Migration is the headline here, not the look. A Christina enters and exits the same sheet of skin instead of passing through anything, which means the body spends the whole healing period treating the bar as something to be pushed back out. That's not a scare story and it's not bad technique — it's simply what a surface piercing is. Everything else on this page follows from that one fact.
Which is why the first thing we do is pinch the cleft at the top and see what's there. Enough depth and slack, and a properly bent surface bar has a real chance of settling for years. Not enough, and we'll tell you so rather than take the booking, usually pointing you at a VCH instead. The assessment is free, the fee is quoted afterwards, and plenty of people leave having decided against it.
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Six things that follow from the bar going in and out of the same plane of skin
Think about an earlobe for a second. The needle goes in one side and out the other, and once it's healed the channel is a tube running clean through a piece of tissue. The body has no particular quarrel with it. Nothing is trapped underneath anything.
A Christina works completely differently. The bar goes into the skin, runs a short distance beneath the surface, and comes back out of that same surface a centimetre or so along. There is no far side. From the body's point of view there is now a foreign object sitting under a flap of skin, and the natural response is to gradually thin the tissue above it and ease it out. Piercers call that migration, and at the end of it, rejection.
That process is slow, silent and painless, which is what makes it sneak up on people. It does not look like an infection. There's no heat, no throbbing, no discharge. What there is: the two ends creeping closer together over weeks, the outline of the bar becoming visible through skin that used to hide it, redness that settles and then comes back.
Now add the location. The top of the vulva sits on a curve that flexes constantly — every time you sit down, stand up, walk upstairs or bend to pick something up. It also spends its entire day underneath a waistband. So this is a piercing that dislikes movement, placed somewhere that moves, under the exact part of your clothing that grips hardest.
None of this means don't get one. People have Christinas that sit happily for years, and the difference between those and the ones lost by month eight is not luck. It's a cleft with enough depth to bury a bar in, a bar bent correctly for that span, placement chosen where the skin is slackest, and a wardrobe that stops fighting it. Those are the four levers, and three of them are decided in the chair before anything is pierced.
What we won't do is quote you a survival percentage. Nobody has honest data on that, and studios that produce a confident number are producing it from nowhere. What we will do is look at your anatomy and tell you what we think yours will do.
A surface piercing doesn't pass through anything. It enters and exits the same sheet of skin, so the body treats the bar as a foreign object sitting under the surface and works on removing it.
You need a defined groove at the top with tissue you can pinch. On a shallow or flat anatomy there's nothing to bury a bar in, and we'd rather say so than take the booking.
A surface bar lies flat with its ends turned up at right angles, so nothing pulls outwards. A curved barbell wants to straighten and pushes at both exits every hour of every day.
A bar set close to the surface is partway to rejected before you leave. Set properly deep in the cleft, the same piercing has a genuine chance of settling and staying.
Sitting, standing, walking, bending. This is a piercing crossing a joint of sorts, which is why clothing choices matter more here than sterile technique does.
We'll tell you what we think yours will do and roughly for how long. Some Christinas last for years. Some don't. Anyone guaranteeing you a permanent one is guessing.
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See the BVLA story →A Christina next to the placements we most often recommend instead, and why the comparison usually settles it.
Vertical, at the top of the cleft, on a flat bar with right-angled feet. Decorative rather than functional, and the one piercing here where longevity is the headline question.
Passes through the hood rather than sitting under skin, which is why it heals in a fraction of the time. What we most often suggest when a cleft won't support a Christina.
Horizontal through the same hood tissue. Suits a different hood shape from a VCH, and like the VCH it goes through tissue rather than under skin, so it isn't fighting rejection.
Inner labia is thin mucosal tissue that settles quickly. Outer labia is thicker skin that takes far longer and dislikes friction from clothing. Same word, different piercings.
Listed because it teaches the same lesson: it needs a defined lip of tissue, it fights waistbands for months, and it fails when the anatomy was never right. Not everyone is a candidate for that one either.
Clear next step
Free and private. We look at the cleft, give you an honest read on longevity, and you decide from there.
Recommended first step
Start with a private anatomy-first booking path for intimate piercing services.
The healing gap between these two is not a detail. It is the whole argument for checking candidacy first.
| Piercing Type | Location | Initial Healing | Full Healing | Pain Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christina | Surface of pubic mound | 3-6 months | 6-12 months | 4-5/10 |
| VCH | Vertical clitoral hood | 4-6 weeks | 2-4 months | 4-5/10 |
5000+ clientsFive steps, and the first two decide whether the other three ever happen
Before anything else, we gather the tissue at the top to see how much there is and how deep the groove runs. That reading alone decides whether this appointment goes any further.
Held before the needle, not after. What we think yours will do, what would shorten it, and how you'd feel about losing it in a year. Some people hear that and choose a VCH instead.
Span and foot height are set from the pinch, so the feet land where they should and the flat section sits parallel under the skin. Implant-grade titanium, ASTM F136.
Position is chosen for the least tension, not for the neatest photo. You see the marks and approve them before a single-use sterile needle is opened in front of you.
