My experience with getting my vertical labret pierced was not as pleasant as I had originally hoped, but in the end everything worked out okay.
At A Glance Author Aaron Contact Aaron@bme.anon When Six months ago Studio Inkwell Location Fairview Heights, Illinois I had been wanting to pierce my lip for quite a long time but my parents were never for it, and I have enough respect to not pierce it myself without their consent. So after a few years of off and on attempts to convince them, my mom finally agreed to allow me to get my piercing after graduation, because she didn't want it in my pictures.
After the several years I had behind me of deciding what I wanted done, I had finally come to the conclusion that a vertical labret was for me. All that was left was for me to wait until I graduated, and then I could have what I had been waiting for, my new piercing.
School ended without event and it was finally time for my face to be adorned with a new bit of shiny metal. My sister had previously had two industrials and a nose piercing done at Inkwell and said good things about them, so I decided to entrust my vertical labret to them. My mother, sister and I all loaded into my car and made our way the 20 minutes to the studio. My mother had to come along as i was still 17 at the time, and my sister was just along for the fascination of watching me be pierced. We arrived at the studio and walked inside to a small crowd of people and the buzz of tattoo machines. I stood at the counter for about a minute until someone yelled up to me that they would be up front shortly. When he came to the counter I explained what I wanted, which he promptly referred to as an "Angel's Kiss" which is something I had never heard before, but have heard several times since then in reference to my own vertical labret. After learning what I wanted done he took the drivers licenses of my mother and me, and after checking the names and signing the release forms, I paid him and we walked behind the counter. I sat with my legs over the edge of the dentists chair while the piercer, who never introduced himself, prepped his supplies. He then hastily explained the process, marked my lip and asked me to look at the marks, and when I told him that I didn't like the location of the bottom mark he told me, "Well I'm the one doing the piercing so I'll decide where it goes." This, obviously, perturbed me but he begrudgingly moved the mark up slightly. He then clamped my lower lip, counted down, and slid the needle through. The pain was not bad at all, not to say that it didn't hurt though. The 14 gauge 1/2" curved barbell that was previously selected was butted against the needle, and moved into it's new home, my lower lip. Out of courtesy I tipped the piercer, which seemed to surprise him, and we left. Overall my experience in the studio felt rushed, and my piercer was rude and let it show that he didn't want to do my piercing which he told me he thought was, "A little gay." After walking out of that door I told myself that I would never be going back in again, and as of today do not recommend people to them.
Despite my piercer's rudeness, he did his job with efficiency and everything was straight and true. At first it was hard to adjust to the ball on top of my lip, with many a drink leaking down my chin, but eventually I learned to conquer the metal ball. The ball was constantly getting snagged, and thus was always irritated. I soaked my lip at least once day in salt water for the first two weeks, but the irritation was still there. I finally ordered a 12g 3/8" titanium Industrial Strength curved barbell with a regular ball on one side and a flat back on the other online and waited for it to arrive at my house. The day it arrived I was eager to put it in and immediately went inside and opened the package. Everything was as I ordered so I made my way to the bathroom and washed my hands, face, piercing, and new barbell. After everything was scrubbed down I changed my piercing without event. The titanium felt much lighter, and the shorter length and flat top made for much less snags and irritations. Sadly in the time I was waiting for my new jewelry, my vertical labret had shifted ever so slightly to the right, which isn't noticeable to others but occasionally bothers me.
Overall I am happy with my piercing, which I get a lot of compliments on. If I could go back to the beginning, I know I would have chosen another studio, and also would have been pierced with a flat topped barbell in the beginning.