"You're not piercing me now, are you?"

At A Glance Author Psycho Contact psychoecho13@aol.com Artist John Studio Skin Wizard Location Abilene, Texas

For about two months now I have been considering getting another piercing to accompany my navel and my (alas, former) tongue. However, my boyfriend (now ex) told me to remove my tongue and refused to let me pierce anything else because he thought I looked "skanky". Yeah, whatever.

Well, after I had been in college for a week, he dumped me. So, I took advantage of this opportunity to begin all the body mods that I wanted. :)

My friends and I had an afternoon off from school and I thought this was the perfect time for me to get my piercing done. During the one and a half hour drive, I thought about getting my tragus done, but mine is extremely small. I decided that I would ask the piercer what he thought about doing it and if he said it would be difficult or whatever, I'd do my eyebrow instead (something that I have secretly wanted for about a year).

I decided that I would go to Skin Wizard because they have done all my other piercings and they have all healed beautifully. :) I was a little nervous thinking about the crunching sound of my cartilage being penatrated. When I walked in, a guy (John) greeted me and asked if he could help. I told him that I was interested in getting a piercing and he asked where. I said my tragus, but I think it is really small. He examined me and said he could do it, but it would require a little pull and be harder to heal and a deeper pierce. Right about then, my eyebrow started to sound pretty damn good.

I asked him about my eyebrow instead and he said he thought it would look better than my tragus. He reminded me that a facial piercing was a big step because it might cause stares, controversy, etc. and I said I was ready to be my own person. I decided on my left eyebrow and we went to the back to look at a mirror. At this point, my friend who had never been in a piercing/tat business before, started to look a little scared. I think Scott and John and their mods kind of intimadated her a little. :) We discussed where it would look good and on the angle. I asked if he did piercing and he said yes, he and Scott.

We went back up front to take care of the necessary paperwork. After that, I picked out a 14g CBR all silver. I paid him $35 for the piercing (they gave me a discount). Since this was my first facial piercing, I was really really starting to get nervous. We walked into the back (John, my friend, and I). I asked him about the autoclave and he told me how many pounds of pressure/heat per second ( I can't even remember now) and assured me they were very sterile and if I ever walking into a piercing studio and they didn't have an autoclave, I should leave. Then he autoclaved the ring and bead and the proceded to get the instruments together and showed me that they were in new packages, the clamp, the needle. John was pretty impressed with the questions I was asking about sterility and procedure, I learned all my stuff through BME. :) Piercers are glad to answer any questions you might have. It shows that you actually want to know about what you're getting into. He changed his gloves and cleaned and marked my eyebrow. I didn't like the placement, so he changed it and it was perfect! :) He changed his golves again and picked up the clamp. The whole time he talked to me and made me feel so comfortable. As he placed the clamp on me he asked me if it hurt or felt uncomfortable. I told him that it didn't hurt, but I wish it would so that I wouldn't be able to feel the needle. (ok, so I'm weird, but it worked with my navel.) I asked John if he was piercing me then and he said no. So I was like, ok. I thought he would tell me when, but then right as I said ok, I felt a small pricking sensation and I was like, hey. It didn't hurt near as bad as I had imagined it would. Honestly, I had expected pain and a fair amount of blood--there was minimal amounts. John laughed and said, "Well, I wasn't piercing you right then." He removed the clamp and held the needle and told me not to move. Meanwhile Delinda (my friend) is standing beside us saying, "Wow! That's cool!"

I knew now that it was time for the jewelry. Even though this wasn't my first piercing, I was scared that inserting the CBR would feel strange. Honestly, John was so smooth, I didn't feel a thing and it was in before I knew it. He popped the bead in and wiped a small amount of blood from around the piercing. He said he was surprised because I barely bled. Since I had never bled with any of my other piercings, it didn't really strike me as strange. After he wiped the blood, he told me to have a look at my new ornament. I looked into the mirror and it looked awesome! I loved it! Both my Delinda and John gave me compliments on how good it looked. :)

We walked back up to the front and I was given an aftercare sheet and they told me to take care of it pretty much the same way as I did my navel--no antibacterial healing creams, no peroxide, no alcohol, antibacterial liquid soap. While I was looking at the jewelry, I decided my belly button needed a new ring. I picked out a spirally looking one with green balls to replace my CBR with hematite ball. Scott said he would change it for me since I had my navel pierced there seven months ago.

I then paid for my new ring (got another discount because he said I was a very good constumer and a good person to pierce). We talked for a few minutes and I told him that I would be back probably next month for some jewelry or something.

We did our shopping and then came back to the dorms. My reaction from people here has pretty much all been positive. So far, I have had my eyebrow piercing for about eight hours and I am having no trouble with it and I don't think that I will. The staff at Skin Wizard has always given me excellent service and I highly recommend them to anyone in the Abilene area. If you are worried about being able to see your eyebrow piercing out of the top of your eye or worried about it pulling up the skin slightly, don't. I was concerned with both of those, neither happen. I can't tell mine is there, except when I move my eyebrow a certain way, but the soreness will go away in time. The best word of advice I can offer to someone is to get to know about the place and people where you are getting pierced. Ask questions, it's better to be safe than infected or something. If you want it, go for it. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me and I'll try to help. :)