Bring it back so we can look at the gap between the ends. Catching movement early is the only thing that ever saves a surface piercing, and it costs nothing.
The single jewelry decision that separates a Christina lasting years from one lost by month eight
A surface bar looks like a staple. Flat section in the middle, both ends turned up at ninety degrees. Fitted correctly, the flat part lies parallel to the skin under the cleft and the two feet come up exactly where the exit holes are. Nothing in that shape is trying to go anywhere. The bar is at rest.
A curved barbell is a different object entirely. It's an arc, and an arc under skin is a spring — it wants to straighten out, and the only places it can push are the two exit points. Every hour of every day, gently outward, at precisely the two spots where the tissue is thinnest. That's not a marginal difference in longevity. On a surface placement it's usually the whole story.
Two other measurements matter as much as the shape. The span has to match your cleft; a bar too short pulls the exits together and a bar too long leaves the feet leaning. And the foot height has to clear the swelling of the first weeks without leaving so much slack afterwards that the ends rock. Both come off the pinch we take at the assessment, which is why the jewelry is chosen before anything is marked rather than picked from a tray at the end.
Decorative gold ends are a later conversation — genuinely later, once the piercing has stopped being a project. And solid only. Plating wears through wherever an end sits against skin, and once it has you've got a base metal in contact with tissue that is already having a difficult time.
The candidacy check is free. The piercing fee is quoted in the room afterwards, because whether we would do it at all depends on what the assessment finds.
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
No number is printed here on purpose. A quote depends on the span of bar your cleft needs and on whether the assessment says yes at all, and a headline price would be inviting you to book something we may well advise against. Jewelry is priced separately from the piercing throughout the studio. Ask at the consultation and you will get a figure before you commit to anything.
Senior PiercerSenior Piercer
Bunny Vogt, a dedicated Senior Piercer at our studio since 2019, is known for her artistic eye and expertise in body piercing. She excels at facial piercings, navel work, ear styling and curation, and creating balanced piercing arrangements that reflect each client's unique style.
FounderMaster Piercer
Blue Mason, our Master Piercer and studio founder since 2004, brings over two decades of body piercing expertise. Specializing in advanced and genital piercings, Blue's technical mastery ensures perfect placement every time. His extensive experience with intimate piercings makes him LA's most sought-after piercer for surface and genital work.
The needle takes a second. The half-year afterwards is where a Christina is actually won or lost, and most of it comes down to what you put on in the morning.
The cleaning part is almost trivial: sterile saline morning and evening, rinse soap off in the shower, pat dry with kitchen roll rather than a towel. Doing more than that — tea tree oil, antibacterial soap, scrubbing — actively slows a surface piercing down.
The real work is the wardrobe. Low-rise and soft for months, not weeks. High-waisted jeans, shapewear, gym leggings and anything with a seam landing on the bar all press on it for hours at a time, and pressure is the thing that moves a surface bar. Sleep on your back early on. Skip baths, pools and hot tubs; showers are fine from day one.
Then the checking, which is specific to this piercing and takes ten seconds. Look at the gap between the two ends. Look at whether you can see the bar through the skin. Look at whether the feet are sitting at the same angle they did. If any of those have changed, come in — early is the only time anything can be done about it.
Book AppointmentSoreness for the first several days, and the feet will look higher than they eventually sit because the swelling is lifting them. Low-rise cotton from day one and back-sleeping if you can manage it. Take a photo now — it becomes your reference for the gap between the ends.
Comfortable now, which is exactly when people go back to their old jeans. Don't. This is the stretch where a bar that's going to move starts moving, and the tell is the gap shortening rather than any pain. Compare against your early photo once a month and bring it in if anything has changed.
A Christina that has held its position this long has a good chance of staying put, and gold ends finally become a reasonable idea. It's still a surface piercing though, so the monthly glance at those two ends stays part of owning one. Come to us for the first jewelry change.
Of everything in this category, the Christina is the one we most want split across two visits. Not to make you come twice for the sake of it — because the answer might genuinely be no, and that's a conversation nobody wants compressed into the ten minutes before a needle.
Public reviews, so nobody names a placement. Several mention being talked out of something.
"Had a great overall experience. Everyone at the shop was super friendly. I got there a little early so I talked with the staff and learned about their experiences. They made me feel very comfortable so by my appointment time, I wasn't nervous at all. I was pierced by Steph. She took time to show me the jewelry available and answered all of my questions without judgment. She took time to make sure the placement of my piercing was perfect and made sure I understood how to properly care for my new piercing before leaving."
"Had an excellent experience getting my navel pierced! My piercer, Bunny (same name as me haha!), was super professional and knowledgeable, my piercing is centered evenly and wasn’t painful, and she was able to provide great suggestions for jewelry and aftercare. The studio was very clean, it’s obvious that everything being sanitary was a priority. All staff I interacted with were super sweet and welcoming. I believe I will return for any future piercings I decide to get"
Reviews from Google · Read all 623 on Google
5000+ clients2625 Main Street in Santa Monica, open 8am to 8pm seven days. You check in at the counter like anyone else and nobody says out loud what you're booked for. The assessment happens in a private room with the door shut. Metered parking on Main gets tight after lunch, so leave yourself a few extra minutes.
