I had wanted my eyebrow pierced for many years, but couldn't have it done for different reasons...Christian college, job dress codes, the fact that my family would want to disown me, etcedera.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon Artist Ryan Studio Kaleidescope Location Springfield. Missouri After I graduated from school, and settled into a job, I decided to research it some more. I knew my employer wouldn't like it because I was the receptionist, and living in the midwest in the middle of the Bible belt, but I just decided to do it anyway. I did a lot of research, mainly on this site, and I decided to hell with what everyone else thinks, I wanted this done.
The actual decision process took several weeks. I had wanted this for many years but when it came right down to it, my main concern was about my job. After all, I was the receptionist and people's first impression of the company. And I live in Missouri where people are pretty conservative for the most part. But I really wanted it, and I decided I could always find another job, I wasn't happy there anyway.
It turns out my boss was going to be gone for a couple of weeks on vacation, so I dedcided this would be the opportune time. I went to the piercing studio with a friend on a Friday night. We had both gotten our navels pierced in this same studio years ago, and it is a very clean place with a good reputation. The piercer is strange, and kind of mean, but again, he has a good reputation and he had done a good job on our navels before.
I decided on a small barbell, because when worse came to worse, it would be easier to hide. At this point I was getting nervous, so I don't really remember much about the process of him preparing it. Something I did think was strange is that he never showed me where he was going to put it or ask my approval or anything of that nature, but I figured he knew what he was doing, so I didn't say anything.
Now, I really wasn't expecting it to hurt much because most of these stories say that it doesn't. Plus if you take your fingernail and pinch your eyebrow, it's not that sensitive. Also, I have a couple of tattoos and my navel is pierced, and it hadn't hurt hardly at all. WRONG!!! Ouch! It hurt so bad! At least it was over quickly. But I loved it! I wanted to stand in front of a mirror for hours. The piercer gave me instructions on taking care of it, some antiseptic cleanser, and a sheet with more information and directions on it.
It throbbed for a little while, probably about an hour or so. I took some ibuprofen, though and it quit hurting. I could see it out of the corner of my eye, which was really weird. I was scared all night to sleep on it, because it was still pretty sensitive, so I tried my best not to turn on it accidentally.
By the next night it had pretty much stopped hurting, and on Sunday morning, to my surprise, I woke up laying on it, and it didn't hurt!
Most of the reactions I got from people were pretty positve. A guy at the mall told me that he thought it was cool. A lot of people ask "didn't that hurt?", and my mom definitely didn't like it. I think her exact words were "That's nasty!"
A lot of people didn't expect that from me, because I guess I'm not your typical, blue-haired piercing type. Plus I am 25 years old, not exactly a teenager. I do, however like something about piercing and tattoos. I also like to dress nice, though.
When I went to work I was nervous that I was going to get in trouble. I knew that the bosses weren't going to like it, so I decided to hide it under my bangs....very carefully. It was hard, it took a lot of effort. The people who are my age, I showed, and they all liked it. My boss ended up finding out about it, but she couldn't say anything because I had kept it hidden so well.
After about four months, I finally got sick of hiding it, I was also trying to get a promotion and I was worried I wouldn't get the job if I kept it. On top of that, I was tired of not being able to just wash my face without having to be extremely careful, so I took it out and let it grow back up. I have no regrets, I really did like it when I had it, but now I'm over it, it was fun for awhile.
My advice to anyone who wants to get it done: make sure that your employer won't mind, it is a real pain in the ass to try to hide for 8 hours a day. On the upside, the eyebrow is one of the faster healing piercings. Mine never got infected, and after that first night, didn't ever even hurt. It was easy to clean, and I got compliments on it all the time. Sometimes I miss it, but I don't miss having to hide my face. My next thing I want done is some kind of different ear piercing. I can't decide exactly what yet.
Good luck, now go out and pierce that eyebrow!