I had really been considering a nape piercing for a couple months now. It was kind of one of those things that I thought about, but never really thought I'd actually get done. In fact, when I walked into Artistic Impressions in Niagara Falls, Canada, I wasn't even really planning on getting anything pierced. Of course, when I got there, I was talked into the procedure by my piercer, Sean, the other piercer there, Mike, and my friend Nikki, who was really the reason of the trip to the shop. I initially was really worried about first, the fact that I have really long hair and since it got caught in my industrial bar and never fails to get tangled in a necklace whenever I wear one, I was fairly certain that two balls on the back of my neck would give it the perfect opportunity to make my life miserable. I was also kind of worried about brushing my hair, but then Mike just gave me one of those weird looks that I'm used to getting from him by now and said, "Uh, just lift yo ur hair up when you brush it." After a couple cigarettes, I was able to get up the nerve to go back to the chair and get a needle shoved through the flesh on the back of my neck.
At A Glance Author Katie Contact Katie@bme.anon IAM misunderstood_28 When A month ago Artist Sean Studio Artistic Impressions Location Niagara Falls I wasn't really nervous in that Sean wouldn't be able to do the piercing properly, because after having been to him for almost all of my piercings, I trust him completely. One of the things I was most worried about with this procedure, as I mentioned before, was the event of rejection. When I had asked Sean about a nape piercing a couple months prior to getting this done, he basically told me that it happens to some people but not to others, and there really wasn't any way to figure out if I would reject the piercing until I actually had it. Of course I was also slightly unnerved by the prospect of the pain that would be associated with this procedure, but Mike assured me that he had this done himself, and that it really wasn't nearly as painful as it looked.
I got up into the chair I had been in so many times before, and turned around to see Sean bending a surface bar for me. It was slightly staple-shaped with the ends bent up at 45 degree angles. Pretty soon he was done, and Sean started pinching the back of my neck...which didn't exactly feel great, but it was something I could deal with. Pretty soon, it was time for the piercing. Sean had Mike hold my hair up, since neither Nikki nor I had even thought to bring a rubber band. I felt him cleaning my neck and then he clamped my neck. Let me tell you, the clamping certainly felt fabulous. Pretty soon I felt a tiny little prick, then nothing for a few seconds, and then another slightly worse pinch as the needle exited. Apparently, they also put the jewelry in, which I didn't even feel, because I said something about having a needle sticking out of my neck and either Sean or Mike, I don't remember who, said "No, you have jewelry sticking out of your neck." Talk about my fe eling slightly stupid. Once I was sure I would be okay to get up out of the chair, Sean handed me a mirror and Mike held up my hair for me again, so I could check out my new piercing.
After I was done looking at it, Sean started giving me my aftercare instructions. As opposed to most of my other piercings, which he told me it was okay to use the standard Artistic Impressions recommendation, Magic Dragon Mist, I was told to just use Epsom salts to clean this one...which translated to Sea Salt, because after about 25 piercings, you learn to stick with what works for you. Anyway, he told me to soak my neck for five minutes and not to bother with anything else.
Of course, when I tried to do this that night when I was getting ready for bed, the only thing I succeeded in doing was giving myself a salt-water shower. After thinking about this for a few minutes, I mixed up another batch of the salt water and soaked cotton balls in it, and just sat with those on the back of my neck for the five minutes. So far so good, I'm not really having any problems with the piercing, aside from being careful about how I sleep, making sure my hair doesn't get tangled in it, and being really gentle when I brush or wash my hair. It never even actually hurt me and only now kind of itches occasionally. This morning I almost scratched it, but immediately stopped myself before I could really touch it.
I know that a nape piercing isn't for everyone, but I'm really happy with mine and I'm glad that I have it. Now hopefully it'll stay where it's supposed to and my neck will decide that it likes having jewelry in it.