First off some basic informations about my prior modifications. I am in my early twenties and I have over 70 hours of tattoo work done on me, 28 piercings, a scarification and a Hood Split . My genitals have two outer labia's, one inner labia, four hoods, and the Split of course. I am a piercer on hold, currently modifying a few select people. I used to work in a shop, unfortunately I had to quit, the schedule of my working hours were not compatible with those of my studying. All this to say I am not new to the Body Modification scene and my choices were well educated.
At A Glance Author Violence Contact Violence@bme.anon IAM E-Vomit When Two years ago Artist Myself Location Montreal, Quebec.
Disclaimer, I do not condemn self-piercing, although most of the time they are not made in a safe and sterile environment, meaning; that boiling your jewelery in hot water or using a direct flame and/or rubbing alcohol are NOT proper sterilization techniques, not to mention the needles used, most of which are sowing needles or safety pins, ETC... All of my tools are sterilized in a dry heat oven and/or autoclave, I only use tri-beveled high-polished one use only needles and high quality jewelery. I do not recommend for someone who does not know what they are doing to self-pierce. I fully understand the meaning of a D.I.Y piercing; the empowerment, reclaiming yourself and your body, although none of those reasons, including a lack of money, are an excuse to go butcher yourself. I am writing all this for one simple reason; I love Body-Modification and seeing, hearing and reading horror stories breaks my heart. You only have one body, do not scar or mutilate it, make your research, your body is your temple.
Point made, now back to the story.
I have never had any primary motivation behind modifying my body. When I have the idea of a piercing (or other mod) in my mind, it's like there's something missing on my body which was suppose to be there. I'm not doing my Mods for pain or attention, usually it's for aesthetics and to fill a missing gap on my body. I had already two outer labia's pierced on each side (I retired one pair) and I was totally in love with them, as well as other different female genital modifications. I didn't put much thought in what else I would get, usually my piercing "ideas" come spontaneously as if they were always suppose to be there and I just notice they are not and quickly correct this situation.
One day about two years ago, I was taking a bath and while at it I was cleaning my outer labial piercings which I already had for a few months and which were fully healed. On a side note; I clean my healed piercings an least once a week to get rid of the daily toxins and dead skin and other bodily fluids and dirts which might get caught on the jewelery. After I cleaned my bits with a sea salt solution, I took a look at my hood and decide I need to add some decorations. I have a fairly long hood, it's about four centimeters long, I have never been complexed about my privates although they seemed to...Naked?
That night I decided to pierce my first hood piercing. I am a very shy person although I don't mind showing of my mods in pictures, to drop my pants, even for a piercing Is nerve racking even more than the piercing it self, this is why I did my genital piercings myself. I got out of the shower, dried myself and prepared the set-up on my bed. I took out absorbent towels, my tools on a metal "dish" also covered in absorbent towels, packaged needle and I had to go through my jewelery to find the perfect piece. Usually I would pierce it 10 gauge, it holds better and there's less chances of it to rip during sexual act although my bits are pretty compact and I was ab out sure I would get more metal. I like more subtle jewelery and also they would get in the way of a passionate night so I settled on 12 gauge. I went through my jewelery bags looking for a CBR of a decent size which would leave room for swelling but which wouldn't be to big, I'm compact down there and I didn't it want it to twist in all directions while it was healing.
After looking for the perfect piece of metal which was going to compliment my femininity, I found the perfect 12 gauge CBR, it was Titanium although I don't remember the exact diameter of there ring. I took the sterile package and placed it on the set-up. Took out Q-Tips, my box of gloves, but water based lube and a few gauze wipes for skin disinfection, taper, single use marker and a mirror. I put on my gloves, cleaned the area and let it air dry for about five to ten minutes. When my parts were dry I took the marker and marked two dots and went to check myself in the mirror. I realized I'm not a hundred percent symmetrical which caused a problem with the marking. Where my hood meets my pubic mound, it starts two millimeters lower on one side, so I rolled my eyes and hoped on my bed again. I took the smaller mirror and marked it again, got up and checked in the bigger mirror, as soon as I spread my legs the dots were perfect, but when I got up they were extremely crooked. I realized that if the marking were perfect for when I was standing up they would be crooked when I spread and vice-versa. I decided to do the hood piercing lower so it was hidden when I was standing so it would be perfectly centered when I spread up. I cleaned of the previous marks and did the dots again, they were perfect although they were two or three millimeters lower then I would of hoped for.
Finally satisfied with the markings that took me about 30 minutes to do, I decided it was time to pierce. Before I finally sat down I decided to smoke a cigarette as my nerves were tickling in my stomach. To tell you the truth I was more excited than I was nervous. The cigarette seemed like an eternity to me and I didn't even finish it. I walked like a cowboy to the sink to wash my hands, what a pleasant and beautiful image, me walking as if I just went horse back riding for an least 4 hours, happy I was alone that day!
I finally sat down, check if I had everything for one last time, check the markings again and I took the packaged needle and opened it. I took out two different clamps, one bigger and one smaller to make sure they were the perfect fit. I put on the bigger clamps and I wasn't satisfied so I took the smaller ones and they were perfect. I changed my gloves again, opened the CBR and changed my gloves, AGAIN. I change my gloves very often during a procedure, maybe a bit too much, but better safe than sorry. I clamped myself, took the needle and I was ready. Breathe in, breathe out, the 14 gauge needle slipped in like butter. I took the taper and tapered it up to 12 gauge. The needle didn't hurt, the only pain I felt was when It came out, it was a sharp pain but not very intense. The taper was also painless but I felt a lot of pressure which I don't dislike at all. I love feeling a fresh piercing through my flesh. I quickly slid the CBR in and tightened it around the ball and it was done. No blood, no pain and a very quick procedure, I was very proud of myself. I realized the piercing was very centered even when I was standing up, which surprised me, in a very nice way of course.
