My well awaited 17th birthday present to myself....
At A Glance Author anonymous When A year ago Artist Didn't catch her name... Studio Doc's Tattoo Studio Location Aberdeen, MD --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: anonymous
female / 18
When: A year ago
Artist: Didn't catch her name
Studio: Doc's Tattoo
Location: Aberdeen, MD
I have been absolutely fascinated by body art since I was little. I loved the way it set people apart from the rest of boring society. From the first time I could understand why people did strange things to their bodies, it became a passion of mine. I frightened my parents, teachers, school counselors and peers when I told them I wanted to pierce and tattoo when I grew up. Well, I'm just about grown up today, and I'm still scaring people. This experience is about my first professional piercing. My lip.
I didn't want to do this because Chester of Linkin Park has it...or that sexy chick in the mall had it. I wanted it because I felt it was an absolute necessity. I can't explain it.
I had gotten a gift certificate for Christmas to a tattoo shop to have it done. I had called there numerous times the week before, but the piercer was never in. It was the day before my seventeenth birthday and I figured the piercer HAD to be in by then. I called on the way to the shop, but of course he still wasn't there. So my dad offered to take me to my cousin's shop. I wasn't quite sure about this. My mother had forbid me to go there because she said it was "dirty," but I figured it wouldn't hurt to go in and look around a bit. So we took off once again to Doc's Tattoo. Once we got there I took a look at the pictures that had been painted all over the outside walls. Quite interesting. We walked in...and well...it wasn't the neatest place in the world, but it was kind of cozy. I looked back towards the rooms where they perform their piercings and decided that they didn't look awful. They appeared to be very clean. My cousin was sitting at the front desk and looked a bit surprised to see my whole family and I there. He asked us if we needed anything and at the same time a woman walked into the room. I told them I wanted a lip piercing. She asked me what type of jewelry I wanted and I told her a CBR. She was quite surprised at this and exclaimed no one ever came in and asked for a CBR just a hoop or a ring thingy. I blushed feeling like a bit of a dork, but she smiled at me and that definitely made me feel a bit better. I was about to pay her the $60 written on a sheet of paper at the desk, but my cousin told her I was to get a family discount so I only paid $30. So I thought...awesome. I filled out all the forms along with my dad. We were both handed aftercare sheets and forced to read them before I could go back to the piercing room.
She led me back, and had me sit in this mechanical barber looking chair. I questioned her about the sterility and about the autoclave, and once again she was surprised. She told me about all the "idiots and dumb asses" (her words exactly) that come in all the time, demand to be pierced and don't ask a damn thing about anything. This made me laugh, and made me feel more comfortable with her.
I was getting so anxious, I was finally about to get what I had wanted for so long. I had my legs crossed at the ankles and when she came to clean my lip before she pierced it she jokingly said "your gonna have to spread those legs wide for me." Haha...she was a pervert, I loved her already. I giggled and uncrossed my feet. She had me rinse with Listerine, and then washed the outside of my lip with yellow antibacterial soap, warned me not to lick it off because it tasted disgusting, then wiped it off with some water. She changed her gloves and marked a spot on my face and asked if it was all right. I thought it looked pretty good so she went on. She spent a few moments adjusting a clamp. She told me that by the look on my face I looked more than ready so if I didn't want her to count down she wouldn't. I told her that would be fine. She picked up the needle, held it to my skin for a moment, and passed it through. It was one of the most incredible sensations I had ever felt. There's nothing like having a 14 gauge needle pushed through your skin. It felt a bit warm and I could feel every bit of it cut through. I sat there with a look of awe on my face and said...wow...She smiled and asked if I wanted a large or small bead on my CBR. I said a small and then she made fun of the goofy guys who come in and ask for the huge ones and commented on how ridiculous it looked. She closed the ring around the bead, pushed it over to the side, nodded, said "uh huh" and held a mirror up in front of my face. I was amazed. I was pierced.
I thanked her hundreds of times, and she looked very pleased. I went home and stared at it for a bit. I was still in awe. From then on I soaked it twice a day in sea salt, and that's about it. It didn't really lymph or bleed and was only sore for a few days afterwards. It did migrate a bit on the inside, but it wasn't too drastic. I truly love this piercing. It's never given me any trouble, besides getting stuck around my tongue ring once, but that was quite funny. At the moment I'm wearing a labret in it, but I really love the way the ring looks. I also love getting the strange looks from strangers and the look of curiosity in small children. It's fun to think that I may have corrupted them and when they're old enough, they'll have many body mods themselves...hehehe....