Feeling that the head is exposed even when well keratinized

[DiagonalFunctor]

Even on a several days streak I still feel that the head is exposed. It's not pain nor irritation - I don't know how to describe it exactly. I feel the head being exposed even without it touching the underwear. Although, when I'm occupied with something, I usually forget about it but once I have just a single thought about my penis, it starts tingling again - it's like when you start thinking about blinking and you suddenly blink manually for a while, or when you realize you can always see your nose. What is this feeling exactly? I'm pretty sure I'm well keratinized (it can withstand A LOT) but it still feels weird. Does it ever go completely away? For example, after a year, are you still aware that your head is exposed if you were to be reminded of it? I'd love to make it feel like the new natural state - to ignore it like you ignore your clothes touching your skin everywhere else. I can't imagine what it would be like to be trapped in this state after being circumcised as a kid - that must be terrible, especially since it must take ages to keratinized when you're let's say 10. I read on reddit that some of the guys cut at birth still got scratches or irritation when wearing a bathing suit when they were 11 or 12. The same thing about switching from briefs to looser boxers. Seems like even a decade of exposure didn't completely cover all common scenarios. Even some adult guys reported sometimes feeling that the head is exposed when in loose clothing like basketball shorts which really surprised me. One would thing that the body would adapt completely after such a long term exposure without a single break.

[Test123]

How long have you been pulled back, mate? It took me about 11 months for it to feel normal. I can still tell if I think about it (like your seeing your nose example), but most of the time, I don't.

[Kylar]

On one hand, everyone's different, on the other, maybe even (some) cut guys never truly get used to it (as in, it's not as neutral as the normal, covered state) they just don't know any different and it's normal (and ignored) that something rubs down there.  Dunno   Even after a lot of time spent uncovered I have a fairly good idea whether my head is out or not, even if neither state bothers me at all.

[DiagonalFunctor]

Good lord, eleven months? Several questions:

1.  You mean like eleven months of 24/7 exposure? As I said I only tried it for a few days. It seems so strange that you still feel it.
2.  Are you describing a sensation or just an acknowledgment that your glans is exposed?
3.  How often do you have to think about it, considering a normal day where you don't have time for any sexual activities and you don't do anything connected to this topic?
4.  Are there still, after such a long time, any irritating feelings from time to time?

I think that if you got circumcised, you'd completely ignore it in a few months, and I mean that you would just forget about it altogether. That is because when you're cut it's much tidier there (just an observation - I'm not advocating for anything here). However, when your foreskin is just retracted and folded (reference to spoon-like method), there is a piece of skin rolled over applying a very slight force forward towards the head and creating a slight bump (depends on grower/shower status), and that might be the reason why I (or you as well) can always feel it - it might not just be the glans sensitivity issue. I mean, unless your foreskin shortens, which is doubtful, or you develop some sort of wrinkles that would help to push it back towards the base, there really seems to be no way of getting it into a 100% completely comfortable and ignorable position if it isn't like that from the start. Once you retract, you'll have pretty much the same configuration in a year as when you started, only the head would be much drier and less sensitive from the exposure. Since folding doesn't expose any sensitive tissue, there isn't really anything else to keratinize, although I read that if you didn't fold and just rolled it back with the ring of foreskin behind the head, that small piece of inner foreskin would get keratinized quite a bit but that's ugly in my opinion. The last thing - some of it might just be in the brain; maybe it can just stop sending the signals even for growers with a large fold or wtih a rather uncomfortable position in general.

[DiagonalFunctor]

On one hand, everyone's different, on the other, maybe even (some) cut guys never truly get used to it (as in, it's not as neutral as the normal, covered state) they just don't know any different and it's normal (and ignored) that something rubs down there.  Dunno   Even after a lot of time spent uncovered I have a fairly good idea whether my head is out or not, even if neither state bothers me at all.

It's kind of hard to describe what I mean by being in a state of "ignoring it". You know that absolute feeling of nothing happening when you have the foreskin on? Something like that. You seem to not have achieved it yet, so you still feel it a little bit which is what I want to get over. I want to not realize it at all.

The thing about cut guys who might never really get used to it - that must suck so bad.... I read about a guy/boy (19-21) who commited suicide a year or two after his circumcision (nobody is sure whether or not it has been botched or not) and in the goodbye letter he described feeling the exposed glans all the time every day. Maybe his body just didn't know how to create the keratin layer, or mabye it did but the nervous system never really stopped sending the signals (these two usually go together); who knows... But still - at least we have a choice. It must be really annoying, knowing that you'll never get to cover it back into the absolutely neutral position, never ever in your life. 

[gayonlyporn]

I have been pulled back for about 18 months and I still get that occasional sensation of feeling my dick. The seeing your nose analogy is really good as it's like that. TBH I love the feeling and it's a nice reminder that it's there.

