The first time I had ever seen a Monroe, I was over my best friend's house. There was a picture of his older sister, whom I had never met in person, with a custom made diamond stud shinning above her lip. It was an image that stayed in my head for a long time. I had never been too interested in body piercing back then, but one look, and it was definitely love.
At A Glance Author stacy ok! Contact stacy ok!@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Dan Studio Eternal Location Hawaii So let's fast forward five years, into the present, and appropriately, the same friend and I are in a car together, on a mission for a fresh, new piercing! Him, to get his ears pierced, his first mod and for my Monroe, of course. Sadly, fate was not on our side that day as Paragon, my first choice, had already been closed for the day. So we headed out into Waikiki, known for its beautiful beaches, tourist hot spots and excruciatingly high prices. After searching for parking for god-knows-how-long, we came to find out that the piercer at Queen Of Pain had been out piercing at SugarBox for the entire day. Not knowing where SugarBox was, we headed for Eternal Body Works in downtown Honolulu, a place I've only heard about once, but assured was the best place in Hawaii to get pierced. A little nervous, we walked into the shop. The prices of all the various piercings were helpfully posted outside on the window and inside on the wall. There's only one person who works the shop, so after approaching him and telling him what we wanted to get done and picking out our jewelry, he closed the door and told us to wait two minutes for him to prep everything upstairs, giving us time to read the care sheets and observe our surroundings. The studio was really tiny, but kept really clean. The flash kept on the walls all had a vintage feeling to it, making me feel like I had traveled back in time. I was later informed that the studio had been around for seventy years, more or less, with different piercers and tattoo artists occupying the space.
After he came back down, there was a little thrill going through me. This would have been my first facial piercing. I was, admittedly, a little paranoid, as one of my previous piercers had warned me that the laws in Hawaii weren't too strict about people without piercing licenses opening piercing studios. Not being able to watch Dan prep had slowly made me a little paranoid. I know to look for an autoclave or packaged needles and such. But there were curtains up in the piercing room and I was too nervous to speak up. However, Dan kept up an aura of professionalism, while retaining friendliness. Dan sat me down on a chair, put on a fresh pair of gloves, swabbed the area he was to pierce, told me to give him a light smile, marked the placement. I relaxed a little and checked the placement. It was perfect. He carefully walked me through the steps, told me that he was going to pierce from the inside out and to take a deep breath in when I was ready. It was my call. I inhaled and he pushed the needle through while I exhaled. It was definitely not like any of my other piercings (2g lobes, inner conch, helix, and vch), as I could feel the needle push through each layer of skin, but like every other piercing, it was just a pinch of pain to deal with. He then warned me that there was going to be another small pinch and proceeded to thread the jewelry through and screw the ball on. It was all very quick and I was set. He passed me a mirror to see the results. It was exactly what I had wished for.
After my friend had his ears pierced at 10g, Dan had us wait downstairs while he cleaned everything up. He came back downstairs and generously gave us both a discount. We left, and I grabbed an ice water to help the swelling go down. It's been three days now, and it feels like I've had my Monroe since forever!
If you live in Hawaii, I would definitely recommend Eternal Body Works, it's probably the only piercing studio in Hawaii that lets you pick your jewelry and Dan, the piercer, is totally polite. He was also very professional and preps quickly and thoroughly. There's nothing worse than when your piercer is in the middle of piercing you, then realized he forgot to grab something. (I've seen it happen.) If you're thinking about an industrial, he even had extra long bars so they can be bent and twisted to your pleasure. The only problems I've had with my piercing so far was the usual itching from healing (which I tried to scratch while I was sleeping. A BIG no-no!), redness, slightly chapped lips and getting used to the jewelry in my mouth, but all in all, I LOVE my Monroe!