This beginner's restoring guide contributed by Tally.
There are a lot of benefits to having a foreskin. Foreskin restoration allows a circumcised man to regain many of those benefits. But, how to start? How to restore your foreskin?
This Beginner's Guide provides basic information for someone beginning to restore. It also tries to answer some common questions.
First, it helps to understand the anatomy and the correct terminology of the penis, including the intact ones. The head of your penis is the glans, not the gland. The corona is the ridge between the glans and the shaft of the penis. The sulcus is the valley behind the corona on your shaft. The inner foreskin remnant extends from the corona to your circumcision scar. The frenulum extends from the ventral side of your glans to your circ scar. The ridged band, sometimes called the frenar band, is the structure at the tip of an intact foreskin that is completely removed during a routine infant circumcision. The ridged band, the frenulum, and the corona have a high concentration of sensory receptors called Meissner corpuscles.
Second, what does CI- and some number mean? If you see that someone is a CI-2, that means the person is at a certain point on the Coverage Index. There is also a variation of the coverage index called The Real Coverage Index.
What is the best way to restore?
Sorry, but no one knows the best method for YOU to restore. We are all different and have different likes and needs. Vive la différence! For example, my primary tugging method is manual tugging. Some guys cannot stand manual tugging and prefer tape.
To find the best way to restore, experiment. Start with the list below and try them all. All the methods work. Stay with the methods you like and that fit into your lifestyle. Ideally, you want to find a tugging method that becomes a habit and you do it without even thinking about it.
How to start?
The best way to start is to begin tugging! If you are cut tight, you most likely cannot wear a bi-directional device like the CAT II, DTR, or TLC-X until you grow some slack skin. Your best option is to start with one or more of the following:
- Manual tugging (method 2 is good for starting)
This is the easiest and least expensive tugging method. To start out, tug just a few minutes a day and with light tension. Read about my manual tugging routine. Each time you tug, either tug for a longer time or add a little bit of tension. - Cross-taping is typically only useful for those who are cut very tight and only when first starting. It is also useful for retaining your skin over your glans. See Illustrated guide to cross-taping by NORM- Phoenix
- T-taping: see T-tape manufacture - a graphic guide in 9 parts and the T-Tape Picture Book
Many start with T-taping and keep on using it until they finish. - Canister method instructions are on the TLC Tugger website
- The SuperCannister is made specifically for foreskin restoration
- The TLC Tugger can be used if you have enough slack, maybe a CI-2.
Is it dangerous? Will I hurt myself?
Tugging is not dangerous. But, tuggers can often be their own worst enemy.
I have heard of guys hurting themselves. Usually, if there is an injury it is either because the person is tugging too hard (too much tension or tugging for too many hours at a time) or fell asleep while tugging and either slept through the pain or had a nocturnal erection. Fortunately, most injuries are only skin tears that will heal in a short time. But, there is no reason to ever injure yourself. Just tug in moderation and avoid sleeping while tugging until you have the experience to do it properly, if you do it at all.
General Warnings
- Focus on tugging only your shaft skin. Generally, you want to tug only the shaft skin between your corona and your hair line. There is no need to tug so that your scrotum moves up your shaft or your abdominal skin forms a tent with your penis as the tent pole.
- Tug only with your penis in its natural hang position. When erect, do not force your penis down or to the side unless it naturally moves that way.
- Do not wear a tugging device while sleeping unless you are absolutely sure that the device can accommodate nocturnal erections.
- When manual tugging, there is no need to squeeze your shaft very much. Squeeze only tight enough that your shaft skin does not slip through your hands. Wash your hands and penis with plain water to increase your grip. There will be some slippage over a minute's worth of tugging. That is OK.
- A little tugging is good. Too much is overdoing it. Most manual tugging sessions need to last only 2 to 10 minutes. A 15 minute manual tugging session is a long session. When manual tugging with high tension, 10 to 15 minutes of tugging should leave your shaft skin with a tingling or warm sensation, which means it is time to stop. Longer than that time means you are either doing it wrong or overdoing it. When wearing a device, time under tension is much longer, but it, too, will vary depending upon tension. Remove the device frequently to ensure there is blood flow and no tingling or numbness.
If you tug properly and have normal skin, you will not get stretch marks! My first concern when Istarted was that I would get stretch marks. Never happened. And I tugged with a LOT of tension. In fact, it rarely happens to anyone. Stretch marks occur when there is too much tension for a long period of time. If you are tugging that hard, you will see other signs before you get to the point of having stretch marks. If you see your skin getting red, raw, or you are getting sore or feeling pain, STOP! You are tugging too hard.
What about sensitivity?
The glans and inner foreskin are mucous membranes, the same type of tissue as under your eyelid or in your mouth. Because of the rubbing against our clothes, the glans and inner foreskin keratinize, that is, they develop a callous layer that reduces sensitivity. To regain that sensitivity, you need to keep your glans covered 24/7. I waited until I started getting some coverage before I worried about covering my glans. Others may want to start with that first.
I wear a baby bottle nipple retainer to pull my new slack skin over my glans. Others use tape, a tape ring, or a tapeless ring. How long it takes to regain sensitivity depends upon how keratinized you are and if you keep it covered all the time. It took me 6-7 months of retaining before my skin became smooth and shiny and sensitive, but I am 53 and started out with almost no sensitivity. Others report increased sensitivity in just weeks or months.
General Tips:
- Restoring a foreskin will take a long time. Do not rush it or try too hard. Don't be overzealous.
- Pay attention to your skin and stop if it hurts or you get sore.
- Start out slow and see how it goes. Increase the tension and tugging time slowly.
- More is not necessarily better. Many restorers have discovered that less is better. I manual tug only 1 hour a day and I am very happy with my progress. Others tug half a day, all day, or all day and night.
- Don't tug when asleep until after you have some tugging experience. You need to learn your limits and you definitely do not want to hurt your penis.
- You are not stretching your foreskin to make it longer, you are stretching your foreskin to induce mitosis so your foreskin will grow longer
- Read the posts here and on the other forums. There is a wealth of information out there just waiting for you.
- If you have any questions, just post a question in the forums in the member-side of the site.