[Nexolaris]

But still - at least we have a choice. It must be really annoying, knowing that you'll never get to cover it back into the absolutely neutral position, never ever in your life. 

Personally, I don't find it annoying at all. I love have a permanently exposed head. There's never a risk of it accidentally being covered, like during physical activity. So it sets my mind at ease knowing that my head will be bare at all times. 

[DiagonalFunctor]

Personally, I don't find it annoying at all. I love have a permanently exposed head. There's never a risk of it accidentally being covered, like during physical activity. So it sets my mind at ease knowing that my head will be bare at all times. 

Well I meant in a situation where it bothers you. From what the guys are saying, it takes about a year to even stop noticing the exposed head, so I guess that might be what the freshly circumcised men and boys have to go through, although they don't have a choice to go back - they just have to get used to it which is kinda scary. Right now, I don't even move and I feel it. It's not even the rubbing, it's the body overreacting 24/7. Can't wait for it to go away.

Also, I notice you're cut high and tight - very nice! Did you retract before getting cut? And if you were cut later in life - is it as comfortable, natural and neutral to have your glans exposed to the world in the same way as having the foreskin covering it? Since you're high and tight you also have the entire inner foreskin exposed which is even more "radical".

It's also interesting how different your inner foreskin looks from mine. Your veins seem to be mostly faded - is that a protective skin layer or was it always like that?

[Benji]

My glans have been exposed more or less everyday for 3 or 4 years and I still can feel my head almost constantly but I think a lot of it has to do with the amount of attention you pay to it as well. If I'm not thinking about it i.e while I'm at work or otherwise predisposed I don't notice it but if I pay attention for a split second I become aware of the feeling for sure.

[Nexolaris]

Well I meant in a situation where it bothers you. From what the guys are saying, it takes about a year to even stop noticing the exposed head, so I guess that might be what the freshly circumcised men and boys have to go through, although they don't have a choice to go back - they just have to get used to it which is kinda scary. Right now, I don't even move and I feel it. It's not even the rubbing, it's the body overreacting 24/7. Can't wait for it to go away.

I'm pretty sure that in almost all cases of your head being exposed 24/7 – be it due to your foreskin being worn pulled being or as a result of tight cut – the brain will adjust to the overload of sensation in a flaccid state and learn to ignore those signals.

Also, I notice you're cut high and tight - very nice! Did you retract before getting cut? And if you were cut later in life - is it as comfortable, natural and neutral to have your glans exposed to the world in the same way as having the foreskin covering it? Since you're high and tight you also have the entire inner foreskin exposed which is even more "radical".

When I started to wear my foreskin retracted for most of the time the rubbing of my head against my underwear could easily arouse me. Nowadays I don't even notice anything touching my head or inner foreskin when wearing briefs. I'd say it feels pretty much the same as it did when it was covered in foreskin while soft. Also, the head doesn't feel naked when I don't wear clothes. However I still notice my clothes on my head when I'm freeballing. Things change when I get hard though.

It's also interesting how different your inner foreskin looks from mine. Your veins seem to be mostly faded - is that a protective skin layer or was it always like that?

My foreskin never was very veiny, and I didn't notice any change in vascularity due to my inner foreskin being permanently exposed. Depending on your anatomy you may have more veins, and I'd guess they'd still be visible after prolonged exposure to the elements.

[Test123]

1.  You mean like eleven months of 24/7 exposure? As I said I only tried it for a few days. It seems so strange that you still feel it.

Yes, permanent retraction for 11 months.

2.  Are you describing a sensation or just an acknowledgment that your glans is exposed?

Acknowledgement that the glans is exposed. Most of the time, I don't feel or think about it now, but occasionally I become aware of it - just like your examples in the original post of noticing you are blinking, or seeing your own nose.

3.  How often do you have to think about it, considering a normal day where you don't have time for any sexual activities and you don't do anything connected to this topic?

Up to about 10 months, it was several times during the day. Often it's now only when I'm reminded of it, e.g. when I go to the bathroom.

4.  Are there still, after such a long time, any irritating feelings from time to time?

No, not really. It never was that irritating, though. It just felt a bit odd at first, in the sense that it was different from normal.

[DiagonalFunctor]

Wow! That was pretty fast. Right now, I'm closing in on day 4 and I'm already much less irritated by the head moving around and occasionally rubbing a seam of my underwear. Even when I'm laying in my  pyjamas, I feel total peace - the head usually just lies on my thigh, not producing any kind of sensation. It's just a warm (yes - it is, surprisingly, warm, not cold as it used to be during my former runs) and cozy feeling - I absolutely love that. I still can't go commando though, because that would drive me crazy as the rubbing would be too aggressive, but hey - I heard that even some cut guys have the same problem. I still need to wait for the glans to get accustomed to an occasional longer and a little tougher rub when going upstairs, for example, but most of the time, it is very close to comfortable. I very much look forward to getting the same coziness and peace as I had with the full coverage.

