I had my nipples pierced at 14 somewhere in Cambridge, UK, where I used to spend the summer with my mom. I don't think the studio where I had them done exists anymore -which, in retrospect, is just as good because a place where a 14-year old girl's nipples are pierced, no question asked, no consent required, shouldn't be allowed to stay open. However illegal and potentially dangerous the procedure was, they healed well and I kept them for about 5 years without having a single problem. I retired them two years ago and little to no scar tissue was left. This is very important, given that a little more than one week ago I decided that I missed them and that I wanted to have my nipple re-pierced. This is the story of my new set of nipple piercings.
At A Glance Author strawberry Contact strawberry@bme.anon IAM strawberry When A week ago Artist Julie Studio Cold Steel Location London, UK It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision, I loved the feeling that pierced nipples gave, not only during sex, but in the cold weather, too, and I liked their look on my anatomy. I missed them for the two years I was without them, and I just waited for the right moment to have them done again.
A little more than one week ago the right moment arrived. It's difficult to describe how it happened, but for every piercee knows there is a day they feel is right and you can't help but go along with this sensation. When I decided to get my nipples pierced again, I was househunting in London and it was the day before my departure, and this was a little gift to myself to celebrate the fact that I'd found the perfect flat. I didn't have a single doubt about where to head to get poked: I'd been at Cold Steel before, I know the piercers and trust them, and have heard very positive feedback from other people, too. It was a Sunday and I rang the studio to set an appointment at about 11 am, when I expected them to be open. A friendly voice picked up the phone and he said that they had a relatively non-busy afternoon and that I could pop in at about 6 that night for my piercings. I was told to eat beforehand and to come at 5 to leave a small deposit that would be deducted from the final price -this is unusual in Italy, but it's Cold Steel policy and I didn't have a problem with it.
I went out for lunch and stopped in Covent Garden for a bit of shopping and ended up quite late for my pre-piercing appointment -I got to Camden Town, where the studio is located at 5.30. I apologized, but everybody was really cool about it, which was good. I chatted with the guys at the counter for a little while, I got to meed Julie, the girl who was going to pierce me, she asked me if I had eaten and I realized that my last meal was more than 4 hours earlier and she insisted I had some food. It was still early, so I went out, grabbed a sandwich, bought some chocolate just in case (I do like to have chocolate ready when I get pierced, I've never needed it so far, but it's always a good excuse to have some, and piercers seem to have a sweet tooth, and they like sharing it with me afterwards!) and went back to Cold Steel.
Once I got there they gave me the paperform to fill, they checked my ID and we were ready to start. Even if I don't have bad memories about my first nipple piercing and I don't recall it as being a very painful or intense experience (it was more of an aesthetic thing at the time, but then again I was way too young), having been at the side of many friends who got theirs pierced had somehow convinced me that yes, this was one of the strongest piercing pain you could go through given that almost everybody either screamed or made a huge fuss out of it. So I was nervous -sort of. All these thoughts went through my head while Julie had headed upstairs where the piercing room is to get everything ready. I'd chosen a pair of 14 ga titanium barbells, and she sterilized them, too, in the meanwhile. Before I could give much thought to the whole pain factor thing she came back and walked me upstairs. She made a joke, we laughed a bit and chatted throughout the whole marking part of the procedure. I'm a big fan of symmetry and wanted both my nipples pierced horizonally and I really wanted them to be straight and in line, not crooked or anything. Julie promised to do her best and we double checked the marks she'd made to make sure they were correct. I also mentioned to her that I'd my nipples pierced before and that there might be some scar tissue -there's not any that's visible, but they were quite deep to begin with and they didn't keloid or anything, but I wanted to be sure she was aware of it. She said this might complicate the healing a bit, but that if I stuck to a good aftercare I should be fine. She also decided to pierce me as deep as possible, too, to minimize the risk of rejection -I have fairly small nipples.
