bleeder

At A Glance Author Blackraavyn Contact cryptor_child420@yahoo.com Artist Aaron Studio Electric Graffiti Location Muscatine, Iowa

Well, it finally happened, my first "REAL" piercing. REJOICE!

For my 16th birthday in August of 1999, my sister, Adrienne, offered to pay for me to get my eyebrow pierced, my 2nd most desired piercing (first one being center lip). She talked it over with my dad, and after hours of convincing, he finally agreed. (then it had to be cleared with my mother) It came up that she had money problems, so I had to wait... Finally, this last March of 2000, it was time... So we were on our way, and we stopped at the studio... The shop owner knew my sisters, so after some convincing she decided to pierce me without a parent there, because we talked it over with her and she trusted that I had parental permission (which I did)... It ended up that she had her apprentice (Aaron, which was ironically my sister's exboyfriend's sister's exhusband *L* how's that for confusing?) do the piercing. So, I sat down in the designated piercing chair in which I'd had four previous piercings in, and I forgot to tell Aaron that I was a bleeder. Everytime before when I had gotten a piercing (2 cartilage piercings and 2 lobes in the right ear, 1 cartilage and 2 lobes in the left ear) I bled like crazy! Blood had always just ran down the side of my neck and into my hair. It never bothered me, but the piercers always seemed to be a bit shocked, sitting there, thinking "Oh god, here's a minor I shouldn't be piercing anyway, who's going to die of a horrible bloody death in my studio, and it's all my fault!". So I sat in the chair, leaned back, smiling, and let him straddle my leg to reach me. I know many people who've had their eyebrows pierced, so I knew that it didn't hurt much, barely nothing compared to a cartilage piercing, and pain doesn't really bother me, so I knew that it would be a breeze. So he got prepared, and talked me through everything that he was doing, even though I could see him clearly, put the little blue dots above and below my left eyebrow, and he tried to clamp my eyebrow (ow). It turned out that I had thick skin, so he couldn't clamp it, he had to do it freehand. So finally, he grabbed the skin with two fingers, and he pushed the 14 gauge needle through (my eyes teared a little, just from the sting) and then he pulled it out to put a 1/2" barbell in. Well, needless to say, blood GUSHED down the left side of my face, down my neck, and into my long, blonde hair. There was Aaron, standing over me, just looking horrified. I cupped my hand to the side of my face, to catch the blood, laughed and just told him to push the barbell through, so he did, whilst staring at me, maybe wondering why I wasn't dead yet, or maybe wondering why I was laughing. He put the barbell in, and I was sent to clean up my face in the bathroom in the back with a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol...

Now, I'll remember to tell my piercer that I'm a bleeder, so they don't almost go into shock. It's been almost 6 months now since I got the piercing. It took forever to heal, since it seems like people see a new piercing, they feel the need to bash into it, and also for "special occassions" I wear a silver hoop in it, and it freaks out and gunks up. But I'm in love with it, and don't plan on taking it out anytime soon. It's all healed, and hasn't migrated at all... Since he had to do it freehand, it was pierced a bit deep, there's a nice chunk of tissue it's going through. If I wear a 1/2" barbell in it, it pinches, so I have to wear a 3/4" barbell in it, and then you can barely see any of the metal (except for the blue spikes at each end of the barbell). If you want to see a picture of it, it's at http://www.angelfire.com/on2/dissolve/jigga4.html . I'm also planning on sending the pic of it to BME.

Tell your piercer if you're a bleeder or not. It'll make a world of difference (to your artist) *L*

I've now spent this last year trying to convince my dad to let me get my lip pierced, but all he says is "No more shit in your face until your 18." So my response to him has been, "Well, dad... You won't LIKE to see me when I'm 18, so live it up." The day I turn 18 I plan on getting my tattoo, my lip pierced, and my tongue pierced. (once again, pain doesn't bother me.)

And thank you for listening to me ramble about my blood.