I was in Chicago last weekend to meet with some friends and I really took notice of two of the girls I had met there's monroe/medusa/lip piercings. It made me think of my old lowbret that had been taken out for a night in jail and healed up before I could do anything about it. It had become pretty much a part of me and I began to miss it even more than I had before.
At A Glance Author TINKamikaze Contact TINKamikaze@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Justin Studio Bullwinkle's Tattoo & Piercing Location 929 W. Douglass, Wichita, KS When I came back I decided to get it pierced again so I stopped by a place where I knew a tattoo artist. It was the first time I had gone to a licensed place for work and Bullwinkle's immediately gave me a good impression with it's large, open atmosphere. I talked to my friend who worked there, Shelly, about getting the piercing redone and she said that Justin (the guy who would be doing it) was out of the shop getting his license and to come back tomorrow if I wanted it done... it looked like I would be one of his first solo customers which was interesting, but I still trusted the pace.
I came back the next day and Shelly asked again what I was getting done and I figured I would still just get the original open. She went back to the back and a couple of minutes later Justin came out and I signed the paperwork and paid the cash. He then led me to a comfortable sized side room with a chair in the middle and had me go through the routine of rinsing and prepping. He then asked what I wanted exactly and a thought crossed my mind about how I always wanted to finish up the lowbret set with one under each of the corners of my mouth. So I told him that if he could give me a bit of topical anesthetics then I'd really like to get 3 lowbrets done instead.
It wasn't a problem with him and he spent 3-4 minutes lining up where the holes would go (a stickler for symmetrics, I like that) while we talked about his band and my other friend's band (Justin is a friend of some people that I know and I'd seen him a few times before at shows). When I asked if he would do a 12g (my original size) I was surprised when he said that almost everyone got the 14g and that hardly anyone wanted anything larger on an initial hole, but he was cool with it so I was happy. On went the clamp and the first one on the list was the middle repiercing. I found out that my old one was farther off-center than I had previously thought so he didn't have to go through any scar tissue. He told me to breathe in, then exhale. I knew it was coming but it still held it's surprise but the pain wasn't any more than a burning pinch. On to the right corner.
The second one I expected to hurt a lot worse and I was partially right, it was somewhat more uncomfortable but nothing that would make you squirm or anything. The left corner was kind of a problem, when it was done I looked in the mirror and we both saw that the exit hole made it look crooked so we decided to re-do it right there using the same entry and different exit. The pain was much sharper and it made me spasm my arm and it hit his elbow, no other problems though and I was surprised at how little they all hurt just a minute or two after they were done. I looked in the mirror and was very impressed by Justin's work for his first day alone on the job. I thanked him and we walked up to the front where I paid for the two other holes and I left to go home to admire my new metal.
There's surprisingly little information about lowbret piercings online and I just want to clarify that it doesn't hurt as bad as you'd think nor will it always fuck up your gums/teeth, although they can with bad placement and lack of care. Always take care of oral metal, especially if you smoke I cannot stress this enough. Most of the bad experiences with infection and rejection is due to lack of proper care during the first few months. Make sure to buy some alcohol free mouthwash or at least some sea salts to mix with water, which is something you should drink a lot of during the first few weeks to clean your mouth and improve healing. I'm happy with mine already and would recommend lowbrets (and Bullwinkle's) to anyone... with a big mouth that is, heh.