to pierce seven times to have it the way I wanted (OK,it was really at the bottom and I could not see properly, plus the fact that when you stretch the skin yourself it is not always symmetrical, etc). That's where a professional piercer comes in handy !
4) healing can be long : I went to a doctor for some other reason, asked her about it and showed her : she gave me some antiseptic to be applied twice daily for two months. And if after the two months ... ? Her answer was: either you leave it the way it is or you take it off. Guess which solution will be chosen ?
5) finally, on a personal level, I'm real happy with these piercings : almost nobody knows, and most people hate the idea of having one's body pierced - except for female earrings - which makes me appreciate them even more (my piercings, not the people !) and, aesthetically, I must say I love them !
If you feel like contacting me, I'll be only too glad to get in touch !
Bernard