I first came across piercing back in 1979. I was 25 at the time and had a voyeuristic interest in tattoos. I was living in outback Western Australia at the time, so I ordered a copy of a bikers tattoo mag by mail. When it turned up I opened the fist page ... and was blown over by this photo of a girl with an earring in her left nipple. Wow! Then a few pages on and there was a girl with ring held on her nipple by a barbell. And so I lost interest in tattoos and discovered piercing.
At A Glance Author Argadargada Contact Argadargada@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Self Studio Home Location Australia Piercing had many advantages over tattoos. You can do play piercings. And a piercing will disappear if you take it out. So I fell in love with sewing needles. I used to sterilise them with a flame, then when they were cool pierce my scrotum over and over. Delicious! Once I used a flame that must have been smoky because it left some soot on the needle. When I pushed it through some of the soot stayed under the skin as a small tattoo of two dots. Almost 30 years on it is still there.
The play piercings became less frequent when I married, my wife was rather conservative and wouldn't have understood. This went on for 20 years.
Then my wife went overseas for six months. Our relationship wasn't 100% and I thought now is the time to be ME! I had long hungered after a permanent genital piercing. Now for many years I had been a visitor to the BME website so I had an idea of what I wanted.
Not a PA because although very sexy I didn't want the inconvenience of not being able to stand for a pee. Also I'm a wimp: from previous sounding play I know that for me, urinating after sounding = big pain.
I had seen a picture of a single snug dydoe on one side of an erect penis and that looked great. But the ridge on my glans is small, so it would have to be a very short barbell. Plus the fact that it can close up quickly if removed. And when I had play pierced there with sewing needles it was painful and bled.
The other option was a frenum piercing, preferably a CBR so it could move when I walk. And while I was at it I would do a hafada too.
So I ordered needles, a large and small 12g CBR plus a couple of others, opening and closing pliers and waited. The idea was to swap the CBRs depending on whether I wanted to wear the frenum piercing hanging or circling the head of my shaft.
WHY I WILL ONLY SELF-PIERCE
I really wanted to do the piercing myself for several reasons. I like to spread out the experience so that it IS an experience. If it is over too quickly then you have only the end result and not the experience of getting there.
Possibly the main reason is that I like to keep control. I stop when I want to and go when I want to. I can make minor adjustments as I wish. I can abandon the project and try again another day.
Another reason is that I like to spread the pain. Keep it under control. Not too much, but not too little: enough to make it the experience real.
However I am lucky: I have an exceptionally good immune system and I have a good appreciation of the importance of hygiene. Self-piercing is not for everyone, and many of the stories I have read in BME highlight just how little many people understand the potential problems and dangers. If you don't fully understand the anatomy and the body's reactions, if you don't have excellent self control, if you don't know about bacteria and viruses and how and when they multiply, if you don't have an excellent immune system and a high tolerance of pain – then don't do it. Get a professional.
THE EQUIPMENT ARRIVES AND FIRST ATTEMPT
When it all arrived I could hardly wait! Next morning before going to work I decided to practice by doing a hafada on my scrotum. I cleaned the area well in the shower, washed my hands several times and it was time to start. I was amazed how easily a sharp piercing needle slid through my skin. No pain, just a little push and it popped through the skin, a bit more of a push as it stopped cutting and started stretching. Then through 10mm of flesh and the same to come out the other side. Beautiful.
I had always wondered what it meant when people said that the jewellery followed through. Now I found out: the rounded end of the barbell fitted snugly against the end of the needle and followed it through the hole. It was so easy! Then clip the ball in, clean up and off to the mirror to take a good look. DAMN. It was on the wrong side. It was hanging off my front testicle and the idea was to make the one that hangs back more prominent.
But too late to do anything now, I was already late for work so off I went, I would come back to it in the evening. But I ended up coming home very late, so I just ate and went to bed.
SECOND TIME LUCKY
Next morning was different. With time to do it properly I got everything ready again. I took out the CBR and re-sterilised it.
I regretted not having taken pictures first time around, so I got my phone out and got ready. Throughout the procedure detailed below I would stop, get the phone ready, and take a picture.
This time I decided to start on the frenum. I took a lot of time taking note of the position and entry and exit points. I didn't mark them because I didn't want the needle pushing any ink into the skin. The position I chose was right at the to, immediately under the glans and hard against the shaft. I wanted a maximum of tissue to hold the ring but at the same time didn't want it looking unnaturally wide.
