After it was all said and done, it hurt much worse than I thought it would! It wasn't so much a pain like being shot..but one of those pains that makes you just want to throw up while asking yourself "fuck, what am I doing?"
At A Glance Author Joey Contact Joey@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Josh Studio A-1 Tattoo and Piercing Location West. St. Paul, Mn
When I decided to get my labret pierced, I figured it would be, more or less, just like all the other piercings i've had in my time. It wasn't.
I decided to do the piercing for my 20th birthday, a gift to myself for all my hard work. I talked to my piercer about it, and he said it would look great. So I scheduled an appointment for the procedure. I went on my birthday...I wish I had gotten drunk before hand.
To start out with, I was really nervous because I had never pierced my lip before, so I figured it would be a new pain that I would have to get used to. The needle looked different, and honestly, it made my stomach churn. Josh is a very good piercer, so I trusted him completely, but I still couldn't get over that silly "butterflies in your stomach" feeling.
>From all my other experience with piercings I figured it wouldn't take a very long time, but I was wrong. I'd never even watched a labret piercing before...so I didn't really know what I was getting into. The lining was the longest and most agonizing part. It took about 15-20 minutes for Josh to get it lined up correctly, and my lip was already sore, so I was trying to prepare myself for "needle entry"! He started from the inside, and when the needle penetrated the soft tissue of my inner lip I thought I was going to vomit! It was the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. Given that i've never broken a bone or given birth...I guess it's a bit more understandable.
>From then on my head and thoughts were a little fuzzy. Josh was asking me if I was ok, but I apparently wasn't answering him because he pulled the needle out of my lip. I drank a little bit of water and I felt fine. I just wasn't prepared. He sank the needle into the already opening hole, and this time I was able to concentrate on what was going on. It actually felt as though my lip was being ripped off of my face! We were both laughing because I had been drooling the whole time, and that kind of relaxed me for the last stage of the piercing....
The popping through of the last layer. *shudders*
I've always been partial to nose piercings, specifically because you can feel each layer of skin popping as the needle slides through, but this was different. It was much thicker, in comparison, to the layers in your nostril. In the split second that it took to push the needle through, I immediately got hot and started to sweat. But that part was finally over so the heat only went over me for about 30 seconds.
As he put the labret post in my lip, I could already feel it healing around the post. It is truely amazing how your body accepts what you do to it, and simply goes back to it's usual routine. When I first got my tongue pierced, it was sore for about 2 weeks. With my labret, it was only sore for a matter of hours, much to my surprise!
All but the feeling of something foreign in my mouth, my lip was competely back to normal by the 3rd day. I could eat normally, which for some reason shocked me. Not that your lips have much to do with how you eat, but I still assumed there would be some sort of change there.
I had kept the piercing in for about a year when I lost it. I got into a "situation" and it got pulled out. I talked to Josh about it, and his advice was to let it heal for a couple months before trying to re-penetrate it. After I had patiently waited about 2 months, I went in to talk to Josh....but much to my disappointment, he had quit. So I began working with a new piercer from a different shop. He took a look at my lip and said that it had healed very well. So I set up an appointment to have it re-done.
When I went into Andy's shop that day, I was even more nervous than the day I got it pierced the first time, simply because I knew how much it hurt originally, and figured it would hurt worse this time. I was right. It hurt much worse.
He decided to use a stretching post, because the original hole was still open a tiny bit. When he first pushed it through I didn't feel much, but the more he got in there with the tapered needle, I got that old feeling again...you know, where I thought I was going to puke! HA! I didn't, luckily, but I felt that way for about an hour. Once it was through, he put a new post in it, and it was as good as new! And once again, didnt feel any soreness.
I kept it in for only about 6 or 7 months because a new job didn't allow facial piercings. If I could have kept it I definately would have, I think I deserved it because of all the pain I went through to get it! But alas, I had to take it out.
Should I get the opportunity to do it again, I would. And the next time I will have a couple drinks before hand to numb myself! Ive hear a few different stories from a few different people about the pain aspect of it. Most aren't too bothered by it, but I have met a couple people that went through something similar to myself. So at least I know now that i'm not just a baby....I'm not alone in this one!
Next piercing.....NIPPLES!! A new story will come shortly afterwards!