Like many who use this site, I feel that body modifications are an excellent way not only to physically realize an otherwise ethereal concept, but also may be used as a physical means to deepen an abstract reality. With this in mind, a very close friend and I decided to get our nipples pierced together. We had come to a point in our friendship where we were able to look back at everything we had been through together, and saw that where others had fallen away, we had remained close. Not onl had we remained close, but we had acted as supports, hidden sources of strength, shoulders to scream into, and people to generally vent at who wouldn't take it personally. It seemed that a bond like this deserved to be celebrated in a real, physical, and lasting way. This decided, we did some research and located a shop in Toronto for her to get her piercings done. Mine came later, in Hamilton.
At A Glance Author lythe Contact studiedawe@hotmail.com When Two years ago Artist Heather Studio Aarvark Tattoos and Body Piercing Location Hamilton, ON I chose to go to Aarvark for many reasons; they had a good reputation, were well established, and (purely personal reasons) did not have flashing neon lights in their windows. When I arrived, Heather ushered my into the back, where she took the time to chat with me, creating a more personal atmosphere. Eyeing my headphones, she asked if there was anything I wanted to listen to through the procedure. We pored over my collection and pulled out some Mr. Dibbs. I figured that that would be relaxed enough to keep me calm, but not enough to put her to sleep. We decided that each nipple would be pierced first, and then the jewelry inserted afterwards – as excited as I was, I was looking to get the actual puncturing procedure over with. We also chose to use cbr's as the initial piercing jewelry, as they would be easier to clean.
With those logistics out of the way, we stuck the music in, I stripped down, and we started to talk about placement. She made me feel totally comfortable, which was not completely unusual (being naked is not usually a problem for me, but neither do I usually have full-length topless conversations with strangers. I decided to go for a slight downward angle, sloping towards my navel, as I thought it would create an interesting effect when I put barbells in. I lay down, and she remarked the spots and put clamps on. I wasn't scared, but I was feeling the adrenaline way before the needle even came into sight. I am not going to lie to you – the pain was not something I would really want to go through with again, although, if I had to remove the piercings for some reason, I would definitely get them done again. When both needles were through, I relaxed to find that I was drenched in sweat. She made a joke that apparently, I wasn't in the need of increased sensitivity in that parti cular area, which broke the tension a bit. She then inserted the jewelry, which was surprisingly painless, and took way less manipulation than I was expecting. When she was done, she grabbed me a coke from their fridge and suggested that I just relax for a second before hopping up to check them out. Fully relaxed at this point, we chatted while I became increasingly colder and colder. Attributing this to the drying sweat dotted along my torso, and not shock, I got up to take my first peek, and I was instantly in love. Being what I would refer to as "subtly voluptuous", the new rings neither dominated the landscape nor faded in, but just seemed to sit happily as if they were supposed to have been there all along. I was violently delighted with the entire process.
The only unfortunate side effect of the entire afternoon occurred after Heather hopped out of the room to answer the phone in the front, leaving me happily admiring my new adornments. The "tattoo guy" walked right into the room without knocking and made some incredibly uncalled for and lewd comments, throwing my right off guard. I didn't even know what to say to him – I was so shocked, as I had been entirely convinced of the high level of professionalism in the studio as a whole. That said, I didn't want to grab my shirt and cower behind it , as I was pretty sure that would give a helpless impression that wouldn't encourage the guy to leave, and besides, he had already seen everything I was showing at the time, so I just turned to face him and asked him to politely get the fuck out of the room, to which he seemed to respond with a mixture of confusion and anger. Thankfully, Heather came back in and ripped into him for me while I stood and watched, top-naked, and getting col der by the second (by this point, they were kinda blocking my pathway back to my shirt). Anyways, long story short, we took some pictures for her portfolio (She was excited about the "novel placement"), and I took off. Two years later, I still have them in, perfectly healed. I would recommend this piercing to anyone who has thought it over well and is sure they are ready to commit time through the initial healing process.