My first encounter with piercing was through a friend in Paris who had found out about the PA. I was both quite shocked and intrigued by the thought. Thierry found out more: it was not possible to get it done in France at the time; we had to go to Amsterdam where Thierry had located a doctor. The dates were decided, the appointment made for both of us. Unfortunately, I was called off to a job and couldn't make it. Thierry went: he showed me the result when he got back and I was then sure I wanted one.
At A Glance Author David Contact David@bme.anon Artist Scott & Shane/Lance Studio Polymorph & Streetwise Location Sydney & Auckland About a year later, in 1993, I left France and returned home to Sydney, Australia. I noticed a piercing shop on Oxford Street. I went in an inquired about a PA. I was measured up and they said to come back in a week or so when they had made the ring.
Along I went. I didn't really know much about piercing at the time and didn't really know what to expect. The piercer, I don't remember his name, got me to drop my trousers, cleaned me up and then inserted a cotton bud with anaesthetic into my urethra and applied a pad of the same stuff outside. I didn't know why then (now I do), but I was a little disappointed, but assumed this was standard practice. The pierce was done.
I went home in a state of total sexual arousal and, despite instructions to the contrary, had to masturbate. How else was I going to get it down? I had expected urinating to be painful. It wasn't.
About six months later, I went back and inquired about a larger gauge ring: I had been pierced with 12 ga. They decided I could go to 8 ga and they would make the ring and call me when it was ready. This was a really expensive deal and I began to wonder if there wasn't somewhere else in Sydney.
That's how I found Polymorph. I went along and immediately saw I was in a different world. I was too shy at the time to think about any facial piercings and so after chatting with a piercer there, Scott, we decided that a guiche might be good for me. I made an appointment and had my first guiche done. No anaesthetic this time and a 10 ga CBR. I had thought the PA was good, but this was something else, this little ring dangling midway between my scrotum and anus. It was from this moment I was hooked on piercing, steel fever, as they say.
A week later I went back to arrange for another guiche. Scott wouldn't do it because it would be too close to a relatively fresh pierce. So, I got my first nipple (left) pierce instead. After this, I calmed down a little and got down to getting pierced in a more rational and reflective manner.
About 3 months later I made an appointment to get another guiche and a hafada done: the opposite ends of a now planned ladder. A project that I knew would take a few years. The hafada was placed high on my scrotum centred on the rafe. The other guiche was placed about 1 cm in front of the existing one.
>From then on about every 6 months I would go and add two rings to my ladder, always being pierced with 10 ga. At the same time, I was starting to stretch up the earlier pierces. I wanted a really bold and heavy ladder.
Ultimately, I ended up with a ladder comprising 3 guiches and 8 hafadas. They are all 0 ga, 20 or 22 mm int. dia.
Scott had visions of my stretching all these piercings to the point where they would join and I'd be left with a sort of flap attached only where the top hafada and the back guiche had been. I found this notion interesting. Would I be able to start all over again and do a new ladder underneath? Anyway, this has not happened and I'm not sure whether it would be possible in terms of blood vessels.
I lost some interest in the PA, as apart from the aesthetics of having a ring though my cock, it doesn't do anything for me anymore. That is one of the problems with pierces, you do tend to get used to them... hence the incessant need for a new one. Although playing around with multi-coloured PVC rings and other jewellery does add some renewed interest.
The guiches all healed very well, the hafadas took longer, one grew out, and there is still one that has not settled down entirely, even after all these years; it tends to flare up at the slightest provocation (sex, heavy play...).
In the meantime, my left nipple grew out twice. The third time I had it pierced with a barbell rather than a CBR. This proved to work. I had the other nipple done the same way. So far, they are still both 10 ga. I am toying with the idea of doing some work on them next. I would say they took at least a year to heal completely, so I have left them to harden up before attacking them again, and besides I have been busy with other things.
I also started into more venturesome ear and other facial pierces. These have all been easy and quick to heal, although apart from my two lobes, have not involved any stretching.
The first was a labret (definitely the most pleasurable pierce I have had: sheer joy, a sense of liberation and fulfilment). Next my tongue, with the usual problem of swelling, but nothing to complain about really.