At this point, after having spent 15-20 minutes topless, laughing and chatting with this girl there was a strange sense of being at ease and perfectly comfortable with her, which felt very good -I didn't feel like I was about to get hurt in any way, and any fear I might have had had vanished. Julie asked me if I was ready, I said yes and she made me lay on my back on the piercing table. She wore a fresh pair of gloves (she'd changed a few already), disinfected the area and told me to breath in. I was tempted to reach for the table and hold tight on it, but she adviced me against it -it was only bound to make me more nervous and less relaxed, and it would have made the piercing more painful. I wasn't sure at first but I figured, hey, why not? So I relaxed as much as I could, I tried to focus on happy things and on my breathing. Luckily Julie didn't count up to 3 or anything, but clamped me and pierced me when she thought I was at my most relaxed. Surprisingly, there was little pain as the needle went through -I could feel it, and I could feel it quite distinctly, but it wasn't an upsetting level of pain, and certainly something I could tolerate really well. Nipple 1 was done in less a minute. "Hey, thanks, it wasn't too bad at all", I said, very, very excited. I looked at my freshly pierced nipple full of joy -it was really cute and the shiny little bar looked perfectly straight. It didn't bleed at all.
Nipple 2 was just as uneventful -in a nice way. I laid on my back again and relaxed. The breathing was important, I realized, and it was something I'd never really concentrated on before, which is a shame, because it does work well for me. When Julie thought I was doing well with my relaxation, she pierced me again and it was all over very quickly. She has a very experienced hand and, as with the first piercing, this didn't hurt that much.
I stood up and looked at my fresh piercings: they were amazingly in line with one another and with my anatomy, and I loved this. I was also feeling well, not dizzy or lightheaded in anyway, and even if Julie insisted I stay seated for a couple of minutes just in case I was ready to jump up and down the room. She didn't cover my piercings, as I had taken a clean white cotton bra with me and wore that, instead of my old one. I got dressed, ate my chocolate with Julie (she fancied some, so did I and it was a good time as any and it felt right to celebrate the new piercings), and discussed aftercare.
She gave me their own aftercare sheet, but said that as I had many piercings already, I should listen to my body, too, as I probably knew what worked for me. I really appreciated this. I explained her that I've just found a method that works for me: saline solution, hot water soaks twice a day and some good, old fashioned LITHA and as it gave me amazing results with some other mods I was planning on using it for my nipples, too. She agreed with me, which was good. However she also gave me (for free, yay!) a bottle of Provon soap, so that I could try it if I wanted to –I was happy about this, given that it was late and I knew that I wouldn't have been able to find a place to buy saline solution that night, and didn't really fancy skipping aftercare altogether. I paid and tipped Julie and left, promising to come back in a month time to have my nipples checked (and probably to get more piercings, knowing myself).So far, so good. I wore a bra for the first week and made sure it was always freshly washed and as clean as possible. I didn't touch the piercings unless I was cleaning them, which I did as religiously as possible, but no more than twice a day, to avoid overdrying the sensitive skin of the nipples. As for the Provon soap, it is actually quite good, but it does make the skin drier and I only use it every other day, but it's great to wash your hands before fiddling with the piercings (to rinse them, or check the jewelry, or whatever else you happen to be doing to them while they're healing).
Almost two weeks on, the area isn't tender anymore and I can sleep on my tummy again, which is something I have tried to avoid so far. There have been little to no crusties, but I have been told that these piercings may take a while to actually ooze anything. The same happened with my other nipple piercings, so I expect them to crust a little at some point in the future. This is so far my second set of nipples' story. Totally uneventful, but very happy nonetheless: sometimes a special piercing is one that doesn't give you any trouble, that heals well and that didn't require you to go through vast amounts of pain in order to get it. I couldn't be happier.I couldn't recommend Julie more. She is a very kind, very friendly piercer, who will try her best to give you the perfect piercing experience. She is also a very approachable person, who will be happy to discuss your modification plans with you and will be open to your ideas and suggestions. She is a real pro. Cold Steel is my favorite studio in London and if you happen to be there and feel the urge to get pierced, you should pay them a visit.
And of course, do get your nipples pierced! It is not pain-free, but if done by a professional it shouldn't be unbearable or anything. Always follow the aftercare because they can be a bit stubborn to heal otherwise. But it's a journey I urge anybody to go through -lots of fun and a beautiful mod!