Hello, and thanks for reading my story.
At A Glance Author DreadJohn Contact jahlove2000@hotmail.com When N/A Artist DreadJohn Studio Outer Limits Location Anaheim, Ca I've been a fan of professional piercing for nearly ten years. I've also had the pleasure of working in this industry for almost the last five. That said, it's only in the last couple years that I've been apprenticing to pierce with the dream of making it a career. Apprenticing means I'm responsible for finding my own clients who I must pierce for free, with the client being responsible for the jewelry purchase.
Using the internet to find my victims has been quite an adventure. Especially when I met a lady who was interested in having a verticle clit hood piercing. My first reaction was excitement to the possibility of performing such an interesting piercing. Once a date was scheduled I began a sort of mental process to prepare myself. It was almost as if I was getting the piercing done instead of performing it. I've been around piercing enough that I shouldn't have been as nervous as I was. But I was indeed nervous. I've seen labia piercings performed before, but never a hood. And as familiar as I have always considered myself with female anatomy, this piercing is a "functional" one, and everything needs to be just perfect.
So in the days leading up to the appointment, I spent a good amount of time researching hood piercings on every website I could, and naturally asked a million questions to my piercer friends. A huge concern for me was bedside manner with a piercing like this. Eventually the time came and there was no turning back.
The client was there, my piercing instructor was there, and I was there. After the release form and aftercare formalities, it was time to examine the client for jewelry size. This was the first time I've ever had to ask a woman to remove her clothing in the professional environment. I bet it was as akward for me as it must have been for her. I was very impressed with the client's amount of knowledge on this piercing. She had done her own research and knew what to expect and she knew what she wanted.
I was walked through the process of examining the client's anatomy and helped to determine the proper jewelry options for her. The client wanted a curved barbell and we agreed that would be best. Hood piercings are frequently done with twelve gauge jewelery. Unfortunately, we were out of the size we needed. Our only real option was to up the stakes a little bit and use a ten gauge barbell. Once the process of cleaning the area was underway, the client remained fairly quiet as two strange guys handle her and talked in a very technical way that maybe only a piercer could translate. Hopefully she understood that it was necessary for me to be completely aware of what I was faced with so I could offer the best and safest piercing possible.
One of my biggest fears was pinching the hood with the needle receiving tube, holding it too tight, or worse, not holding it tight enough and having it slide during the piercing. I took a couple minutes to try some different approaches to stretching the hood over the NRT, different angles, and different hand positions. During this the client communicated her level of discomfort which gave me some totally valuable information. Take a deep breathe in....and exhale. There it went.
Piercing the hood was like cutting warm butter. There was almost no resistance. I'll take a hood over an ear cartilidge any day. I was lead to believe that this piercing can be a big shock to the client and to prepare for a jerk like reaction. This client took it very very well. Only a small sigh. Just a couple more seconds and the jewelery was in without a problem. One more minute to clean the small amount of blood and excess lubricant and she was up and dressed. She was kind enough to email me a picture a couple weeks later, so I'm assuming she is happy with the piercing. This was definitely a positive experience for me and certainly a boost for my confidence. I'm very grateful she trusted me to do her piercing and hopefully I can work on her again.
In retrospect, it has left me with an odd sentiment. The first piercing I ever received was a genital piercing. This was 1995 and there was an apprentice there also. There I was in a studio for a piercing and the piercer explaining to his apprentice the process for the procedure, much like it was explained to me for this verticle hood. Although piercing is usually incident free, the chance of disaster is always present. Without doubt the best way to learn the art of piercing, which is half knowledge and half skill, is through an apprenticeship. The people who apprentice others today are creating the next generation of piercers. When you search for a piercer, please examine their credentials and never be afraid to ask questions.