I've been getting piercings for a couple years now, and from the very beginning I've wanted a genital piercing. I knew that that was a serious move, however, so I decided to take it one step at a time - aka, look into other areas. An Industrial, Rook, Daith, Tragus, and tongue ring later, I decided I was ready.
At A Glance Author Krystina Contact Krystina@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Tiffany Studio Lady Luck Tattoo Location Waterford, Michigan Things didn't go completely as planned, though. Rather than one piercing below the belt, I left the establishment with 3.
Anyways, the story.
Two or three weeks ago I began to do some serious research on the internet. I was picky with where I went and who I saw for my previous piercings, but I was downright anal for this one. If I was going to have someone stabbing vital areas such as these, I wanted as close to an expert as I could get.
I spent around three hours scouring the internet before I found her. Her name is Tiffany, and she is co-owner of a studio called Lady Luck Tattoo, about 45 minutes away from me. What sold her for me was the fact that she has 12 years experience, her Studio was best of the area this past year, the Studio uses the highest quality jewelry (internally threaded, implant grade steel/gold/silver/titanium/etc), and she's a member of the APP. The fact that she's a woman is a bonus for me, because no one had (before this) ever been anywhere near the area I was wanting pierced besides myself. No one. I was still nervous, but it helped.
On the day of my appointment, I go in with my best friend Hannah (my girlfriend is unfortunately out of the country for the next several months) and talk to the receptionist, filling out my paperwork and picking out my jewelry. I knew I wanted a Christina for sure, but I told her I didn't know what other one I wanted because I wasn't sure I was compatible. So, Tiffany comes out, and is like 'Well, how about we do your consultation now, and you can choose your piercings and we can tell you the price.'
So I went in her little piercing room once she's set up. Hannah stayed out in the waiting area for the consultation, because I figured I'd take showing my goodies one step at a time. I told Tiffany that I was really nervous, because no one's ever been down there, and she said 'Don't worry, it's fine. I do this ALL the time.'
So, I shuck my pants and underwear, and get up on the table. She asks me to scoot down to the end, and as I scoot...the table falls.
Yes.
The table fell.
With me on it.
Half naked.
That was the worst part of the whole thing. It was REALLY weird standing there naked from the waist down as we righted the table and put a new sheet on it. Tiffany was really, really nice, though. 'Oh my God, are you okay?? Like you aren't nervous enough!'
She actually put me at ease pretty much immediately after that, and I wasn't uncomfortable at all during the consultation. She did as little actual touching as she could, talking to me throughout it explaining and discussing, and it only took like 2 minutes. Turns out I'm NOT compatible for any of the piercings I was really looking at - the Triangle, the Horizontal Clitoral Hood, etc. Why? Well, as I had already suspected, I have pretty much no hood to speak of.
She said she WOULD be able to do a Vertical Clitoral Hood on me with the nonexistent bit of hood I do have, but my clitoris is so close to the top of my vagina that the VCH and Christina would probably hit each other with certain positions and irritate. She highly recommended I didn't do both - plus, aesthetically, two vertical piercings just wouldn't look as good as something else (which was my opinion - I have no idea what she might have thought in that respect).
She did suggest (as I'm lying on the table with my legs spread and she's leaning against the counter), that I have the perfect inner labia for two little hoops. Since I have no hood whatsoever, my clitoris kind of tucks in behind my inner labia (Hannah was so nice as to inform me, when she saw the piercings at the end, that I'm set up weird. -.-. Which is true, but). The thing about getting two hoops is that you can't really put them on the same level, because the hoops won't lay right and will interact too much. My inner labia, however, are apparently already prepared for that. They're almost heart shaped together (a skinny long heart), and one side of my inner labia already folds slightly higher than the other. Tiffany mentioned that the two little hoops, with the banana barbell of the Christina up top, would really complement each other. I imagined it in my head, and I really liked it - which is a bit odd, because the inner and outer labia piercings have never appealed to me. I never liked the way they looked. I really liked this, though.
So I get dressed (-.-) and we go out to calculate cost and pick jewelry. It was expensive. Really, really expensive for all three - and that was after the $90 off she gave me as a discount. Which, genital piercings are always more than any others. I didn't even hesitate before accepting her price. I was more than willing to spend that much for her expertise, considering the piercings I was wanting.
For my banana barbell I picked out a deep red gem for the top part and a large silver bead for the bottom. For the hoops I picked out two little black beads. Dark red is my favorite color, and black goes really well with it.
