I’m 21 years old, and like approximately 60% of boys born in the US in 1990, I was circumcised shortly after birth. The issue of my penile intactness (or lack thereof) has never come up with my parents, not even once, so I assume there were no unusual or noteworthy circumstances behind it. It’s just a choice my parents made for me.

Since the topic never came up with my parents, I didn’t know what circumcision was until I was about 10, which I suppose is a pretty typical age to find that sort of thing out. I learned through a topic on a message board I went on at the time where an older guy asked “What do you think of circumcision?”, but he didn’t really explain what circumcision was other than “Personally, I can’t imagine going through life without the tip of my penis.”

Naturally, I assumed this meant cutting off the head- for me, that WAS the tip of my penis, so I looked it up on a search engine to find out why anyone would ever do that. Lo and behold, I learned what circumcision *actually* was. But, there was one problem.

I still didn’t know whether or not I was circumcised. For another four years.

You see, I have what is referred to as a loose circumcision. Meaning, I had (comparatively) less skin removed than in some other circumcisions, and as a result I have always still been able to move the remaining skin along the shaft and over the head. (In contrast, a tight circumcision removes more skin, and in many cases, renders the shaft skin *completely* immobile. Which type you have really just depends on the technique of the doctor who did it and which circumcision device he used to do it.) Furthermore, a loose cut has a better chance of retaining a decent remnant of the original foreskin, as was the case with me. 

The importance of all that is that I didn’t KNOW about the deal with loose vs tight circumcisions; I thought the surgery always had the same cosmetic and functional result. So, at the time, I thought of it like this: “If I’m cut, then how come I have this bit of skin that looks different from the rest? Isn’t that foreskin? But if I’m uncut, then how come that bit of skin doesn’t cover the head? And what’s the brown ring? Is that a scar, or a birthmark, or have I been doing a REALLY bad job cleaning myself?”

Despite my confusion, it wasn’t an issue that consumed me. I didn’t like the possibility that the procedure may have been done to me, and I generally thought it was wrong to circumcise infants who can’t consent to it. But I sure as hell didn’t feel like discussing my genitals with my parents, so I never asked. I was 14 when I finally learned from the Internet that there are different types of circumcision, that I indeed am circumcised, indeed have a small remnant of foreskin, and indeed have an ugly brown scar from the procedure. I was less than pleased, but I least I finally had a definite answer.

Around that same time, I learned a little about foreskin restoration (I can’t recall what site). I didn’t undertake it, though. At the time, I wouldn’t have been able to afford a device (being 14 of course), and I didn’t know manual (by-hand) restoration was an option. So other than some half-hearted attempts at retaining (keeping the skin over the glans while not actively restoring), it was something that remained just in the back of my mind during my high school years.

Flash forward to early 2010, as I was 19 going on 20, and had been in a serious relationship with a girl for about a year. Around this time, she started watching Penn & Teller’s Bullshit!, and she told me one night she was about to watch the circumcision episode. The topic of foreskin restoration came back into my mind, except now I was both sexually active, and able to afford a restoration device. I thought it may be time for me to actually consider it seriously. After all, being circumcised always did bother me. It didn’t ruin my life, or completely destroy my capacity for sexual pleasure (as is the case with some men unfortunately), but I did feel that my penis wasn’t feeling everything it should be. So I did some research, and learned that I didn’t even need a device to restore, as long as you were diligent with your manual stretches. I was sold (though I did of course buy a device later on), and was eager to begin the process.

Then, of course, came the time to inform my girlfriend of my plans. I figured she would be understanding because she loves me, and watching the Bullshit! episode probably educated her. But I was still nervous, since telling your partner you want to modify your genitals is kind of a bombshell. But I ended up having no reason to be nervous. The conversation basically went like:

Me: “So, uh, remember the end of that Penn & Teller episode where the guy restored his foreskin?”
Her: “Yeah?”
Me: “I think I’m going to attempt it.”
Her: “Oh? You want yours back?”
Me: “I guess so.”
Her: “Go for it then.”
Me: “You don’t think I’m weird for it?”
Her: “Of course not.”

A burden was lifted off my chest. My loved one didn’t think I was a freak for wanting my full genitalia back. She’s wonderfully supportive to this day.

In February 2011, about a year into restoring, I got the idea to make a blog about my feelings against circumcision, and my experience with foreskin restoration. I didn’t think it would get very popular, and I was thrilled to have just 15 followers after a couple of weeks. I did NOT expect to gain over 1000 followers over the next year. Thank you all for taking an interest, and double-thanks to those of you taking the time to read this introduction!