Prince Albert

It is a common story about Prince Albert getting this piercing as a dress ring to hold his penis to his leg to avoid a bulge in the tight pants of the era. Due to its interesting history this piercing is the most commonly referenced and talked about piercing. However, for many years the frenum was the most common male genital piercing. While men knew of the Prince Albert they were more apprehensive about getting it as it looks invasive and deeper than other piercings. This is deceptive as the piercing itself is through a thin layer of soft tissue between the urethra and the underside of the penis. It is less painful than most piercings and heals faster making it an ideal first piercing for the adventurous male. This piercing took off in the 1970’s and 1980’s in the B & D and S & M scene and with the lack of jewellery being available it was not uncommon for men to wear padlocks in this piercing. By the late 1980’s the fixed bead ring took off with gold rings with the ball attached on one side and so this became more of a fashion ring and as more males got this a 1.6mm (14ga) ring was a common PA adornment so as not to scare the girls. With the use of padlocks it was discovered that this piercing stretched easily and by the 1990’s with surgical ball closure rings and circular barbells being easier to purchase in increasingly larger gauges this became the piercing to stretch. By the late 1990’s to roughly 2010 it was often done in larger gauges and it often stretched with up to 10mm circular Barbells. Now in 2019 we have seen a swing away from the Prince Albert again and towards the Frenum possibly because with the increase number of piercers who don’t know how to do the Prince Albert the Frenum is an easier piercing to do so the untrained industry has swayed people into thinking this piercing is more painful because it is a little more difficult to do.

At Body Pleasure Piercing we use a local anaesthetic on the area which absorbs into the soft tissue well and this is a relatively painless piercing, a small sting and that is it. It heals faster than the frenum and is more effective for both partners during sex. A common question is does it help with sex. The answer is yes. Being placed just behind the glans at the ‘V’ just near the frenum at the bottom of the penis this piercing comes out the Urethra and when the penis becomes erect it moves inside the urethra which can be stimulating for the wearer. For the partner it gives a small amount of added length and depending on jewellery extra girth a bit like what would be called a “French tickler” giving the partner more feeling and added stimulation during intercourse. This piercing is one of the fastest healing of the male genital piercings due to the inside being inside the urethra and your urine is antiseptic to yourself and so it sort of self cleans the inside of the piercing.