I had never been one who gave much thought to piercing, in general. I had my ears pierced at a very young age and at 15, I had a second piercing done in my left ear, which I eventually let close. Despite the current trend of pierced eyebrows, noses, and tongues, I never found body piercings particularly attractive, to say the least, and I still really don't, to be honest.
About a month before my 28th birthday, I began corresponding with some women I met via the Indigo Girls BBS who also lived in the New York area. We made plans to share a tent together at an upcoming Indigo Girls fan get together over Labor Day weekend at Lake George and thought it would be a good idea to actually meet before we spent the weekend together! We made plans to meet the Sunday after my 28th birthday in New York City for a fun-filled day of sex toy shopping. One of the women later emails us to ask if we wouldn't mind stopping at NY Adorned, as she wanted to get her nipple rings changed (she also has her tongue, eyebrow, and navel pierced!). I have no idea why, but that started me thinking about getting my clitoris pierced.
Now, I have no idea why I decided I would go for the clit the first time around, one would think I'd select something simpler, but I figured a) it was mucous membrane, so it would heal easily if I decided I didn't like it and b) it wouldn't show. So, I did some cursory research online and realized that in fact, I didn't really want my clit pierced, but rather the clitoral hood (less chance of oh-so-important nerve damage).
So, I looked at this site and others and decided that I would prefer a horizontal piercing because I doubted I would get much done all day with the constant clit pressure of the vertical piercing! Then I asked a couple of straight guy friends of mine what they thought of piercings and they agreed they were sexy, so I figured what the hell!
Now, before I decided to go through with the piercing, I had already scheduled my first Brazilian bikini wax. Now, I had been shaving it all off for years and decided to try the waxing. Suffice it to say, after 30 minutes of pulling on my clit and labia, I decided that the pain of a piercing would be nothing in comparison.
So, the Sunday finally arrived and after a great trip to Toys in Babeland, we headed over to NY Adorned (www.nyadorned.com). At this point, I still wasn't sure I'd go through with it, but I was playing it cool. First of all, I didn't really research NY Adorned, so I had no clue in advance that it was one of the best piercing and tattooing facilities in NY and totally NOT what I expected a piercing place to look like. It was bright and clean, and The Cure was playing over the stereo system...not the dank Goth looking parlor with walls plastered in tatoo designs I had expected! In fact, there were no stacks of books of tatoo art anywhere, as they specialize in custom work.
So, the other three folks we were with waited on one of the plush velvet sofas NY Adorned has while my pierced friend went back to have her nipple rings changed and I asked the saleswoman about hood piercing. She told me to wait until Tyler (the cute piercing guy) was done with my friend and he would talk to me about it.
So, Tyler came out in a few and I told him I was interested to know about horizontal hood piercings, specifically whether or not it would heal if I wanted the ring removed. After he assured me that indeed, since it was mucous membrane, it would heal easily and there would be little or no scarring, I filled out the paperwork and waited my turn. Now, the pricing was much more reasonable than I'd expected--$30 for the piercing and $30 for the stainless steel ring with a bead, so it started off well.
Now, mind you, my pierced friend and I had not met before that afternoon, although, admittedly, we had exchanged some pretty intimate E-mails. When I initially mentioned to her that I was thinking about getting a piercing, she offered to come in with me for support and I took her up on her offer.
Now, what better way is there to introduce yourself to someone for the first time than by shopping for sex toys and having them witness your genital piercing??? To add insult to injury, I brought along a digital camera because I wanted a pic of my piercing!!!
So, finally, Tyler was ready for me and I went in the bathroom first to clean up (it was like 100 degrees that day and I had been walking around in jeans all afternoon!). I went in the very private piercing area and Tyler asked me to take off my jeans and underwear and get on the very sterile looking table. I obliged and at this point, he had told my friend to come on back and she was standing to my right side. He donned a pair of surgical gloves and explained he was going to clean the area first. He was very gentle as he swabbed my vagina. He then explained that he was going to mark the area to be pierced. As he was doing that, I asked if he did a lot of hood piercings and he said they were very popular.