The main reason I tapered my piercing was not to have excessive bleeding because I didn't want to use a pad and cause extra friction and trauma to the fresh hole.
The next two three days were tolerable, a day later the pressure around the bit of metal was gone although I still could feel the fresh piercing. A week after that no more pain at all. The after care for genital piercings is very simple, general good hygiene and sea salt soaks and forget it's there when you're not cleaning it. I cleaned it with sea salt solution twice a day for two weeks. I didn't have a partner and I'm not the type of person to sleep around so the "no-sex and no fluid exchange" rule was easy to follow. My sensitive bits were a bit dehydrated (on the normal skin, outer labia's and pubic mound), because of the soaks, the solution was VERY mild but I'm over sensitive down there so I had to use a bit of water based hydrating cream and a week later it was perfect.
Three weeks after my initial horizontal hood piercing I knew I had to add more piercings to my hood, I decided to add three more, I was going to do two at a time and then the third one when they were healed. As I said previously; I'm very sensitive down there.
I did my set-up again, took out my tools (everything double of course, no re-using needles), cleaned my area. This time the placement was easier, I measure 3 millimeters between the piercings, the placement was easier because I only had to make them parallel and then I was sure they were going to be centered.
I clamped myself, the needle pierced slid in problem free again, tapered it to 12 gauge and slid the jewelery in problem free. This time I it a vessel, I could feel it, it's a very weird type of pain I must say. I bled for about 5 minutes and I was going for the second hole of the day. I clamped myself again and repeated what I had done twice previously. No blood this time, but it was rather painful, I felt the needle come out and it didn't slide as fast as the two other times. The taper gave me some issues, it didn't want to go up to 12 gauge as easy as the other time it took a few seconds more to complete the piercing. The jewelery slid in problem free and I tightened the ring.
The after care and healing was uneventful, same as the one three weeks prior to my new decorations. I had some bruising caused by the popped vessel, it was dark red/purple and turned to greenish after a week, two days after that it went to yellowish brown. (Ewww for the Greenish skin discoloration). The piercings took a week longer to fully settle, I had to wear a pad during the first night, I didn't want to stain my sheet or underwear and the rubbing was very unpleasant. I used the same diameter of CBR for all the three piercings, the last CBR was twisting and was rather uncomfortable. It was closer to the edge and was unpleasant and changed it to a smaller diameter. Two weeks from piercing my pair of horizontal
Fast forward a month later when I decided to add a fourth piercing on my beautiful bits.
After some reflexion, I realized it was getting crowded "downstairs" and voted on changing the jewelery to 14 gauge/ 9mm diameter CBR's. Although I would use a 12 gauge CBR and the same technique to pierce as for my previous holes.
The set-up was the same and I was ready for round 4. By then it was very casual, the excitement went down, I was used to getting my bits pierced and it was almost a normal thing for me. The set-up and piercing was exactly as the previous, except no nicked vessels. One thing didn't go as planned, I tapered it up to twelve gauge and lost transition. I quickly took the taper back, put it in my entry hole and found the exit hole in a second and the ring was in and tightened it around the niobium ball.
The healing and after care was exactly the same as the previous times and settled in a week. I changed all my genital jewelery for matching 14 gauge/9 millimeter diameter CBR's.
As for the sexual aspect of the piercings they are not in any way sexual enhancers. They do not get in the way at all. As for my sexual partner which I had after I completed my ladder, he enjoyed the look of it, found it a bit exciting and wild, I was his first modified down-south girl. He said the piercings were getting in his way when he was giving me oral pleasure, but I didn't even give any thought to what he said. I must say I haven't had a lot of sex partners in my life, and this one was at the bottom of the list, so obviously the sex in our relationship was not a major factor. It was so-so but it wasn't one of the primary reasons why I was with him so I didn't care much if his oral performance was better without jewelery. I did those piercings for myself, by myself. If he didn't like it and if it would of gotten to an ultimatum of "him or the piercings" he would of lost it and I would of found someone with common interests and a better sexual performance. I was with this guy for six or seven months when I decided to move on. Now I'm in a very happy relationship with a guy who enjoys my piercings and finds them sexy and embraces them, and me for who I am. I have been in a relationship with him for about eight months and he fully supports my Modifications and my interest even if piercings are not part of his lifestyle (although tattoos are). I mentioned my love life because I think it's very important to show every aspect of Body Modification including this one.
Some parts of the experience might not seem relevant to the piercing itself to some of you, although everything I said had a meaning for me or else I wouldn't of mentioned it.
One last thing I include, a picture of my piercings, in this picture there are one Outer Labia piercing 14 gauge CBR on each side, a single Inner Labia 14 gauge CBR, slightly smaller diameter than the rest, and four Horizontal Hoods and my Hood Split. The link directs you to one of the pictures I uploaded on IAM. The piercings in my picture look very crooked, but I reassure you they are not and every Mods I have down there compliment themselves.
Your body is your temple, take very good care of it.