I had considered getting a vertical hood piercing for quite a while, so I decided to call around to different shops. Ian, the guy who pierced my nipples was my first choice to call, he made me feel calm and relaxed and was just a great piercer in general, but he was no longer working in town, so I was out of luck there. I decided to give a different shop (which will remain nameless) a try, since I knew one of the piercers there, I figured I would be more comfortable to have her do it.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist A complete asshole who will remain nameless Studio An awful shop which will also remain nameless Location Canada I did as much research as I could on www.bmezine.com as well as talked to as many people as I could who had this particular piercing. I was now ready!
It was Saturday, October 13th 2001 I had asked my mother to drop me off downtown, I told her that I was meeting up with some friends (it was a half truth, so sue me!) She dropped me off at the intersection that the shop is located, and I waited as she turned the corner. I entered the shop, with cash in hand and went to the counter and told the guy at the counter that I wanted a vertical hood piercing. He then gave me a clipboard with the waiver, and a pen and told me to read it carefully and sign it. Shaking with a nervous excitement, I signed my name on the line and handed him back the clipboard, pen and my money. He went in the back room and got two of the piercers, a male and a female (who will remain nameless). My wheelchair couldn't fit through the narrow doorway into the back, so I left it in the front room and walked. The female showed me where the bathroom was, and waited outside the door till I was finished and led me to the piercing room.
When we got to the piercing room, the girl told me that she had never done a vertical hood piercing before, so the man was going to do it while she watched. They also told me that it would have to be done with a CBR as they were out of barbells. We talked for a few minutes, I told them that this was a gift to myself for quitting smoking, and he told me he had quit just a few days before.
This is where things get bad...
Now, I have seen some horrible horrible tattoos done by this guy, but figured that he was probably a better piercer than a tattoo artist, and since he did his co-workers' horizontal hood piercing, I thought that I would be ok. So, they helped me onto the bed and I dropped my drawers and lay down spread eagle as he told me to. I was so nervous that I already had beads of sweat on my forehead, and commented about how I was embarrassed by my razor burn. He put on a pair of gloves and poked around for a few minutes. He then opened the autoclaved packages and set everything out on the tray. He marked the enter hole, put the clamp on (which by the way were so uncomfortable and very cold.) and made sure everything was lined up. I was trying to see everything that he was doing, but he told me that I would do better if I just layed back and tried to relax.
I was trying to concentrate on my breathing, and get into my "safe zone" but try as I may, it didn't work. He went to pierce me, and I jumped, screwing everything up. He looked very pissed off as he put the needle on the bed (not on the tray) beside me, removed the clamps and took a piece of paper towel to stop the bleeding. By this time, I was crying, I said to him "maybe this isn't a good idea, maybe I'm not ready to do this tonight. I'll come back in a week to get it done (like hell I would ever go into that shop again) when I'm better prepared." His reply to me was "Shut up and stop crying. We're doing this tonight." If I wasn't so paralyzed with fear and about a million different other feelings, and if I was able to get off the bed without assistance, I would have left immediately, but I kept sniffling, and he shouted at me again to stop crying, and to lay back.
Stupidly, I did as he said; he re-marked and re-clamped me. He then picked up the needle that he had just previously used to stab me with from the bed, and jabbed it through my poor clitoral hood without any type of warning, or time for me to prepare myself. Needless to say, it hurt a lot. He then took the CBR and inserted it, fiddled with the ball for a few seconds, and announced to me that he was finished. I sat up and looked at it for a few seconds, and put my panties and jeans back on. The pain had pretty much stopped once the jewelry was in, but it was still obviously tender. For the aftercare, he told me not to use sea-salt, to use liquid hand soap, and also recommended Bactine. He also told me that it was ok to have sex within 5 minutes of getting pierced. I was still shaking, I was never asked if I was ok, or if I needed to take a few minutes to settle down, they just basically wanted me out of there so they could close for the night. I thought that $90 was way too much for such an awful experience, so I just left without tipping, and headed down the street to meet up with my friends, still slightly crying.
It wasn't until after, I had spoken to other people who were pierced by the same person as me, and for the most part, their experiences were just as bad.
As for my aftercare, I chose to do sea salt soaks two times a day, as it has worked with all of my other piercings. *DO NOT* under any circumstance use Bactine on a piercing, it is a breeding ground for bacteria and has a very short shelf life, it will do more damage than good. Also, normal liquid hand soap can irritate sensitive areas such as genitals, not a fun thing.
There was slight bleeding the first night, but nothing too bad. I found wiping myself to be an interesting thing, trying not to knock the fresh piercing. Other than the initial night of the piercing, for the first few days I found jeans to be too uncomfortable and decided that fleece pants were best. For the first 7-10 days it was very tender, and sometimes hurt a lot, but nothing unbearable.
I do love my piercing, but I really wish that I had gone to a different shop instead. I will never go into that shop again for anything. I shouldn't have given him the benefit of the doubt, and there are a lot of things that if I could change about this experience, I would, but since I can't I will just live with it. There haven't been any problems with the piercing so far, which I will consider a good sign.