So basically, I got my first "real" piercing when I was 16, for my sweet 16. I say "real" piercing because to me, ear piercings don't count. Unless it's something fancy like an industrial or a tragus.Moving on.My first piercing was an off center lip ring, which I had gotten before the scene kids had ruined it for me. Anyway, I had somehow used the fact that I was turning 16 and the fact that it was supposed to be a big deal to convince my mom into letting me get pierced.
At A Glance Author Carla Cuntbag Contact death_by_apple333@yahoo.com When A year ago Artist Jason Ciccia Studio Chromatic Tattoo & Body Piercing Studio Location 365 B Main Street-Medford, MA 02155
She bought it and she did some research and found this quaint little place in Medford. Being that Jason (my piercer) sterilizes all of his needles, and wouldn't pierce anyone younger than 14 (and the 14 year olds must come accompanied with a parent), my mother knew it was a clean, non sketchy place. So she took me there (a week before my birthday) and Jason had my mom sign all the forms. The entire time I had all of this adrenaline running through my veins and all of these butterflies doing cartwheels in my stomach. That feeling is amazing, especially after the piercing is actually done with. The final results, bliss.
So Jason had handed me a small paper cup (like they use in the dentist office) that was half full of Listerine and told me to swish it around in my mouth for 30 seconds. I proceeded in doing so, but when I spat the Listerine back into the cup I had done so in such a fast manner that it had shot out of the cup and all over my pants/the piercing chair. He told me that was the first time anything like that had ever happened and he had been doing piercing for 4 or 5 years. I got really embarrassed, turned bright red, and continued in getting pierced. Jason had put the needle through, had it dangling from my lip, and I didn't feel shit. I have to admit, I was quite disappointed. I expected some sort of excruciating pain, but the ouch factor was zero.
Afterwards I was kind of afraid to move my lip or talk at all. My lip felt awkward and still somewhat numb. I later got over all of that when within the next day my lip had gotten noticeably swollen (which is supposed to happen the first 3 days to a week) and I was overwhelmed with the fear of a potentially rejected and/or retired piercing. I treated my first piercing like a new mother treats her first baby. You know those mothers, if someone breathes around the baby wrong they go insane. That was me, with my piercing.Of course, a piercing is supposed to swell up a bit, but I didn't know that, I was new to this strange and yet wonderful world of piercing.
So I was on edge, extremely worried that my piercing would need to be retired. So what do I do? I go though my myspace friends looking for the first person that had an oral piercing and looked like they knew what they were talking about. I think it is an incredibly, incredibly sad thing that my common sense told me to ask someone else that had a piercing for advice before googling advice. But, hey, it worked. Anyhow, Who do I come across but the gorgeous Emily (http://www.myspace.com/nyasegem), she not only told me to stop rinsing with undiluted Listerine (yeah, that's a big no no) but she also gave me better tips on cleaning it than just plain ole' bactine and q-tips. For example, using the foam from anti bacterial soap and putting it in the piercing.
Emily had pretty much saved my piercing from retirement. I would kiss her feet is I wasn't in Massachusetts and she wasn't in Texas. Starbucks also saved my piercing, even though I hate to admit to feeding into major corporations as much as the next person, their coffee there is so crock full of caffeine that it brought down the swelling, fast. Yes everyone, caffeine supposedly brings down swelling. I say it does. Emily also inspired me to get an undercut, another story, another day.
So that escapade brought me to where I am today. A nose ring, an inexplicable bloody nose, and a new labret later, here I am. That's another thing that had happened with me that hadn't happened to Jason in all of his years of piercing, he had pierced my nose and it had for some reason decided it wanted to bleed bloody hell like a waterfall. I simply have thin blood; no fault of Jason's piercing techniques. The new lip ring I've recently acquired was actually much more painful than the off center lip ring. I would say this is due to location...and the fact that Jason had underestimated my fat lips and had put in the same size 14 gage lip ring he had put in my off center lip ring. But my lips in the center are fuller than on the sides, so he had to put in an, I believe, half inch ring. In which even I thought to be a tad big.
Well, it's 5:12 in the morning, I have a thousand and one Black Label Society songs stuck in my head, a swollen lip, and a full bladder.
I must bid you adieu, dearly beloved fellow piercing lovers. I hope my experience has helped out at least one of you.