Followed by both lobes: one is now stretched to 24 mm and the other to 13 mm. The right lobe (14 mm) is more difficult to stretch and requires more patience and less "forcing"; it also tends to shrink faster if I leave out the jewellery for say 24 hours. The left lobe is like elastic and stretches almost at will.
By now I had moved to Auckland, New Zealand where I soon found BPS (Body Piercing Specialists), now called Streetwise. I would, and do, recommend them to anyone, as I would Polymorph in Sydney. Both are totally professional salons... and great people as well.
I had a tragus done by Lance at BPS. He is the most careful measurer I have ever come across.
Shane at BPS did my project. I already had a very nice 8 ga barbell, so we decided to go straight ahead and pierce with that. It has taken a long time to settle down, indeed the lower hole is still not totally there after 18 months or so.
I am getting a wooden pin made to insert in the project, because I have found my body certainly prefers it to SS. I have used almost exclusively wooden plugs to stretch my ears. SS always proved a disaster, irritation and infections were frequent. Stone was also better, but wood has definitely been the best.
As my ladder was nearing completion, I decided to get some hafadas (barbells) down each side of the ladder. Both Shane and Lance have worked on these, 10 ga pierces, one on each side at 6 month intervals. These healed much more quickly than the CBR pierces for the ladder, to such an extent that the six are all stretched to 2 ga now. I had initially planned 5 on each side, but there really isn't room for comfort.
I now found that there was no more room for pierces on my scrotum... well not any that I could easily gauge up to 2 ga or 0 ga (my preferred sizes), without incurring painful pinching when wearing jeans and sitting (more about this below). So, I decided to turn my attention to my cock again. I was in Sydney on holidays a few weeks ago and called in to Polymorph and had a frenum done (10 ga barbell). As it happens, it is lower than I would have liked, but that means there's room for another one up higher.
I will probably get at least one or two more frenums (barbells) to start on a ladder... I would like to see if I can work all the way down to join up with my existing ladder, that would mean 2 or 3 more guiches and finding a nice transition from barbells to CBRs.
The frenum has been no trouble at all. My partner and I have experimented with it for sex, the barbell is perhaps a little too long, so I will need to put in a shorter one, 8 ga, in a couple of months. She liked it though... so did I.
Unlike any other pierce I have had, there have been no crusties at all with the frenum. I have my own personal hygiene routine, because I have found it is what works best for me, and that is I simply wash with sulphur soap. It is made by Chinese herbalists and I buy it from health food outlets. Sulphur has antibacterial qualities. I lather up around the new pierce and leave it for a minute or so and then rise thoroughly. I use this soap on all my pierces all the time. I am not necessarily recommending this to anyone, but it is gentle and it works for me.
After 8 years or so, that is where I am at: 28 pierces in all (I count the project as two!). I have sort of goal in my head and that is to have as many pierces as years on me. Given that I will probably have 30 by the end of this year, it will take me 9 years at an average of 3 pierces a year to achieve this. Not sure where they will all go!
Where from now? I have an ampallang planned for mid-September (I have at last worked up the courage for this one). I would love some dydoes but anatomically this will probably not be possible for me. More frenums/lorums to make a ladder, maybe joining up with the existing scrotal ladder. Another project on the other ear or same ear perpendicular to the existing project and passing through the tragus. A septum, maybe some heavy gauge CBRs in what is left of my upper lobes... The limit is defined by imagination and available space.
A word about heavy gauge scrotal piercings. In my experience, eleven 0 ga CBRs is quite a lot of steel and it requires room! In summer it's fine, I wear loose trousers (bagwear we call them down here), but if I want to wear jeans some sort of underwear is necessary. I have found a supportive but not constricting g-string or thong to be best. The problem is that if too constricted, when you sit down for example, the rings squeeze against each other and pinch the scrotum skin in between. This causes a sharp jab of pain when you stand up. You need to experiment to find what is most comfortable for you. This is a minor point... it goes with the territory I guess but would certainly never make me get rid of my steel.
Oh and yes, I do make the airport metal detectors go off every time. If they ask, I just say, I have many more piercings...
Feel free to ask any questions.