I've always liked piercings. I even assumed that everyone did, and when a friend's reaction to them was "ew", I was amazed. I don't know what it is about them, but little unique additions to people's bodies have always gotten a certain degree of respect from me. And, just about two weeks ago (possibly less, I've always been awful with numbers), I started going to Glasgow University to study Film & TV, among other things. During free lunch hours and such I've been wandering around this area of my home town that I've never had too much of an incentive to explore before, and that's when I bumped into my friendly neighborhood body art studio just a few minutes walk away from the university.
At A Glance Author Lyris Contact Lyris@bme.anon When A week ago Studio Tribe2 Location Glasgow Now I've wanted something pierced for about 3 years only hadn't ever gone through with it before. What I wanted done was a toss-up between lip, eyebrow and (drum roll please), nipple. While I doubt my parents would have any problem with such a thing, I don't share too much with them and as such can feel awkward around them. Telling them I'm going to get a piercing wouldn't be too fun in my opinion so I decided that I'd take advantage of this and get something nice and secret. Genital piercings are sadly out of the question for me, because quite frankly (at least at this time) I don't feel comfy with the idea so nipple it was!
So, on my first Wednesday at university, I headed on over to Tribe 2 to check the place out. I decided it'd be easier to go through with it if I had been around the place a couple times first. I just went in to ask about pricing and a little about aftercare and got all the info I needed, so I headed home with the idea in mind. The following day I went back with getting the job done in mind, but Tribe 2's body piercer was in on Wednesdays and Fridays, so it was going to have to wait another day.
Shockingly, on the Friday I actually went through with it! I couldn't believe it either. I headed over and only had to wait a second or two until the body piercer said Hi to me. Now, either because I was in a little bit of a shaky mood, or for whatever reason, I sadly don't know the piercer's name. She was a really, really nice lady who sounded like she was either from England or Ireland, and was unbelievably friendly, so she shall from now on be referred to as Ms Piercy Lady. She had me fill out a form asking me for my Name, Address, Phone #, and info regarding any allergies I might have. I checked the box on the form indicating that I have eczema, and asked her if this'd be a problem. She told me no, it was just so that they knew more about me in case anything did go wrong and could give me proper advice.
While I was filling out the form, the nice piercy lady arranged a whole set of surgical-like instruments. For some reason the sight of various pairs of scissors and other tools didn't concern me, although I was still pretty nervous. She told me to put my bag down, lie down, and lift up my shirt. Then she told me about a cure for eczema and a little about her parents who live in Israel - it was obvious she was trying to calm me down and it worked perfectly, since like I said, she was a very nice, friendly girl.
The whole thing went through like clockwork. Never was there a tense gap, these people do a class-A job from start to finish. She explained that she was going to numb the area to which I said, "Ah, good", which would sting a little (and yep, it did). I tightly crossed my fingers and then wouldn'tchaknowit, I felt a small numbing pain down in my nipple. She leaned over me and said "It's done." Wow! I took a look to the mirror to my left and couldn't believe that I actually had a nice hoop in my nipple. She soaked up some blood with a tissue before screwing the little ball on, and then left me to lie down for a little while.
I didn't get an aftercare sheet as such, but she told me exactly what I needed to go and buy (she suggested Saline solution for contact lenses from a local drugstore) so I went and did that. What surprises me is how memorable the experience actually was. I had always imagined having a piece of hollow surgical steel poked through my nipple would be an experience I'd likely want to forget quickly, but au contraire. The people are just so damn nice and excellent at calming you down, so much so in fact that as I walked by the place one week later, I felt a little sad that I wasn't going there again (although I can see this changing in the near future). The piercing looks great and now 9 days later, it's barely sore to touch, turn around or even gently tug at all. Kudos to Tribe 2 and their resident friendly piercing lady for a great experience!