The backround story...
At A Glance Author Julianne Contact Julianne@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Greg Studio Laughing Dragon Location amelia, ohio Most of my life piercings and tattoos have fascinated me. I grew up going to a private school 1st through 12th grade, where pretty much piercings and tattoos were banned. The only piercings allowed were the standard ear piercings for girls, and boys weren't allowed to have any (they still had them anyways)
So anyways, being the good girl I am, the only piercing I had was the standard lobe piercing I got on my 14th birthday. The summer after high school graduation, I got into Christina Agulara out of the blue. I noticed on her Stripped CD she had a "chin" piercing. I thought it looked cool and exotic and I would imagine myself getting it done, but I knew I probably never would. In September, I met this guy Matt, at work. At the time I was into punk and emo and he was into punk and hardcore and techno. After hanging out with him alot, I gained a love for hardcore music and I thought it would be cool and hardcore to get a new piercing. We talked of starting a hardcore band, he'd sing, I'd drum (yay for girl drummers). At the time, I was 18, and I looked like a 15 year old girl. I didn't look like a hardcore 18 year old. And plus, I was "legal" and I hadn't used that right yet, so it was time to get pierced.
The anticipation...
In November. shortly after my 19th birthday, randomly I found this website (which I'm addicted to) and found out its called a "labret". I texted my best friend, Steve, and told him how I was thinking about getting my labret pierced. He said that would be "hot" and that since he's my best friend, he'd get his labret pierced too. He said he'd pay for mine as an early Christmas present. We set a date to do it, mid December. Finally the time rolled around and we were both jazzed about getting pierced. At the time, I didn't even consider what my work would say, but anyways....We got to Laughing Dragon, paused, took a deep breath and got out of the car and walked up the porch steps. One of the workers was having a smoke as we walked inside. They said they didn't accept credit, so after all that we had to go to the nearest ATM and take out money. We were so close to getting it done, but we had to go get money. Grr.
Second try, again we walked up the steps, and Steve and I showed Jeff our IDs, and we filled out the paperwork. I was so nervous while reading and filling in my initials. Then came the standard yes/no questions (have you eaten in the past 4 hours, taken any drugs in the past 48 hours etc) After the yes/no questions they ask you to initial some more and I was so nervous that I filled in "no" in the initial part. I caught myself doing that, then tried to copy what my friend was doing, because I was so flustered and nervous.
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Greg lead us into a room, that looked like a doctor's office and I think I made a comment about that. I wanted to go first and get it done with. I took a seat, and Greg explained the aftercare procedures. I nodded and acted like I knew what he was talking about. I couldn't stop staring at his stretched lobes. It must have been a 1 and a half inch diameter hole. You could read a book through his ears! hehe. Anyways, he cleaned my lip, clamped it and 1, 2, 3, ouch! It wasn't as painful as I expected, but it pinched a little and somewhat painful as he put the jewelry in. I looked in the mirror and admired the wonderful piercing.
Uh oh...
Steve's turn. I actually heard the needle go through. I shouldn't have watched him get his done, because I started to feel sick. Greg was having a hard time getting the ball on. I started to feel a cold sweat and dizzy. I asked Greg where the bathroom was, but I didn't even make it out of the piercing room. I let out a "I'm gonna be sick" and Greg immediatly grabbed the trashcan and I puked. As I did, I felt like I was seeing black and white spots were coming out of my eyes. It was a weird feeling. They asked me if I was diabetic, and I said no. Greg sent someone to get me a chair, a sugar pill and water. I sat down and felt better. Greg said that it was ok and we all kinda laughed, as he put on new gloves to finish Steve. I pretended to act like the room didn't smell like vomit and Steve was done and Greg told us we can stick around as long as we would like. I wanted to get out of there though because we had other stuff to do that day. The guys working there had said that they felt sick like that after they got piercings. All the adreneline and nervousness just catches up with you sometimes. Steve tipped Greg $20 and we were off.
We went back to Steve's and had ice cream. Mmm. Since then, my labret is doing fine. My parents were really mad at me. My dad was like "Aren't you worried what people are gonna say about you?" And my mom said, "It's Julie's decision, we're just not driving her to the hospital when it gets infected" (I dont drive yet.) Steve had to take his out because he got hit in his chin just days after getting it pierced.
Afterward...
My work is ok with my piercing, luckily, and my now boyfriend, Matt loves it. It made it uncomfortable to kiss sometimes though...but it just took some getting used to. My gums have been irratated somewhat, but its ok. For the first couple weeks, I'd wake up with tissue trying to cover the flat back of my piercing, so I eventually invested in a "lip loop" which felt better and was comfortable to sleep in. Now I'm back to flatbacks and I don't have that problem anymore.
I also love the attention it attracts. Mostly positive. More customers at work talk to me and ask me questions and approach me if they have a question about stuff in the store.
So, I recommend this piercing, because its fun and it looks really cool. I love mine so much, I gave it a name-Madison. I'm silly like that, I guess. Follow the aftercare and take good care of your gums. Be careful, because piercings can be addicting! I've gotten my cartilage pierced and I'm looking into the industrial piercing as well as lobe stretching.
And this concludes my story of puke & pride, my labret story.