I got my nipples pierced when I was 21 years old. I'd been wanting to get them done for a while, but never had the money or the time, so when I finally had both, I took myself over to Jade Dragon Tattoo in Chicago to get them done. I chose straight barbells instead of rings or curved barbells because I wanted the piercing to be straight through my nipples, plus, I prefer the aesthetic of the straight barbells.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When N/A Studio jade dragon Location chicago When I got to the shop and told them what I wanted, I picked out my jewelry and was taken to a private piercing room. My piercer was very professional, which is always appreciated when you're getting a mod on your breasts or genitals. I admit, I was pretty nervous – I was expecting it to hurt quite a lot, as nipples are generally rather sensitive bits of flesh. My piercer noticed my nervousness and asked me about it, but I told him that yeah, I was nervous about the pain, but I was sure I wanted the piercings, so I'd just suck it up.
After disinfecting my first nipple (the left one), he marked dots on each side, lined up the clamps, and pierced it. I was really surprised at how little pain I felt – it was almost nonexistent, more of a neutral sensation instead of pain. "Sweet!" I thought. "This is going to be easy." Unfortunately, the second nipple hurt quite a lot, which was unexpected given the ease of the first one. But like all piercings, it was over in a split second, so no big deal. My piercer told me that, yeah, when doing two nipples, one usually hurts a lot more than the other. All in all, it was done very efficiently and professionally, and I was very happy with the placement.
The healing process was interesting. First of all, my nipples were CONSTANTLY erect for several months, and EXTREMELY tender. I use a mesh loofah in the shower, and after snagging the new piercing for the first time, I was veeeery careful afterwards. So very painful! Because they were easy to snag on things, and very sensitive to being touched or bumped, I had to be very conscious of my breasts at all times in order to protect them. I was pretty successful in that endeavor, though, so I didn't have too many mishaps.
Outwardly, I don't look like the stereotypical person who's into mods. I have two tattoos that are pretty much covered most of the time, as well as having my navel pierced, which is common enough that I don't get strange looks. I dress pretty casually, I don't wear heavy makeup – I'm basically your average girl. So having both of my nipples pierced gave me a thrill; they made me feel like I was somehow fooling everyone around me: I have this slightly unconventional piercing and you'd never guess! Having my nipples pierced made me feel slightly more confident and dangerous, especially since it was my secret.
Unfortunately, our affair was not to last. My skin didn't reject the piercings, and they never got infected, but they never fully healed properly. The placement was fine, so I don't think it was due to a failing on the part of the piercer – I think my body just had other ideas. One day, after I'd had them for about two years, I noticed that one of my piercings was bleeding a little bit, so I took both of them out for the night. The next day, the bleeding had stopped, so I went to put them back in. No such luck. The holes had partially healed overnight; not fully, but enough so that it would have been EXTREMELY painful to force the jewelry back in. I tried to get them back in for a while, but my body just wasn't having it, so I gave up.
At first I was sad that I no longer had my nipples pierced. I really loved the way they looked – sexy and symmetrical (I'm big on symmetry), yet understated and somehow elegant. I thought about getting them repierced for a while, but ultimately decided against it. I'd never really gotten a whole lot of pleasure out of having my nipples stimulated during sexual activity, and I noticed that without the jewelry, my nipples were a LOT more sensitive, even more so than they'd been pre-piercing. That made sexytime a lot more enjoyable, and I loved having a new area that could be stimulated, so I decided that the benefits of not repiercing outweighed the benefits of repiercing.
Now, having been nipple-ring free for about a year, I sometimes miss my nipple piercings, and I'm definitely glad I did it, but I'm also fine without them. Obviously, there is some permanent scarring – the entrance and exit holes are still there, though they're slowly growing more and more closed. So it is apparent that my nipples were pierced at one time, but they didn't keloid, so it's not wickedly obvious or anything.