Although I've been of legal age to get a piercing on my own for about a year and a half now, I never really had any desire to get anything done. I mean, I had my ears and my belly button pierced and a tattoo on my lower back, and there wasn't really anything else that I wanted done.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Stan Studio Cheap Trx Location St. Louis, MO That is, until one night about a month ago when I randomly started searching around on BME. That's when I first realized how cute genital piercings were. I must say that I NEVER in a million years considered getting a genital piercing until that night... I actually used to be really weirded out by the thought of it. So anyway, I stayed up all night researching the different genital piercings and decided that the VCH was definitely for me. Most experiences I read involved little pain and short healing time. I was pretty much sold on getting a VCH and by the morning I was determined that I was going to get it done. This decision was pretty unusual for me because I'm pretty much the least decisive person ever and I'm pretty conservative... but I knew this was what I wanted and I was going to get it.
So then the time came to start researching piercing places to find a place that was going to be both clean and affordable. I knew I wanted to get it done in St. Louis because I live in a small town where I wouldn't really trust any of the piercing places, so I talked to friends with piercings and searched online to see what was out there. I ended up getting good references for Iron Age, Cheap Trx, and Trader Bob's, all of which are in St. Louis. After calling all three places and assessing how much money I was going to be able to spend on this piercing, I ended up choosing Cheap Trx. It was cheaper than the other two places ($50 versus spending about $70 at the others) and I had heard it was quite clean. If I had been able to afford it at the time, I probably would have shelled out the extra money to get it done at Iron Age because from what I'm told, that is THE BEST place to go for tattoos and piercings in St. Louis.
Once I was decided on getting my VCH at Cheap Trx, I wanted to go get it done as soon as possible. Unfortunately, by the time I drove down to St. Louis the shop was going to be closed by the time I would have been able to get there. The anticipation was killing me! I didn't know how I was going to be able to wait another day to get my VCH! Alas, I knew I was going to have to wait. Since I couldn't get it done that day, I decided I was going to go the very next day and get it done before I chickened out. At first I wanted someone to go with me so I could hold their hand, but decided against it so that I could use the experience as kind of a way to proclaim my independence and prove to myself I was strong. I had kind of been through a lot of stuff lately that made me really feel pretty bad about myself, so this was something to kind of help me take control of myself and my life again.
So the next day I woke up and took a nice long shower, making sure that everything was clean and pretty before some stranger would be seeing it. So I drove to Cheap Trx, which took about an hour and a half, twice as long as it should have, because I got caught in traffic, which made me consider turning around and forgetting about the whole thing. But I knew that this was what I wanted and I wouldn't let myself back out!
So when I finally got to the shop, I nervously paced outside while I talked on the phone in an attempt to calm my nerves. When I finally got the courage to go into the shop, the guys at the main counter eased my nerves by asking how I was and if I needed help with anything (they were VERY friendly, which made me feel better about the place). I responded that I was looking to get a piercing and they joked about getting one between my eyebrows before directing me around into the actual piercing shop part of the store while yelling out to the piercers, "We've got another victim for you."
I was SUPER nervous when I walked over, and there was a younger guy standing behind the counter and an older guy (Stan) standing by the counter. I told them I wanted to get a vertical hood piercing and they kind of smiled and told me they could do that. While I was paying the younger guy behind the counter ($10 for the jewelry and $40 for the piercing), Stan was making copies of my ID and getting paperwork together that included aftercare and everything to expect. The one thing I didn't like about this place is that they will only do a VCH piercing with a captive bead ring, and I personally don't think those look as good as barbells do for a VCH piercing. But I figured they know more about piercing than I do and I can always get it changed later if I don't like it.
Stan then brought me into the piercing room, which was very clean and made me feel a lot more comfortable about getting my new piercing there. He made me sit on the weird chair while he got everything ready and explained everything I could possibly need to know about the piercing and how to take care of it. I was so nervous at this point that I almost felt like backing out, but Stan was really good about trying to make me feel comfortable. Since I was wearing a skirt and a thong, I didn't even have to take any clothes off because all I had to do was hike up my skirt and pull my undies over out of the way. That made me feel better about having a stranger see my "cookie" as he put it. Plus he didn't make me do that until after everything was ready, so that I would be the most comfortable.
He leaned the weird chair back so that I was lying on my back with my feet sitting on little platforms on the side of the chair thing. He proceeded to clean the area and prepare me for the piercing. I liked that he always told me when he was about to do something so that there wouldn't be any sudden surprises. Once everything was ready to go, he instructed me to take a deep breath and then breathe out. On the breath out, he pierced and oh my goodness that was intense pain for a few seconds. I kind of made a weird pained sound when I breathed in hard with my mouth almost closed during the actual piercing and then said ouch under my breath when he put in the jewelry. But in the time I did that was the only time I felt pain. Afterwards it felt weird, but not painful at all. I think in reading on BME about how it didn't hurt for a lot of people, I made myself expect it to not hurt and that didn't exactly help because it does hurt!
I didn't bleed at all, but Stan gave me some gauze just in case and told me to wear panty liners for a few days, which ended up coming in handy because the second day I bled a little bit. I never bruised or swelled up or anything, and aftercare was easy and healing time minimal. I simply washed it really well while I was in the shower and only ended up doing maybe one salt soak a day, if that. It didn't really seem necessary to salt soak because I never got any crusties or anything. It felt healed within the first week, but I still wash it really well every time I shower and I tried not to handle it at all during the first two weeks.
Now that it's all healed for sure, I'm a little concerned that it is slightly crooked. It may just be my anatomy, but it just doesn't look exactly straight. I know it's not the piercing itself that is crooked (the hole is perfectly centered), so I'm planning on getting the captive bead ring switched to a barbell and I'm hoping that will help. I've told a few of my guy friends about my new little shiny and they all think it's pretty hot. My new love interest seems to be pretty excited to see it, so I'm hoping that will help things out a bit :). I haven't told any of my girl friends about it yet and I'm not sure that I will. I was planning on keeping it a secret other than people who I'm with sexually, but after I got it I was just too excited to share because I absolutely love it!
I must add though that I don't get anything sexually from my new piercing, but I LOVE the way it looks so I'm not really that concerned about that aspect of it. If I went back in time, I would definitely get this piercing again because it was a great experience and it looks great! Oh and I would definitely recommend Stan and Cheap Trx because everyone there was friendly and professional, and I was very impressed with the cleanliness of the piercing room and sanitary practices.