First off, 7th Heaven isn't where I generally go to get my piercings. However, the place I usually go to isn't open on Sundays and Mondays and December 3rd happened to be the Monday my friends and I decided to hang out. After lunch, we went to 7th Heaven because my friend Laura wanted her tongue pierced. It was her first piercing and she thought that if she didn't get it done that day, she'd chicken out. So we drove all over town looking for a good place for her to go. After about an hour's worth of driving we stopped for gas and decided to go to 7th Heaven on Troost. My first piece of advice to
At A Glance Author Sarah Contact SMG515@aol.com When A month ago Artist Eric Studio 7th Heaven Location Downtown Kansas City anyone who is going somewhere they've never been; Get directions before you leave. We drove around downtown for almost an hour looking Troost. Then up and down Troost for over an hour looking for the building. We're actually from a suburb in Kansas City and none of us know our way around the city very well. It took us forever to get home too.
When we finally got there they had Laura wait for about 20 minutes, due to prior appointments. We probably would have missed the appointment if we'd made one earlier anyway because we got lost. While we were waiting, my friends dared to me to get my nipples pierced. I had been talking about it for weeks anyway and we all know what that peer pressure is like. December 2nd also happened to be my birthday, so it was a present for myself. So I signed up and paid my $38 dollars. They made my appointment 15 minutes after Laura's, so we had even more waiting to do. While we waited, I started to get just a little nervous. Partly because I had heard that the nipples where the most painful piercing there is and partly because I didn't tell my husband first. Of course I didn't let my friends know that I was nervous.
My piercer, Eric was very nice and explained everything very well before the piercing. The small studio was extremely clean and well organized. His autoclave was in plain site, as were the rest of his tools. He put on his gloves, he wore two pair I might add. And he had me stand up without my bra on while he marked my nipples with a
purple ink. It was a little weird standing half naked in front of one other than my husband, much less a stranger. Then he had me look in the mirror to see if I liked where he put them. They were straight so we continued with the process.
Eric had explained that he didn't use forceps to pull the nipple away from the body, because when the skin is released it can't relax normally. He had me lay down on his table and take a deep breath. He ran the needle right along the line he had made and before I knew it my right nipple was done and had jewelry in it. The left one made me jump a little and that caused him to go a little slower (which made it hurt more). He used a 12 gauge needle and put 12 gauge surgical steel captive bead rings in afterward.
When he was done and my adrenaline had settled down a little, he explained the aftercare with me. I had already read a little bit about nipple aftercare, but what he told me was the exact opposite. He told me not to touch them for any reason. Not to clean them, soak them, remove the jewelry, or place any product on them. He explained that a piercing was simply a wound that the body would heal on it's own. He said that most people treat their piercings as infections, when in reality they a prolonging their healing time. He explained that the crusty stuff that collected around the rings was plasma and
white blood cells. The white blood cells are what fight infection and most people wash the "crusty stuff" off making it harder for the body to heal. I followed his advice and I think my nipples are pretty much healed and it's only been a month.
Having my nipples pierced hurt quite a bit more than I thought it would. And other than getting the rings caught on my bra a few times, they haven't hurt since I had them pierced. I am very pleased with the results. They rings are perfectly straight and exactly what I wanted. I even called Eric and told him how happy I was that I went through with it. Having my nipples pierced was well worth getting lost, the wait, and proving to my friends that I'm no chicken.