My biggest addiction is getting piercings. I already had 5 ear piercings in each ear including my right tragus and my left rook and I also have a naval piercing and my right nostril pierced. I soon became bored and realised that it was that time again.
At A Glance Author Elisa Contact Elisa@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist George Studio Skinvasion Location Manchester I'd seen lip piercings on a lot of my favourite rock stars and immediately wanted mine done. I especially loved the idea of having a nose and lip ring on opposite sides.
It wasn't long before I had my heart set on getting my bottom lip pierced on the left side.
I knew a girl who got hers done a week earlier and I absolutely loved it. At the time I couldn't afford it so I collected all my pennies and saved up all the money I got. It wasn't long till I had the correct amount, but then I realised the hardest part was yet to come.
It took me two months to convince my mum to let me get my navel pierced so I knew this would be hard. Especially as she grounded me for two weeks after she saw my nose piercing [I didn't ask her permission]. I decided not to tell her, just drop hints. Afterall, it was just after my 16th birthday so it was legal to get pierced without permission [in England].
I decided to get it done the next weekend with my friend Anna. She was getting her nipple pierced so I figured we could go together.
I had many of my ear piercings done at Skinvasion so I was confident about the cleanliness and piercers. We arrived, signed the paperwork and showed them our Ids. The waiting was the worst part. I was terrified. I thought it would definitely hurt. I was so scared I nearly chickened out minutes before we were due to get pierced.
When I saw George open the door and call me in my nerves went as he had pierced me before and I trusted him. He made me sit down on the clean bench and inspected my lip. He asked me which side I wanted pierced decided on the size of the jewellery. I was reassured even by by the smell of disinfectant reminding me that it was a safe, clean environment.
He removed all the equipment from it's packaging [wearing gloves of course] and marked the position with a pen. The nerves grew again as the piercing grew ever closer. Anna was sat next to me holding my hand which helped, a little bit.
George joked and shared piercing stories with me which calmed me down. Then came the clamp. He continued with the small talk as he got the clamp in the right place and squeezed down, which I thought hurt quite a bit. He must have seen my expression and said "It's alright, it won't hurt, I promise. If it does then you can smack me!" which made me laugh.
He picked up the needle and I closed my eyes as tight as I could. "Ready?" George asked. When I nodded he told me to breathe deeply and he started the countdown "One, Two, Three.." And in went the needle. It was surprisingly unpainful. I felt it go through the first layers of skin and then a sharp prick through the top. "All done" George chuckled. "Was that it?" I asked, startled at the non-existent pain. "Just need to get the jewellery in now" he said. Anna sat next to me was laughing at the sight of a huge needle sticking through my lip.
George quickly inserted the labret stud and screwed the ball on with ease. I looked in the mirror and fell in love immediately. It was slightly red around the ball but apart from that it was amazing!
We went through aftercare procedures and then it was Anna's turn.
It started throbbing as I walked home and a slight stinging pain but that was it. I was more worried about what my mum would say.
The healing process was fine. The frst few days were hard as I didn't want to catch it on my teeth or get any food into the piercing making it infected. It got knocked in a basketball game which made it quite sore and after some white puss came out of the wound. This had happened with a lot of my piercings and as I expected, in a week it was fine.
It's been 3 months now and I absolutely love it! After 4 weeks I changed the stud to a ring which I think looks amazing and all my friends think I'm so brave and cool for putting up with the pain. When I tell them that it didn't hurt they think I'm even cooler!
To anyone considering a lip piercing, go for it! It was honestly my least painful piercing yet! I would recommend it to anyone and also to residents of Manchester, UK, go to Skinvasion. It's definitely my favourite piercing and not a lot of people have it done in my small town of Sale so it really stands out.
I can't wait for my next piercing!