Regarding my "loss" of sensation - my theory is that this is not keratinization - there is certainly not enough friction to damage the skin such that it would need to callous as my glans can bear much much tougher manipulation than that without shedding a single skin cell. I think that the head just gets drier and the brain stops sending the signals to this particular sensation. When it's hard, it is as sensitive as it was before in terms of other types of stimuli other than the underwear-like touch. Casually holding my flacid glans in my fingers and gently squishing it almost feels like a regular skin now, however, the masturbation sensitivity is the same, if not even more intense. That's exactly what I initially wanted and I hope it will continue desensitize only to the underwear rubbing. I think that the guys here who report significant loss of sensitivity and keratinization are just rubbing it too hard. I mean, the dry rubbing is just ridiculous - common gyus - it's not your enemy, you don't need to freaking destroy it everytime you feel horny. I talked with my friend who's got a high and loose cut when he was 14 due to phimosis and he definitly has more sensitive head than me, albeit having full exposure for 7 years straight. That is because he still has enough skin to masturbate without making direct contact with his glans. He said he flinches when a girl does it as if he was high and tight even with lubricant, let alone rubbing it raw and dry. That means I'm much further than him as I can go very hard with just a little lube and feel fine. I might soon open a new topic on this. I'm very interested in what others think about my "theory" (I'm not really sure whether I'm onto something or if it's just a common knowledge here). I'll keep the head free from it's foreskin cage and research the topic a little more while gathering some "data" on myself. If anyone's got an opinion on this, I'd like to hear it. 

[ThePiemel]

The nervous system is quite amazing. When you have a pain but have a worse pain on the other side, you don't feel the first pain anymore.

Penis is the same. Yet glans is another feeling than inner foreskin. Shaft. Or balls. Or nipples even.

Me here, sometimes, I think I might have flopped back over. Just have to check and it did not. But for the rest, like remembering I can see my nose, I can feel my exposed glans. Just like my, often forgotten, exposed inner foreskin. That can move half way down over my shaft. All different areas, but while no longer annoying making me more penis aware. Not even in a sexual sense but just what a great grand piano it actually is.

I can read a book, or watch a movie, drive the car and forget all about it. But when I just think like I can see my nose, I feel the rest too. Not just glans. Exposed inner skin as well. Which is a different area and feeling. It makes me feel happy with what I have. Because I can feel it. When still covered, it just slept in my pants.

[jdm]

"...my theory is that this is not keratinization - ... I think that the head just gets drier and the brain stops sending the signals to this particular sensation. ..."

I think your close, but I doubt that the signals ever stop being sent. I think it's more likely that the brain just learns to filter and ignore them upon receipt, unless they are transmitted in an erotic context. Over time, keratinization can also contribute to a reduction in the actual transmission of signals, because it will literally make the tissues less sensitive. But this can take a long time, on the order of months and years. In other threads, guys have claimed that keratinization can happen within a matter of days. I think that's not plausible. It may start within days, but it won't buildup to any meaningful degree until much later. 

[lvprcm]

I began retracting from a pretty young age and got to be almost 100% retracted by my mid to late teens. I've always felt sensations on the glans whether it's an inanimate thing or my finger or clothes. The sensation would either come from the tip as it most often had direct contact with clothing or from the rim of the glans as I felt the foreskin sitting behind the rim. I could tell if my foreskin recovered the glans or when it pulled itself back. By 14-15, I could say I was well keratinized if I could call it that. Having seeing a few guys circumcised by that age, my glans still had a different look than theirs. Where as mine looked smooth but dry, it had and has had a velvety texture to the surface, the guys that were circumcised had wrinkly or a leathery maybe pitted surface on their glans. Although I can't verify it then but I think I could say I could do almost anything the circumcised guy could with his glans. My one weak spot was if I was rubbing it very hard while using lubrication, i.e. precum or saliva, the fluids would really intensify the sensation too much for me and also post orgasm/ejaculation, I couldn't continue rubbing my penis. I've seen circumcised guys continue rubbing afterwards. It doesn't seem to phase them it seems.   

Moving forward post circumcision after the age of 20, my glans looks the same, I can still feel the slightest sensations as I've always had on the surface of my glans, my loss has come more from the removal of a good part of the inner foreskin which was a great source of sensation. I still have that overly sensitive glans if I'm rubbing it too hard coupled with lubrication, dry it's not a problem. Post orgasm however it seems my penis has become even more sensitive, sometimes with some partners wanting to continue stimulation, I have to pull back or ask them not to. It's just too intense. Weird.