Clitoral Hood:A small flap of skin that covers and protects the clitoris.

The clitoral hood houses the glans, or tip, of the clitoris.

In female human anatomy, the clitoral hood, or prepuce, is a fold of skin that surrounds and protects the clitoris. It develops as part of the labia minora and is homologous with the foreskin (prepuce) in male genitals.

Referrence: Submitted by: Annie on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 Email: Queenannie1959@aol.com Piercing Type: Female-Clitoral Hood

Experience: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My experience is unique. I am a girl that only has my ears pierced and until I talked with a very good friend of mine, I really never thought I'd get anything else on my body pierced. Well "C" had her nipples pierced, clitoral hood and outer vaginal lips all pierced and they all looked great! I was very impressed. She told me all about how it was to get these piercings and suggested I find a reputable (preferrably) female piercer for my piercing. Even though she had hers done in a different state. I chose the clitoral hood piercing, as she agreed it would be the most attractive piercing for me. I then went on the hunt to find a good piercer in my area. I made several phone calls as well as browsing, using search engines all over the internet for a piercer in my area. I got several calls back, and finally talked with "Chuck" at the "Lucky Devil" located in Seattle's capitol hill district. My husband and I set a date to go in together and have the piercing done. The date was April 11,2003, a friday and we drove up found a parking spot and walked inside. We were the only ones there, and had arrived very close to noon, the time they open. Chuck was a sweet, adorable fiery red-head with a great easily likable personality. She is certified on the professional piercers association, and after talking with her the very first time, I knew I wanted her to do my piercing. I felt a deep trust with her, just in our communication alone. I filled out the paperwork, while my husband looked on. I picked out the jewelry: I figured that my body is worth alot to me, so I went all the way and got the very best. With Chuck's help, I chose a beautiful 12 gauge 18 Karat pure gold barbell. We then walked into a back room where it was very nice and inviting, with low lighting in some area's and very clean and sanitary. I felt very comfortable as she put my legs into the metal stirrups and I laid on the examination table. My husband made sure that everything was very sterile, and all were sealed in brand new packages. He then used the Tai Chai method of deep breathing and relaxation on me that he had learned in the military while in Japan, and I focused on a picture on the wall. After a minute or so, I noticed she was wearing gloves (screwing the ends on) the barbells. I lifted up my head and asked: Is it done yet? Honestly I was so amazed! I didn't have ANY pain whatsoever! I felt absolutely nothing! I love my new hood piercing, and would recommend this type of piercing to any woman. My husband and I both think that it is very attractive, sexy and unique. I JUST LOVE IT! Annie

Female-Clitoral Hood Aftercare Information

Primary Suggestions

Anti-bacterial Soap

The optimal way to care for your piercing is to clean it twice daily (If you are physically active, try to schedule your cleanings after you exercise). The easiest and most comfortable way to clean your piercing is either during or immediately following a hot shower. The hot water and steam will help soften your skin and loosen the crust at the base of your jewelry (making it easier to remove). While in the shower, wash your hands thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap！preferably a medical grade soap such as Provon or Satin. (Beware: anti-bacterial soaps containing fragrances can irritate your piercing or cause allergic reactions.)

Next, gently remove the crust from your jewelry with a disposable, one-use product such as a tissue, cotton-ball, swab, or square. (Do not use a hand towel because bacteria can lie dormant in the cloth.) Then, place some anti-bacterial soap in your hands and rub them together as to create a nice lather. Gently wipe the jewelry and your piercing with the tips of your fingers, being careful not to scratch or irritate the area. Once the jewelry and piercing are lathered with soap, spin the jewelry so that the ball on the jewelry rests on one hole of your piercing; then, spin it so that the ball rests on the opposite hole. This process will help run some soap into the wound, helping to ward off bacteria. After spinning the jewelry back and forth several times, rinse the area and jewelry thoroughly while continuing to spin the jewelry back and forth. (Tip: Do not place your piercing directly into the shower¨s streaming water. Instead, try to redirect the water with your hands in order to reduce the intensity of rinsing.) If your starter jewelry is not a captive bead ring or circular barbell, try your best to perform the above process without overworking and irritating the area.

Sea Salt Soaks

After completing the above process, you can perform your sea salt soaks either in or out of the shower. First, fill a fresh disposable cup with approximately 8 ounces of water and add ? teaspoon of sea salt, stirring until it is dissolved. When ready, either place the cup over the piercing--forming a vacuum-type seal--or dip the piercing into the cup. If either of these techniques are not possible, pre-soak a fresh tissue, cotton-ball, swab, or square in the sea salt solution and firmly press it on your piercing. In order to promote effectiveness, the first sea salt soak should last at least 10 minutes. All additional soaks should last at least 5-10 minutes. Following the sea salt soak, pat your piercing and jewelry dry with a fresh disposable paper or cotton product.

Ibuprofen

For those who are extremely sensitive, an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen (Motrin IB, Advil, etc.) can help reduce swelling and pain.

