I had to be in Maastricht to get festival tickets, and decided to drop by at Lifestyle to show how my surface bar was doing. Sandra and Jimmy admired the surface bar, it is looking really good though it hasn't even been there for a week so everything is still possible. While we were chatting I figured: "why not get my smiley done now?" I wanted it done for a while, and since my boyfriend's mother paid for the surface piercing, I had some spare money. Besides, I had to play cashier the next three days at my supermarket job, which I hate because it's so boring, so I figured I could have some fun playing the friendly cashier by smiling at all the customers and piss my pants because of their faces.
At A Glance Author psychonautje Contact psychonautje@bme.anon IAM psychonautje When It just happened Artist Jimmy Studio Lifestyle (IAM:lifestyle) Location Maastricht, The Netherlands Sandra had to do three piercings on another customer first, so Jimmy and I sat around for a bit and kept the store open. Jimmy warned me that smileys were prone to reject, but I knew that and I decided if it would, it would be fun for the time that it lasted and I could always get it redone. We discussed jewelry – since my lip does not retract a whole lot when I smile (not even up till to the top of my teeth), we went for a 16 ga CBR with a diameter that would show the ball when I smile. After a while Sandra came out: "just close the store during the smiley, because this is going to take a while and it's quiet anyway" (it was Wednesday, and less than an hour before closing time). So Jimmy put a note on the door, told me to get into the piercing room and he went to the back to grab the stuff he needed.
When Jimmy came back I swished my mouth with pure original Listerine, which was the most annoying part of the entire experience as it burns like hell. Jimmy assured me that a smiley was not painful at all; the only thing was that I would have to keep my lip up. I asked if I should put on gloves on, but Jimmy said that they would be horribly slippery so I could do it with my bare hands or with two pieces of paper towel. He gave me some but that was really awkward. I didn't know where to go with the paper towel, so I just held up my lip with my bare hands. Jimmy checked my upper lip frenulum ("plenty of space!"), and decided to freehand it so that he could pierce it a little higher up. Jimmy got the needle and held it up against the frenulum. I could feel the sharpness of the needle while it was resting against the tissue.
"Big breath in...
Big breath out..."
And before I knew it, the needle was through. It was a fast sharp stingy pain, but it was over in less than a second. At this point my lip slipped out of my left hand, so Jimmy quickly removed the needle. We took a small break while I had the cannula in. It felt really weird to have that plastic tubing there. Jimmy got the CBR, and I re-grabbed my lip. Another big breath, and the CBR went smoothly through the piercing. It stung a bit but nothing major. Another small break, and then Jimmy attached the ball to the CBR, and it was all done!I checked my new smile in the mirror; the ball was resting exactly in between my front teeth, and came out exactly under my lip. The top quarter of the ball was not visible, but it looked very nice like this. Besides, Jimmy mentioned that the piercing would probably settle a little lower than were it was pierced, so that the ball would show completely within a few days or weeks. It was perfect. I thanked Jimmy and went back to the front. Jimmy thanked me for being such an easy customer, heh. I told him he should be happy then that he didn't have to pierce my navel back when I was 16, because I fainted and peed all over the place after that one.
Sandra came out and complimented me on how nice it looked on me. When Jimmy had cleaned up he came out to the front and said: "Well usually this one is €35, but because you are such an easy one it's €25 for you". Awesome! Jimmy asked me if he had to explain me how to clean it and I replied: "nah, swish a couple of times a day with diluted Listerine, and it will be fine". I had to catch my train, so I left. In the train I admired my smiley in the back of my iPod, much to the amusement of some other train passengers.
It felt pretty weird the first day, like I have a swollen lip. It also kind of reminds me of the feeling that I had right after I got my braces. I could eat normally right after the piercing, talking was also no problem, and keeping it clean is easy as well. The second day I had Indian food, and that was no problem at all, even though it was kind of spicy. All in all this is an easy and hassle-free piercing. It is a lot of fun though. People make the oddest faces when they see it, as I found out working in the supermarket today!