| At A Glance | |
| Author | kara |
| Contact | kara419022@hotmail.com |
| IAM | kara_is_sublime |
| When | It just happened |
| Studio | Addiction NYC |
| Location | New York, NY |
We researched local piercing studios, and being in NYC there were hundreds of them within walking distance. It was hard to decide, but I'd heard good things about Andromeda down on St. Marks Place so we decided to check it out.
Fifteen minutes later we'd made it down to the studio. The girl behind the counter was somewhat clueless as far as prices were concerned and even the piercer seemed very disorganized. As we asked them about our prospective piercings, their prices kept changing and going up. The piercer spoke to us like we were naive and ignorant. This definitely bothered me a lot. I understand that the general population is pretty uninformed when it comes to piercings, but I have many visible holes in my body. I know what I am talking about and make that clear in conversation. Despite all of this, both the piercer and counter girl were very rude, disorganized, and unfriendly. We left Andromeda bummed out but had high hopes of finding a more suitable studio to get pierced at.
A few shops down we saw Addiction NYC. The studio was very clean and the people working there were really cool. The owner's name was Iggy. Even though he hit on me repeatedly and gave my his phone number, he was really down to earth and laid back. He even offered to smoke us up after our piercings.
Addiction NYC was also far less expensive than Andromeda had been. I was charged only $35 for my inverse navel, including jewelry. Andromeda had quoted me at $40, then $50, then $60, and then we left before they could go any higher.
It turned out that Katalina didnt have the right anatomy for a tongue web piercing (something that the piercer in Andromeda failed to notice). That definitely put a damper on the evening, but I decided to go through with my inverse navel anyways.
The piercer called me into the piercing room and had a chick with him who was apparently an apprentice. I didnt mind having her in there though. I've never had an apprentice watch me get pierced so it was kind of cool. I forget the piercers name but he was really nice. He first removed my standard navel barbell then drew a vertical line beneath my navel for the placement of my new piercing. I laid back on the medical table, waiting for the usual "breath in, breath out" but next thing I knew I was pierced without any verbal warning. He cleaned off my new hole with some H2Ocean and put my standard navel ring back in, except he put the barbell in upside down so that the star on one end would not aggrivate my new piercing.
He gave me some very quick oral instructions on aftercare. I think he was haste in his instructions only because it was clear that I knew how to care for my piercing. Still, that was my only disappointment in my experience at Addiction NYC. The piercer could have been more clear on aftercare or could have given me a care sheet explaining it like I have received at different studios in the past.
Iggy never smoked us up because we left without trying to find him. Oh, and did I mention that Addiction NYC also sells really nice pieces. I was tempted to buy a bowl there but finally decided that I didnt have the cash to spare.
My inverse navel came out great. It's perfectly straight and lined up with my standard navel. I can't wait for a few weeks to pass so that I can change the jewelry to a shorter barbell.
As far as aftercare is concerned, I am cleaning my inverse navel daily with antibacterial soap and the occasional application of Bactine. I would not recommend Bactine to others because it kills good bacteria as well as bad, but I have always had good results using this method. My body heals very quickly and easily so Bactine works well for me.
St. Marks Place has a reputation for unreputable piercing studios, but Addiction NYC was great. I would definitely go back there and would recommend them to friends. The atmosphere was pleasant and the owner and piercer were both really cool. My experience was definitely pleasant.
Feel free to hit me up on iam or email with any questions and enjoy the picture below of my sexy sexy navel ;).
