I hate birthdays. I have no idea why. I am still young, and yet almost every birthday somehow turns out wrong for me. This year I decided "hey, the hell with waiting for everyone else to remember my birthday and do stuff for me. I'm getting pierced." So this year, as a birthday present to myself, I had a vertical bridge piercing done.
At A Glance Author Arielle Contact Arielle@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Tom Studio Millenium Location Fort Collins, CO I had had my nape done last year at Millenium by Tom - who kicks ass. I knew he was experienced at performing "uncommon" piercings and he is always really friendly, puts you at ease. So I asked my roommate to come with me - mostly to have someone to talk to while the piercing preparations were taking place. Since I usually go for "unusual" piercings, I always have to wait a while before my turn comes up. So I filled out the standard form, handed it back and my roommate and I started looking around at the tattoo pictures on the wall. There's this tattoo of Jesus there, and he's shown as being really happy - almost ecstatic - in the picture, and we thought it was pretty funny. Kind of like a tattoo of Jesus on crack - I had no idea! We also decided that if we want to drop out of college and become badass vagrant motorcycle chicks we have to come back and get the "ultimate tattoo" - which consists of a skull with a heart behind it that says "mom," a snake, a rose, a cross and s ome flames. Yeah - that's super professional. Sign me up. Although I guess it won't matter since I'm going into art anyway, and no one gives a damn how you choose to decorate your body in that field.
But of course, I digress. I talked to Tom for a bit about my last piercing, he said he thought I was a "badass" for getting a vertical bridge. Those who know me know I am actually on the more wussy end of the "badass" spectrum, but I do have a rather high pain threshold. So now we move into the actual piercing room. Tom has me lie down and marks where he's going to pierce me. I had to stop him because at first he started making the markings for a horizontal bridge. Of course horizontal bridges are nice too but a bit too masculine for my face. When I told him he said "ohhhhhhhhhh."
Bad sign.
Apparently this was a piercing he'd only done about 3 times before. But I told him I trusted him. I really wanted it done and I knew if anyone could do it, he could. I asked him, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much this would hurt. He said the people who went through it before ranked it at about an 8. I figured ok - as long as it's not a 10, I can handle it. So he re-did the markings, this time vertically. However they were kind of low - almost exactly on top of that low spot on your nose, right in-between your eyes. So I had him change it one more time to be right in the middle of my "t-zone" - (for lack of a better term - thank you dermatologists everywhere!) and I ok-ed it. Then he had me lie on my back for a long time while he prepared everything, sterilized everything, etc. We did a last minute change in jewelry - from a 16 ga. to an 18 ga. since the skin on my bridge would probably take the smaller bar better. The jewelry itself was a curved barbell, pretty similar to the kind people put in their bellybuttons. For healing purposes he purposely used one a couple millimeters too long so I could move the bar and clean it.
By this time I was getting a little nervous. I was talking to my roommate and Tom nonstop, almost too much - although you wouldn't guess it from this story, I'm usually fairly reserved in person. Then the big moment. Tom asked me if I was ready - I took a few big breaths and told him to go for it. It hurt. Definitely. I guess I don't understand why people ask me if it hurt......usually when a needle is tearing through your skin, and then you embed a piece of steel in the wound, it doesn't feel particularly wonderful. But thank god for those endorphins - once the jewelry was in (which took a long time) I felt all happy - the usual piercing high I suppose. Everyone was all excited - Tom and my roommate both said they thought it looked "beautiful" - and when I saw it in the mirror I was so happy. It is in the exact right spot for my facial features - plus it doesn't offset either side of my face and doesn't get my hair caught in it like my nape.
So why did I choose to have a vertical bridge done?
First, because it is something unique to this town. I have not seen another person in Fort Collins with this pierced. A warning to anyone who lives in Fort Collins and is considering this - I will beat you up if I see you have this! (laughs - I'm serious though). I absolutely know I was the first girl in this city to have it, and a great deal of its appeal to me is in the fact that it's unusual and something that sets me apart. It's a great conversation piece - I won't lie - I enjoy the attention I get from my piercings.
Who should not get this piercing?
Anyone who has a job where they have strict dress codes, anyone who is concerned with having a scar on their face when they decide they no longer want to wear jewelry in their piercing, anyone who is considering having this done as their first piercing, anyone who cannot/will not take good care of it as it is technically a surface piercing and more prone to rejection, those who are accident-prone, anyone with an overly nagging family (I know my mother still refers to it as "that THING in your face - when are you going to take it out???"), anyone with a monobrow (you don't want hair growing into your piercing, do you?), anyone who cannot handle some degree of pain. I can't speak for everyone of course - some people have more skin on the bridge of their nose than others - but I guess I'll just say it's not for everyone.
In any case - I would say if you're thinking about getting this done, try wearing a bindi sticker for a while before you have this done. The look is fairly similar. Also go to someone who has a lot of experience in doing surface piercings. If your piercer gets a little uncomfortable or acts nervous when they're preparing to do a vertical bridge, just leave. Who cares what they think. It's *your* face and if it's not done correctly you could end up with no piercing at all and a nasty infected wound.
Also - for anyone who is *not* considering having a vertical bridge done (why are you reading this?), I would say go to Tom at Millenium in Fort Collins for whatever other piercing you want done. I think he works Tuesday and Friday nights, if memory serves me correctly. He is so nice - never condescending (although I could pick out a few other people at Millenium who *are*). He knows what he's doing. Ok thanks for reading this. If you need any more detail or just want to tell me I'm a "badass", feel free to send me an email. Other than that, thanks for reading all about my vertical bridge experience.