Additional Tips

According to piercing-friendly physician Dr. Janet L. H. Keating with the Duke University Student Health Service, one of the best ways to care for and heal a piercing is to ＾promote healthy lifestyle habits.￣ Some additional tips for this include:

， Remember: A piercing is a wound. Consequently, you should expect tenderness, swelling, discoloration, and possibly bruising, bleeding, and itching. Also, a natural part of the process for healing any wound includes the secretion of a white-yellow fluid (containing dead cells and blood plasma). This fluid will dry and form crust on your jewelry. To properly remove this crust, refer to the Primary Suggestions for healing your piercing. ， Never touch your piercing without first washing your hands with anti-bacterial soap. This is a great way to avoid infections even after your piercing is healed. ， Do not use petroleum-based ointments (e.g., Neosporin, Bacitracin, etc.), peroxide, alcohol, Betadine, iodine, and Hibaclense!! These substances can hinder and prolong the healing process. ， Check the accessories (e.g., balls, gem-ends, dice, etc.) on your jewelry for tightness at least once a day. Make sure your hands are first cleaned with anti-bacterial soap!! Checking your accessories is something that you should make habitual throughout the life of your piercing. Remember: tighten all threaded accessories by turning them to the right！righty, tighty. ， During the entire healing period, the jewelry should remain in place to act as a drain. If the jewelry is too large to allow adequate drainage, it could be replaced with a smaller size by a piercing professional. Removing your jewelry prematurely can cause an infected hole to close up, trapping an infection and leading to complications requiring a medical professional. If you feel that the normal secretion is turning into a thicker and darker discharge, please do not hesitate to contact your physician for more advanced treatment (e.g., antibiotics). ， Always wear loose and clean clothing around your new piercing. Tight or unclean clothing can irritate or infect the piercing, possibly causing it to migrate. ， Do not engage in rough activity that may threaten your piercing. Intense friction and pulling on a fresh piercing is a common way to trigger migration, a process in which the body ＾pushes￣ the jewelry out of the body. ， Do not expose your fresh piercing to oral contact or other bodily fluids. Use protective barriers such as condoms, dental dams, and finger cots！even if you are in a monogamous relationship. ， Do not expose your piercing to cosmetics such as make-up, hair styling products, lotion, etc. Cosmetics contain many different ingredients and can cause irritation and infection. ， Eat nutrient-dense meals throughout the day and consider supplementing your diet with Vitamin C (3000 mg in mineral ascorbate form) and Zinc (120 mg for males and 60 mg for females). These supplements are most effective during the first 2-3 weeks of the healing process. If you are very active (e.g., work hard, partake in regular exercise, etc.) extra nutrient-dense meals and an additional multi-vitamin supplement may help keep your immune system working efficiently. ， Drink plenty of fluids. 8-10 glasses of bottled or purified water is a good way to keep your body hydrated. ， Try to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. This is considered the optimal amount of sleep for the body. This will help your body heal as best as possible. If you are living in a high-stress environment, consider resting as much as you can in your down time. ， Try not to sleep on your new piercing. This cause irritation and prolong the healing process. ， Replace your bedding with clean sets of sheets, blankets, and pillow-cases as much as possible during the healing period. ， Do not leave jewelry out of a piercing for too long! If you must remove your jewelry, either put in a retainer or replace it ASAP. For example, a tongue piercing can close-up in a matter of hours. ， Avoid going into a pool, hot tub, lake, etc. These types of water can be unclean and may induce infection.

Approximate Healing Period

Clitoral Hood: 4-8 weeks

For additional reputable resources, please visit:

The Association of Professional Piercers at www.safepiercing.org Gotham Body Piercing (Formerly the Master Piercers of Gauntlet) at www.gothamworld.com Elayne Angel¨s Rings of Desire at www.ringsofdesire.com Editor's Top Jewelry/Supply Picks Damien's Pick Colored Seamless Rings Jason's Pick Colored Circular Barbells with Spikes Drew's Pick The Badass Neo-Tribal Pincher See more body jewelry in our online catalog Body Piercing Aftercare & Healing Guidelines Body piercing Aftercare and healing suggestions can vary slightly from piercer to piercer. Each piercer has their own experiences with certain healing techniques; however, when deciding how to provide you, the piercee, with the highest quality aftercare, healing, and infection information available, Tribalectic decided to use the most medically sound and supported information. Therefore, our suggested aftercare & healing guidelines have been compiled by performing extensive research on the following:

? Standard healing and aftercare medical information ? Suggestions and tips from highly reputable piercing-friendly medics ? Suggestions and tips from top professional piercers ? Piercee healing successes ? Current popular industry suggestions ? Personal experience as a professional piercer ? Observations of infected piercings and their recovery

After compiling our first edition of Tribalectic¨s suggested aftercare & healing guidelines, we submitted the information for medical review by piercing-friendly physician Dr. Janet L. H. Keating with Duke University's Student Health Service in Durham, North Carolina. In addition, constant consultation with John Lopez！senior piercer at Gotham (formerly the Master Piercers of Gauntlet, the most renowned gurus in the game who founded the first piercing establishment in the US)！also helped fine-tune our suggestions.