I got the needle and gently put it in position. And pushed a little. Nothing happened. I pushed harder. The skin stretched but nothing more. I knew from previous play piercings with sewing needles that this little bit of very thin skin is very very tough, so I pushed some more. Then it cut through the skin. It stopped where the needle stopped cutting and started stretching the skin. This took more pushing. And it hurt. I clenched my teeth and kept going. Then it was in.
Now I like to do my piercing slowly. Take my time. Be in control.
So I spent some time making sure the needle would come out where I wanted it. I pushed until just the tip of the needle was through. Then I stopped and checked that the position was right. Eventually I decided it was just perfect so I kept going. Same as when it went in, fairly easy while the sharp bit of the needle was cutting, somewhat harder and more painful when it was stretching the hole to get through. But eventually I got there, and suddenly no pain.
The whole process of getting the needle through (and taking photos) probably took 20 minutes. A professional piercer would take just a second to push it through. But the experience would be different.
Then I held the 10mm ring against the back of the needle and slid it through. Still no pain, just a ring through the end of my dick. It took a few moments to put the ball in and then clean up. It looked awesome.
I checked the clock: just enough time to keep going.
So I prepared the area on my scrotum for the hafada. This time I marked the spot, but when the time came I couldn't find the marks.
My scrotum is always easy to pierce: softer skin, fewer nerves. And so it was: a quick push and the needle was in, a bit of poking around to find the right spot and it was out. The 21mm ring slid through easily.
And then I decided that the piercing was too short. So I took it out, came in the same hole and out a bit further along. Again the ring slid through easily, I put in the ball, cleaned up and that was it. Time to go to work.
Later that day I looked at the photos. And was disappointed. They were terrible. What to do? Easy solution: keep piercing. Put a few more holes in and take photos of them with a real camera.
THIRD TIME LUCKIER STILL
Next morning I got ready again. I didn't really want to remove the rings and start from scratch so I decided to make another hole, put a little ring inside the big one.
Same as before, this time with lots of good photos, and when I had the little ring in it looked fantastic. Only problem was that it was only a 14g ring and I thought 12g would look better.
Just for fun I put a 10g needle through just a little lower. Now I didn't realise how much larger 10g is compared with 12g. It went through okay but it wanted to bleed a bit. I cleaned up, took more photos, then took the needle and small ring out, deciding to do it again some time.
I wanted to get a good photo of a needle pushing against taught stretched frenum skin. So I got everything in position and pushed hard, and was much surprised when, as I took the photo, the needle started to cut its way through. Sharp needle. Maybe if you look on this website you will see this and the other photos.
Then it was time to clean up and go off to work again.
HEALING AND THE FUTURE
They say not to rotate the rings in a fresh piercing but I found that the rings turned by themselves, just from the random pressure of clothes.
Within 4 days the frenum piercing was looking somewhat healed, if I pulled it a little I could actually see through the hole! Wow! But I played with it a little too much and found out how the just-forming skin of the fistula could be easily damaged. A little painful but not in a bad way, more like the piercing drawing attention to itself.
I have done a few sea salt soaks but in general just make sure the area is really clean when I have a shower. There has been very little in the way of liquid coming out or crusties forming.
The feeling when I walk naked and the little frenum ring swings backwards and forwards, gently knocking on the underside of the glans is so so special, really enjoyable. Just for that I would happily do it again and again.
A week after the piercings the hafada also looks as though it has developing skin extending inside the hole.
And the feeling when I move my leg and it lifts the big ring on my scrotum and it drops back against the ballsack is really special too.
Sometimes if I run naked the frenum ring will knock against the hafada ring and that's nice. When I drive I can generally feel the little balls of the CBRs through my trousers and that's great too. And none of the people driving past has any idea. In fact no one in the world knows (apart from my wife), and that's just the way I like it.
It will be another two months before I have sex again: I'm too timid to do it with anyone apart from my wife even though our relationship has been a rocky recently, and she will be away until then. Hopefully it will improve out sex life somewhat. From what I have felt so far I don't think it will make much difference to me, although I am a little concerned about the frenum ring getting pulled if she isn't moist enough. I guess there's an easy solution to that: use my tongue to moisten her up first. The other solution would be to change to a barbell, but maybe that's not so interesting.
In the meantime I have ordered another small 12g CBR to go inside the big hafada; I look forward to installing that next week.
And the big challenge will be getting my wife to pierce her nipples and/or hood. She is rather conservative as well as scared of pain. But one can always live in hope.