The first time I saw a labret piercing, it was on a public bus when I was 14. A short, punky-looking girl got on and I noticed that in addition to having her septum pierced, she had a small stud in between her chin and her lip. I had never seen anything like it and thought it was the most beautiful piercing I had ever seen. That began my obsession with labret piercings.
At A Glance Author Epiphany Contact SydLovesYourMom@aol.com Artist Desta Spence Studio Adorn Body Art Location Portland, OR Three years ago, piercings weren't nearly as mainstream as they are now. It took me a few weeks of searching every corner of the internet to find out the actual name of the "chin thingy"(as I called it). I've always had an intrest in body modification, I got my ears pierced at a very young age and at age 10 pestered my Mom until she allowed me to have a cartilege piercing (at that point, she thought I was too young). As I got older, I aquired navel, nose, and eyebrow piercings, but eventually took out my nose because it was becoming too trendy (so are the navel and eyebrow piercings, but I still have them in).
After I saw the girl on the bus with that beautiful stud in her chin, I put it on my "to-do" list. However, I didn't get around to it until a few months later, when I had finally paid all my debts. One afternoon I didn't have work (a very rare occurance), and I decided that it was a good time to go get my labret pierced. I waited patiently until my Mom got off work (since I'm a minor, she had to sign for me), and nearly attacked her when she came home. She agreed that it was a nice piercing. My Mom has always been very liberal. She signed for me to get my navel pierced when I was 12 and my nose when I 13, and my eyebrow when I was 14. She thinks that my obession with piercings, tattoos, pocketing, etc. is just a phase or something, and really didn't care. So I called Adorn and told them we were on our way.
Adorn Body Art is about a 1 and 1/2 minute drive from my house, and Desta has done all of my piercings, so she knows me by name. When we got to the studio, she was all ready for me. Desta gave me a sheet with aftercare and made me read it through. She also gave me a little bag of sea salt and explained that sea salt helps the piercing heal by increasing circulation and oxygen on the surface. I went into the piercing room, sat in the chair like I had so many times before, and she cleaned my chin, clamped my lower lip, pulled it out, and shoved the needle through before I even knew what was happening. She proceeded to thread the stud through the hole (ouch!) and screw the little ball on.
I won't lie, it hurt. But I have a very high tolerance for pain and know that without it, piercings/tattoos/etc. wouldn't be the same. I think the worst part was the clamp. I bled a bit, but not too much, and when she was done I had a lovely little stud on a 14 gauge post in my chin. I was so happy.
The aftermath was tough. Oral piercings are alot harder to maintain and deal with than one would think. That night I ate, but I bit down on the back of the stud a few times, which made it bleed. The first week was the roughtest, because I basically had to learn how to eat/talk/etc. with a piece of metal that tended to get caught on my teeth. People would often ask me if it was infected beacuse it was so red. I would DEFINETLY reccomend sea salt soaks, they helped my labret heal up nice and pretty, and it was completely healed within 2 months. After the swelling went down and the redness was completley gone, I had the long bar sticking out of my chin, so I bought a shorter post with a tiny spike on the end. Now I have a spikey eyebrow barbel and a spike labret, and it looks gorgeous. I would also reccomend buying a dental backing for your post, since labret studs are notorius for screwing up your teeth and gums.
Also, if you are getting ANY piercing, just because it's trendy or your friends have it, think twice. Those of us who are serious about body modification look at our mods as extensions of ourselves. Don't disrespect the culture by going with what your favorite celebrity is sporting at the moment. You will either end up completley regretting it or looking completely stupid. Or both.