| At A Glance | |
| Author | jasonthe29th |
| Contact | jasonthe29th@bme.anon |
| IAM | jasonthe29th |
| When | Six months ago |
| Artist | Tim Ryan |
| Studio | Alter Ego Tattoo |
| Location | Augusta, Georgia |
A little more than a year later I took off to the beach. I was all ready to go. So when I got there I went straight to the shop I had visited one year before. Unfortunately for me, piercing had been banned by the city of Myrtle Beach due to poor self-regulation. Or perhaps people got tired of sending their daughter off for spring break and her coming back with a new ring in her belly. Either way, it wasn't going to happen for me. At least not there.
As I settled into my new town and got to know more people, I started hanging out at tattoo shops. I had always still wanted to get my nipples done, but it kind of took a back seat to my other projects. I got my tongue pierced, got more than a few tattoos and I had stretched to ½" between my failed trip to the beach and the day I actually got my new set of piercings.
My friend Jonathan Pitcher had hired a new young tattoo artist by the name of Tim to help keep up with the shop. Tim was an excellent tattoo artist, and decided to start offering piercing to make extra money. I didn't know how good of a piercer he was, so I wasn't really sure if I should let him stick me or not. Over a couple of weeks I watched him do quite a few piercings including a few nipples that seemed to go just fine. So I figured I would let him do mine.
One day when we were all sitting around the shop basically doing nothing, I told him to get ready. It was time. At first everyone wanted to watch, but they cleared out as soon as Tim broke out a set of 12g needles. I took off my shirt exposing my He-man like physique and Tim marked two dots on each side of the area to be run through. Everything looked good. Tim got everything into position, grabbed me with some clamps and prepared the needle for insertion. He told me to take a deep breath in,...
...and let it out slow,...
...take another deep breath in,...
...hold it,...
...and let it OUCH!...
And the first needle was in. It really didn't hurt at all, well it did, but I have had titty twisters that were worse. He slipped the needle on through followed by a nice little circular bar bell. Now, I was expecting the first needle to hurt like nothing I had ever felt before, so I was relieved when it wasn't too bad. That was a big mistake. I figured that the first one was nothing, so just go ahead and stick the second one. No sweat. Well, let me tell you, it hurt like a bitch. But I got through It.
He-man? Looks more like Ram-Man to me.
They were sore and very sensitive for about two weeks. I could feel the wind blow my shirt, and they got cold really easy. I noticed that my right ring was placed a little bit deeper than the left. I thought maybe it was too deep. I cleaned them all the time, and that was a chore, they got really crusty and it hurt to move them. It also hurt to sleep on them.
A little while passed and I notice that the left ring was migrating. I gave it time to stop or heal or do something, but one way or another, it was going to come out. So I took it out. It healed back up just fine with just a little piece of scar tissue. I plan on having it redone to match the right side. The right side, which might still be a little bit too deep, is doing as good as I expect it to do. I have had it for almost 6 months now, and I stretched it up to 8g the other day with no problems. I still clean it as frequently as I do my other adornments, and I sleep a little better now.
Hopefully I can get my left side done with no problems and I plan on going to a little bit more reputable piercer this time. I think that after the years of waiting to get this done, I was more than a little bit disappointed with the results, but I would rather have a bad piercing than a bad tattoo any day. I am sure before it is over I will get the results that I desire and complete this long task that has sat in my mind for almost a decade.