I sit out with Hannah while Tiffany sets her room up, and I'm no longer nervous at all. I wasn't nervous or uncomfortable period after laying down on the table for the consultation. It was about then that I noticed the multitude of certificates Tiffany has earned on piercing, aftercare, theory, etc, hanging up on the wall. It was very reassuring to see, especially on top of the 12 years of experience I knew she had.
After about five minutes, Tiffany comes out to get me and says she's ready. So Hannah and I go in, Hannah sitting in a chair provided for her, and I shuck my pants/underwear again. It was weird to do in front of Hannah.
I lay down on the table and Tiffany goes through the cleaning, marking, etc. She even checked how my labia folded and everything to see how the jewelry would look whether my outer labia were spread or closed. This took about 5 minutes to go through. We spent the whole time chatting, her, Hannah and I. We discussed a variety of things, from my crotch to school to work. We talked the WHOLE time, throughout all the piercings and everything. It was weirdly comfortable and natural-feeling with Tiffany, which I really appreciated.
Then the forceps. She did the two inner labia first...and the pinch of the forceps was really uncomfortable. Not really hurting, but REALLY uncomfortable. The stabbing pain of the needle in each wasn't too bad; I actually want to say the forceps were worse because those lasted so much longer. The stabbing of the needle took half a second, pretty much literally. It was a sharp pain, and was definitely nothing to scoff at, but it was over so fast that the needle ended up being easily bearable. For each, the pain was over before I could finish yelping. Hannah held my hand the whole time, but even though I appreciated her presence, I was missing my girlfriend terribly.
Once the two labia hoops were in, Tiffany was quite pleased with herself. When my outer labia are at rest and not spread, the two hoops lay right together, with one higher up than the other and right on top of it, like in a line - but when spread, they're symmetrical. She really liked them. Hannah asked my permission to look as I looked with the mirror, which I gave - she also really liked the way they looked.
Next was the Christina. THE Christina, the one I was so certain I wanted. She had to make the forceps tighter for this one, and it kind of dragged on the skin, which made me wince - but it wasn't nearly so bad as the labia. The needle actually had to go through quite a bit of skin for this piercing...it was pretty thick. This one, when the needle went through, made me give a growling-like shriek. It was a bit odd. The pain was just as fleeting as the labia, though, if just as sharp. One very nice bonus of each of the piercings I got was that once the needle was through, all pain disappeared almost immediately. I'm not sore at all even now. Tiffany actually arranged my labia, moving them out of her way and stuff, while she was doing the Christina and it didn't bother me in the least. All pain was just gone once the needle was through.
With the Christina right above my labia, it's all really so very pretty. Hannah told me she thought that they all looked really, really good together and that she didn't think it would look nearly so pretty if I'd only gotten the labia, or just the Christina. When my legs are spread, the hoops do the laying thing on top of each other, and the banana barbell of the Christina is right above them. They make a straight line. When my legs are closed, the hoops and lower half of the Christina are tucked in - all you can see is the red gem of the top half of the Christina, right above where my outer labia start. (Tiffany actually remarked on Krystina [me] getting a Christina.) When my outer labia are spread, the 3 piercings look like a triangle, and it's so balanced and...completely complementary. Right down to the little black beads with the red gem. And the way the piercings look in each position are all natural - they just naturally sit like that. There's no arranging involved. Tiffany said the piercings were perfect for me, the 'project' (as 3 or more piercings in one area done all at once are referred to as a project) had turned out wonderfully. I love it, Tiffany did an AMAZING job.
I get a little twinge down there every once in a while now (the next day), which seems to be from the labia not the Christina, but there's no soreness at all. There's swelling, obviously, and there's been a little bleeding from the hoops on the pad I'm wearing for that reason - I'll probably keep wearing those for a while. Bleeding isn't unusual, I mean, I just let someone puncture me. But other than little twinges occasionally that aren't even really soreness, there's no pain whatsoever. I haven't been touching or messing, but I look. It's really quite beautiful, I think, and I've never ever thought of anything down there as even simply appealing.
Hannah told me in the car on the way home that when she heard me telling Tiffany what I had decided on, she thought it was going to be really ugly, the jewelry/labia hanging out etc, but she likes it so much and thinks it's so pretty that she wants all three now. Which is very amusing to me, since she doesn't even have her ears pierced. I never liked the labia piercings before this because I thought like Hannah, that they'd hang and such, but mine aren't like that at all. I'm so happy that it turned out SO well.
I'm very, VERY happy with all three piercings and Tiffany. So beautiful. She is the only piercer I'll be going to in the future, for certain.