Santa Monica, CA
Apollo was founded by Blue Mason in 2007. With 20+ years of body art experience, Blue brings master-level expertise to every piece. Read Blue's story →
Mostly about whether it will last, which is the right thing to be asking.
Fundamentally, yes. Most piercings pass through tissue and come out the other side, so the body has no particular reason to object. A Christina goes in and comes back out of the same plane of skin, which means the body reads it as something under the surface that shouldn't be there. That difference isn't a detail. It sets the jewelry, the healing time, the aftercare, and how long the piercing is likely to last.
Because there's pressure on both feet of the bar, and the shortest route to relieving it is outwards. Skin under sustained pressure gradually thins, so a bar that started buried ends up sitting closer to the surface, then closer still. Add the fact that this sits on a curve that flexes every time you sit, stand or walk, and you have constant low-grade movement on a piercing that would prefer none. That's the mechanism. It isn't infection and it isn't something you did wrong.
Four things, and they're not equally weighted. Correct jewelry does most of the work: a surface bar with feet that turn ninety degrees so nothing is pulling outwards. Then placement, chosen where the cleft is deepest and the skin is least stretched. Then depth, because a bar set too near the surface is halfway to rejected already. And then clothing, which is the one entirely in your hands — low-rise, soft, nothing with a seam sitting directly over it.
Look at the two ends. If the gap between them is getting shorter over weeks, the bar is moving. If you can see the shape of the bar through the skin where you couldn't before, the skin above it has thinned. Redness that never quite settles, or an end that has started sitting at a different angle, both count. Come and show us early. A migrating surface piercing caught in the first weeks can sometimes be saved by a jewelry change; one left until it's nearly through leaves a much worse mark.
Longer than almost anything else we do — think in terms of many months rather than weeks, and full maturity beyond that. Two reasons. Surface piercings build a channel slowly because the tissue is under tension the whole time, and this particular location gets disturbed by clothing all day. Anyone quoting you a few weeks is describing a different piercing.
Geometry. A surface bar has a flat span with the two ends turning up at right angles, so the bar lies parallel to the skin and the ends sit where they're meant to without pulling. A curved barbell wants to straighten, which means it pushes outward at both exit points continuously. On a curve, over months, that's a very efficient way of rejecting a piercing. If a studio offers to do your Christina on a curved bar, that tells you something.
You need a defined cleft at the top with enough tissue to pinch and enough depth to bury a bar properly. Plenty of people have exactly that. Plenty don't, and on a flat or shallow anatomy this piercing has very little chance. We look, we tell you honestly which you are, and if the answer is no we'll usually suggest a VCH instead, which is an entirely different piercing but one that heals far more reliably.
If it rejects or you remove it, yes, some mark. How much depends almost entirely on timing. Taken out early in a migration you're usually left with two small pale dots. Left in until the bar is nearly through the skin, you get a raised line between the two points, which is much harder to disguise. This is the practical reason we're insistent about showing us early changes rather than waiting to see.
Quoted at the consultation, which is free. The assessment has to happen first anyway, because whether we'd do it at all depends on what your anatomy looks like. Jewelry is priced separately from the piercing. What we won't do is quote a cheap number to get you through the door for a piercing we haven't decided is viable.
No, and we'd rather say that plainly. A Christina sits above the hood, on the mons, and is decorative. If sensation is what you're after, a VCH is the piercing that's positioned for it — different tissue, different purpose, and much shorter healing. People occasionally arrive having conflated the two, and it's a much better conversation to have before the needle.
This is more of the aftercare than the saline is. Low-rise, soft cotton, nothing with a waistband or seam that lands directly on it. High-waisted jeans, shapewear and gym leggings are all the enemy for the first several months. Seatbelts across the lap are fine; a rucksack strap or a tight belt is not. Sleeping on your back helps in the early weeks.
Much later than you'll want to, and never during the first stretch. A surface piercing that's still building its channel is exactly the wrong thing to be disturbing, and a jewelry change is a disturbance. When it is time, bring it to us for the first one. Surface bars don't come apart like a labret and it's easy to lose a foot inside a channel if you're improvising.
18 and over, government-issued photo ID at the appointment. No parental consent route and no exceptions, the same as everything else in this category.
Call (310) 331-0603 or book online, and ask for the consultation rather than the piercing. This is the one placement where we'd genuinely rather assess you on one day and pierce on another, because the honest conversation about longevity takes longer than the piercing does.
Apollo sits at 2625 Main St in Santa Monica, a block from the beach and easy to reach from anywhere on the Westside. Here's roughly how long it takes to get to us for tattoos and piercings:
There's metered street parking on Main Street and Ocean Park Blvd, plus a public lot on 2nd Street a short walk away. We recommend giving yourself an extra 10 minutes to park on weekends — Main Street gets busy with the farmers market and beach traffic. If you're running late, text us at the studio and we'll hold your appointment.
Free, private, no obligation, and a genuine possibility that we advise against it.
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