Since the world of medicine (both holistic and traditional western) is continually evolving, Tribalectic will be updating our suggested aftercare & healing guidelines in order to provide you with the highest quality information available. We look forward to receiving comments and suggestions from more piercing-friendly medics, professional piercers, and piercees as well as successful and unsuccessful infection treatments.

To get specific information for aftercare & healing, we encourage you to post messages in Tribalectic's Piercing Forum. We also encourage you to check out our Piercing FAQ, our Piercing Myths, and, for those who need additional tips, please read Dr. Janet Keating's article "Caring for Infections".

Tribalectic is a free information society and believes that the following information should be accessible to people pierced and interested in getting pierced. We humbly thank all our contributors for supporting the flow of essential information. Tribalectic does not claim to own or copyright the following suggestions. All healing and aftercare techniques are universal methods of treatment that can be used by everyone. In other words, our suggestions are common knowledge to be shared by all.

And remember, this information is meant to help you heal and care for your healthy and infected piercing(s), however, it is not magic. Each human body is unique and may react differently to specific treatments. Neither Tribalectic nor any of the contributors to the suggested aftercare & healing guidelines are responsible for the healing of your piercing(s) or infections, or the application of this information. Many uncontrollable factors may inhibit the proper healing of your body piercing(s). Consequently, if you feel as though these suggestions are not benefiting the progress of your healing, or you feel that your body piercing(s) are getting infected, please consult your personal doctor.

Click on a piercing type to see specific aftercare instructions:

Vertical Clitoral Hood [Picture]

The vertical hood piercing is the easiest, least painful, most stimulating, and quickest healing female genital piercing there is. Almost all women are physically and anatomically suited for this piercing, it is very attractive, and it provides the best direct stimulation to the clitoris without penetrating it.

The jewelry is inserted into the hood tissue just above the clitoris. The jewelry rests easily on the clitoris, and because it runs parallel with the natural contour of the woman's shape, it yields to the natural movements with little or no twisting or binding.

Once the body has become accustomed to the piercing, you may find that it does not feel as stimulating as it once did. Taking the jewelry out for a while and then reinserting it, changing jewelry, or increasing gauge size can help to regain the "new" feeling.

Recommended jewelry for vertical hood piercing is 10, 12, or 14 gauge curved barbell or captive bead ring. (Understand gauge sizes with this Interactive Gauge Comparison Chart)

Estimated healing time: 4-6 weeks

Horizontal Clitoral Hood [Picture]

The horizontal hood piercing is most popular for its attractive look. It's downfall is that unless the piercing is placed exactly correct and your anatomy is perfectly suitable for this piercing, it does not provide much stimulation to the clitoris. The piercing must be placed just right so that when you are in a standing upright position, the bead rests on the top of the clitoris. The clitoral stimulation can be inhibited further by the clitoral hood if it covers it completely.

If the piercing is done correctly, when pressure is applied it will provide some stimulation to the clitoris. Larger gauge jewelry will provide more stimulation from the weight.

Recommended jewelry for this piercing would be a 12 or 14 gauge captive bead ring or circular barbell. (Understand gauge sizes with this Interactive Gauge Comparison Chart)

Estimated healing time: 6-8 weeks

Clitoral hood From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The clitoral hood, or prepuce, is a fold of skin that surrounds and protects the clitoris.

Removal or "splitting" of the clitoral hood is called "clitoridotomy" or "hoodectomy". It is one of the surgeries to which the term "female circumcision" is applied and perhaps the only one comparable to male circumcision, but is not to be confused with other procedures such as clitoridectomy (removal of the clitoris itself) or removal of the labia minora.

When it is practiced today, it is usually an elective surgery intended to enhance the sexual sensitivity of the clitoris, and considered only in cases where the hood is overgrown or cannot be retracted.

From the late 19th century until the 1950s, it has been practiced not to enhance, but to control female sexuality, and was advocated in the United States together with more invasive procedures such as the removal of the clitoris and infibulation by groups like the Orificial Surgery Society until 1925. Specifically, doctors performing or advocating the procedure were concerned that girls of all ages would otherwise engage in more masturbation and be "polluted" by the activity, which was referred to as "self-abuse" [1].

Such views regarding masturbation are now widely discredited. Nevertheless, some doctors continued to advocate clitoridotomy for hygienic reasons or to reduce masturbation, even as other procedures were increasingly believed to be a violation of genital integrity, and as such, a form of genital mutilation. For example, C.F. McDonald wrote in a 1958 paper titled Circumcision of the Female [2],[3]:

If the male needs circumcision for cleanliness and hygiene, why not the female? I have operated on perhaps 40 patients who needed this attention. The author describes how a two-year old was "cured" of frequent masturbation using the procedure. By the late 1950s, and especially after the "sexual revolution", clitoridotomy started to be advocated by some doctors to increase sexual sensitivity of adult females, so as to increase sexual pleasure. Performing the procedure on infants, however, is no longer advocated in the United States.