I will admit that I pride myself on knowing a lot more about piercings then most the people I know. When I love something, I find out as much as I can and usually will talk about it as much as possible. I don't mean to. I'm just passionate. And now I have reached the big 15 of piercings (yes I no that to some it's not that many but for me hehe), I'd like to think I know quite a bit about looking after them, what they're like and how they're done.
At A Glance Author Pip Contact Pip@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Pete Studio Kazbah Location Leicester Anyway enough of the chit chat.
I wanted to get on with my navel project, of which I wanted 2 more piercings and a surface piercing (having already got the top and the bottom pierced). I was aiming to get 2 diagonal piercings (one either side) at the top. I'd seen some pictu8res and I loved how they looked in that placement.
Having just gotten quite a bit of money for my GCSE results I was more then capable to pay the £50 for the 2 piercings.
So after asking my boyfriend if he was ok with taking sometime on Saturday (when we usually meet up in town) to come with me to get pierced I was ready to go!
That Saturday morning I went and withdrew the money from the ATM in my village. And waited for the bus into town.
I felt sick.
I was nervous. Very nervous and I didn't know WHY! Id had my navel pierced twice before and also had 2 surface piercings (one done after the other) so it wasn't a new area and it wasn't as if id never had 2 piercings done in one session before.
Every bump made me feel awful and when the bus stopped to let someone on, it vibrated and made me feel like I was about to gag.
I got off a stop earlier because I couldn't stand sitting still in a bus much longer. I walked to voodoo so fast I was nearly running and fell onto Sam (the boyfriend haha).
"Hey. don't kiss me yet, I think I'm gonna puke" were my first loving words to him. Before grabbing him and dragging him to Kazbah. I just wanted to get in there.
We went in and I told the woman at the desk what I wanted. I chose the jewellery and had to wait for the person before me to be finished.
I about ran up the stairs being careful not to fall over. I notices the person in one corner of the room having a tattoo done and was sure Sam did something cause I new he was in hell from the fact I was getting a piercing and he wanted to get one and now he had to endure seeing someone getting a tattoo that was something he also wanted haha. He would look very sexy with a tattoo. And I'm still going to get him to get his belly button pierced one day hehe
I told him how I wanted them and he marked me up with the purple pen. The placement looked perfect!
Sam help my bag and I lay down on the table thing.
And suddenly.... I was calm. No more nerves or nausea I new it was going to be just me and that needle. I focused completely on the task at hand because when I do that I can stay perfectly still.
Ready.... Go! It was through and I hardly even felt it. A slight "ahh" escaped me from the feeling of the needle travelling through my skin. And then the jewellery was in. All done.
Time for round two! Me verses the second needle. Again it was just me and that sharp needle.
This one did hurt. A louder "ahh! fuck" escaped me. But I stayed still. It was more because I didn't expect it to hurt at all that I made a noise haha.
Then, again, jewellery was through, it was done. I got up carefully and looked at my new metal in the mirror. They were PERFECT! I loved them and they looked really pretty. I was so glad I was wearing a top that showed my midriff because these babies were something I definitely wanted to show off.
And too prove they were pretty, I even got some compliments off some "chavs" from my school who I didn't even know! Haha!
Anyway the next day they didn't look so pretty. The first one was bruised from the trauma and I could tell it was gonna be purple by day 2.
And sure enough it was. The little piercing was back and blue with a yellowish tinge round the edge, it was also very swollen. But I new it was just the trauma as when I had my surface piercings I got a bruise on the one on that side too.
It was sad to the the once pretty little balls now straining against swollen bruised skin. But not too worry.
But it did mean I ended up only cleaning this one.
Infact though, I hardly cleaned them.
And after the bruising all went down and the 1st piercing looked beautiful again, problem number 2 started. The second piercing (the one that hurt) became swollen and sore. Infact it was so swollen it had become hard. Because I hadnt cleaned it all the crap (the usual piercing healing process stuff) had stayed in the piercing and now I was paying the price for my stupidity.
The moment I realised what I'd done and realised how swollen it was I got to work. I got a clump off cotton wool, made my self a salt soak and sat there in my desk chair bathing it. I moved the bar as best I could and squeezed out all the crap. This was extremely painful considering the piercing had hardly even healed at all! But all I thought was "Pip you deserve this! You've had 13 piercings before these you should know about cleaning them!" I had been stupid. And now I was paying the price and I had no sympathy for myself and I wanted none from anyone else. I just sat there feeling sorry for myself. My pride in tatters. Nobody had taken the piss out of me for it. I was just so angry for being so stupid.
Its about a month later now and theyre doing ok. The 1st piercing is doing really well and the 2nd is still pretty sore. But no longer swollen. They both have very red edges but that's just how I heal. As soon as these are done though I'm going out to get the surface piercing I want, just below my belly button.
So wish me luck! And this time I WILL remember to clean them.
Don't forget cleaning is extremely important, especially at the beginning. No matter how experianced you are.