It had never occurred to me to get a piercing or tattoo of any sort until senior year of high school when I started dating this girl who insisted I should get a lip ring. At the time I always just blew her comments off, but the idea did begin to take root in my head. Some days when I was bored I would go on-line and research "lip piercings" and that's how I found BME. I explored the site thoroughly and was pretty excited by all I read, but I was still pretty sure piercings weren't for me. I knew my parents would flip out and besides, at my school all anybody had were eyebrow and nose piercings, neither of which interested me at all. Really all I was thinking about at that point was a lip ring, and like I said, given the choice between a piercing and a roof over my head, I had to go with the roof, plus I knew that no one in my town was going to hire a kid with a ring in his face, so that was another argument against a piercing.
At A Glance Author D-Railed When Three months ago Artist Brian Skelly Studio Piercing Experience Location Atlanta, GA, USA When I went to college I almost immediately started playing rugby, so I again put off getting a piercing because I was afraid of getting it torn out. Over the year, my interest in body modification deepened and I checked BME regularly for new stories and pictures. I considered getting a tattoo, because I wouldn't have to worry about it being hurt in a match, but I thought that was a little too permanent since I didn't (and still don't) know what I wanted to do long-term. Next, I was thinking about scarification because I really like scars, but I felt about the same way about it as I did about tattoos, plus any time I told my friends about it they would act very put off, so I also decided against that.
As for my friends, high school was one thing, but I was realizing that in college a lot of people had piercings. Two of my friends had labrets and I asked them a lot of questions about them, then another of our friends got his eyebrow pierced, which I was really surprised by because that usually isn't his style (read he likes tan blonds, wears a lot of Abercrombie & Fitch, and listens to Everclear), and one friend even got his frenum pierced which I thought was pretty hard-core. I even saw a lot of kids from my high school with new crazy piercings, so all-in-all I felt like a piercings were the way to go.
The following summer (this last summer) I was working two jobs, one of which was an internship, so I still didn't feel like a face piercing would be a good idea; however, my friends frenum piercing had got me thinking about concealed piercings. I didn't want to get a frenum piercing, because then I would have felt like a poser, but I also wasn't ready for something like a prince albert. I started thinking about getting my nipples pierced, and asked a friend of mine who has her nipples pierced about it. I of course did my research on BME and felt like there weren't too many guys out there with pierced nipples, which made them more attractive to me since I do like to be a little outside the norm. I knew that I wanted both done if I got them. I'm into symmetry and the idea of having just one pierced didn't appeal to me at all. I also knew that I didn't want a ring, because I was pretty scared that someone might rip it out.
So, I began contacting Brian Skelly who is the piercer at Piercing Experience in Atlanta and who was highly recommended. That was where all my friends had gotten their piercings done and Piercing Experience had been rated the best piercing parlor in Atlanta for something like five years straight in Atlanta magazine. Finally, June 7th, I believe it was a Tuesday, I asked my friend Steve if he wanted to go into Little Five Points (an area of Atlanta with a lot of cool stuff) but I forgot to tell him why I wanted to go until we actually got to the parlor. I think he was pretty surprised, but he's a cool guy and he went along with it. I walked in and told Skelly who I was and what I wanted done, I don't know if he remembered me at all from the e-mails, but he gave me a sense of familiarity as well as professionalism. We did all the legal stuff and while he prepared the jewelry I checked out the cases and pictures around the waiting room. I noticed an interview with Skelly that had been published a few years ago in which he referred to his double nipple piercings (two in each nipple) and there was a picture. I wasn't nervous anyway (needles have never really scared me) but it was nice to see that he knew what he was doing.
When everything was all prepared we went into the actual piercing room and I took off my shirt and look at the light fixture while Skelly made his markings. The reason I mention the light is that it was one of those rectangular florescent lights that is set back into the ceiling and there was duct tape criss-crossing it to make a lattice over the light. Everytime since then that I've gotten a piercing I've thought off that light. Anyway, when I checked his markings in the mirror I didn't see the horizontal dots at first, only the vertical ones and I was really afraid I was going to end up with a vertical nipple piercing (can they do that) which I hadn't thought about and didn't want. But as soon as this thought passed through my head I saw the other markings and was reassured. I confirmed the placement and lay back on the table.
Piercing Experience never uses clamps so all I had to prepare me for the actual piercing was "Take three deep breaths and let them out" it was awesome. My adrenaline had been flowing all ready and though the first nipple (ole righty) did hurt some I couldn't stop smiling, and my toes were squirming like crazy. The left nipple did hurt a little more just because I expected it more, but it was still really good. There was only the tiniest drop of blood which Skelly wiped off before applying Tegaderm bandages on each side. Even though these were see-through they prevented me from seeing my nipples as they really looked because everything under the bandage was squashed. The total was one hundred sixteen dollars which is more than I've seen any place since, but since it was my first and because Skelly is such a good piercer I felt it was worth it. My nipples were a little sore for the rest of the day, but they never hurt me after that except for when I went to play football a few days later and someone accidentally grabbed my piercing, that bled a little, but it's my fault for not allowing a reasonable healing time. My nipples were already pretty sensitive to stimulation, but it's even better now, I love these piercings. That's pretty much it, since returning to college this year I've gotten two more piercings (lip and frenum) and am enjoying all of them. I highly recommend Brian Skelly and Piercing Experience to anyone in the Atlanta area, hell, even if you live a few hours away, the quality is worth the drive. Sorry for taking so much of your time- Vote Kerry, and Mastodon rules!