I have to admit I was a bit nervous about this. I have 2 tattoos (my fraternity letters on my right shoulder and an icthus - aka "Jesus fish" - over my heart) but this is my first piercing. I had considered piercing a nipple before, I actually wanted to pierce my tongue but now that I have a 9 to 5 corporate job I think that window has closed for my life. :-) But I can pierce a nipple without anyone at work knowing about it and now my girlfriend wanted me to do it so I figured I might as well go through with it. I'm a computer geek so I was checking it out online to see what I could expect and that's how I found Outer Limits. I'm just in town for business so the stuff I found online was all I had to work with, the only people I know around here are from work and I can't imagine asking any of them where to get my nipple pierced! Everything I saw on this site made me pretty confident that it was a good place so I went ahead with it.
At A Glance Author Nathan Contact Nathan@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Marcus Studio Outer Limits Location Costa Mesa Marcus was cool when I met him, he's got all kinds of piercings and spacers in his ears and stuff so I got the impression he knew what he was talking about. He told me it would take about 3 months to heal and it would cost about $50 total. He also told me that barbells healed better than rings (which I already knew) and recommended 14g. He was actually cleaning the needles right then so I filled out some paperwork and he copied my driver's license and told me to go eat something and come back in an hour.
When I came back I just waited a couple minutes before he took me into a back room and got things laid out on his tray. He took a minute to line up where it would set and drew a couple dots on my right nipple. Then he smeared some yellow goop on to clean it (that might have actually been before he drew the dots, I can't remember) and had me lay down on the strange little chair. I had heard that the clamp hurt worse than the needle so I was prepared for it to be bad but I barely felt it. He had me take a few deep breaths and when he actually pierced me it just felt like a nasty titty-twister. Putting the jewelry through felt about the same, it hurt but only when he was actually messing with it, as soon as he quit it didn't hurt at all. And it didn't hurt nearly as much as the tattoo on the other side of my chest, that was just plain brutal compared to this.
Since this was my first time I didn't know anything about the whole healing process, I just know that in general I heal faster than most people so I'm not too concerned about it. Marcus gave me a pamphlet to explain the aftercare and stuff. He said he doesn't recommend that Satin or any other soap. He to me to just soak it in non-iodized sea salt (1/4tsp in 8oz of water) a couple times a day. I went straight to the grocery store to find some of the right salt and all I could find was a great big thing of it that's about 100 times more than I'll ever need but it was only 50 cents so I didn't mind too much. Since I travel so much and I'm always living in hotel rooms I don't think I'll be using up all this salt anytime soon.
It's a little awkward to soak my nipple but I've developed a usable technique. I mixed up a big batch of the right balance in a water bottle and I just fill the cap with water. Then I have to lean forward to dip my nipple in it and then and hold it against my chest to lean back. The nice part is that it forms a vacuum seal so once I'm leaning back (or laying down which I find to be easier) I don't have to hold it in place. It only uses a little bit of water at a time and it's simple. It's been 5 days and so far I haven't had any pain or swelling or bleeding or anything. It's tender if I bump it or something but other than that I'm fine. And I really like it, I'm definitely gonna do the other one as soon as this is done healing! I could tell right away how much more sensitive my nipple is now and frankly I just like the way it looks better, my other one is so boring now. I won't see my girlfriend again for another 3 weeks (the down-side of working on the road) and she doesn't know about it yet so it should be a cool surprise...