I was on my honeymoon in Hollywood last September, standing on Hollywood Blvd, and I heard Steve Irwin had died. This caused me to get the urge to get a piercing. I wanted to have something I could look in the mirror and see.. and remember Steve Irwin by. I originally wanted to do my tongue, in fact I had wanted to get my tongue re-done for a while (I had my tongue done years ago and didn't keep it), but my new husband is anti-piercing, he didn't want me to get ANY piercing, ESPECIALLY my tongue, so we compromised on a small nose stud instead of my tongue. We ended up at Oz Tattoo on Hollywood Blvd, T.J. was my piercer, I paid $35.00 including jewelry... the store was very simple with a rather open floor plan... but VERY clean, no dust, no clutter, there was a piercer and a tattoo artist in the shop, and they both turned their attention to providing me with excellent customer service and entertainment (they were rather funny)- they had a good sales routine talking about how many piercings TJ had done and handing me his portfolio. I was impressed that not only had everything he used been autoclaved, but he made sure to show me the heat marks on the autoclave bags as well as the NEW needle coming out of a NEW package.
At A Glance Author Ravynia Contact JeepChick85201@gmail.com When A year ago Artist T.J. Studio Oz Custom Arts Tattoo Location Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA I told him I wanted the piercing high up in the crease of my nostril and he told me he wasn't sure that was a good idea and he marked where he felt the piercing should go, had me look at it, and I agreed it was was the right spot... he told me when he pierced me a single tear would run from the eye on the side of the piercing and then he pierced me. There was no pain and not a lot of suspense. There was a brief urge to sneeze followed by one tear running from the right eye.
I had the shakes for about an hour afterward, I was SO excited!! In the days afterward the hardest part was remembering not to sleep on that side of my face, in fact I wasn't that good once I fell asleep - I often woke up on the right side. I never realized how much I lay on my right side before. I only had the piercing two days before I caught it on a towel and pulled it 80% of the way out.. very quickly. I had to take tylenol to keep the swelling down for a couple days after that.
About a month later, after I got home, I had issues with a keloid - I had been using Dial Anti-bacterial soap to clean it like Oz Tattoo had told me to do, but that apparently doesn't work in Arizona, our water is too hard... but Club Tattoo in Tempe, AZ helped me resolve my Keliod, I had gone to Mastadon piercing in Mesa.. but they gave me some Satin Soap to clean with and it didn't help at all... but Club Tattoo just had me soaking some gauze in a spritz of H2ocean and dixie cup of REALLY warm water and then holding the gauze on the piercing 3 times a day. The keloid started shrinking immediately - but I don't believe that the keloid was anything T.J. at Oz did wrong, I had been cleaning it with a Q-tip which I hear is a no no, and I had been using the wrong stuff to clean it... and I had been twisting the piercing, which I found out later keeps it from healing right.
The one thing I didn't like, was they used L shaped piercing jewelry.. it was hard to clean and it kept falling out, and re-inserting it irritated the piercing, and as the keloid got smaller the long end of the L would stab me in the back of the nose and give me nosebleeds, but once I got the keloid under control I was able to switch to a regular nose stud and I have had no further issues with it.
On the way out of the Tattoo shop on Hollywood Blvd, we found a $20.00 bill! So my piercing actually only ended up costing $15.00!!
My experience was normal, and easy... nothing too terrible went wrong, as lots of people deal with keliods. I believe the keloid was caused by my auto immune disorder, Psoriasis. I did not have this kind of trouble with my tongue ring though.. but that was later and for another report as it was done at a different shop in a different town.
I am now thinking about getting a Monroe or my nipples done!
Many years ago I tried piercings and they didn't work right for me, but now they fit who I am perfectly!