I had seen it once before, on the most conservative looking girl who was wandering around Old Navy (goes to prove you can't judge a book by it's cover). The next time I saw it, it was on a friend. That sealed my fate!! Seeing it up close and personal, and seeing how pretty it looked, wimp or not, come Hell or high water, I was getting it done!!
At A Glance Author UberVyxen Contact ubervyxen@hotmail.com IAM ubervyxen When A week ago Artist Jeremy Studio Artistic Impressions Location St. Catharines, Ontario What am I rambling about, you ask? My new cleavage piercing!! It's beautiful!!
As I mentioned above, the first time I had seen a cleavage piercing in the flesh was on a girl who was wandering around in Old navy. It was such a fleeting glimpse though, I never really gave it another thought. But when I saw it up close and personal on my friend Melissa, I have to cave and be the copy-cat that I pride myself on not being!! I was privy to seeing her's about three weeks ago, and decided that the following weekend it was my turn. Well, little did I know that finding someone to do it would be a feat in itself. I inquired with two people, one of which doesn't perform surface piercings, and the other was busy the weekend I wanted it done. So, once I resigned myself to the fact it wasn't going to happen when I wanted it done, I took to trying to source someone who could and would do it! I inquired at one place in Hamilton, but just about passed out when I saw how much they intended on changing me! I had got to talking to my friend Melanie about the fact I figured I was never going to get it done, and she brought up the name of a person whom I've known forever, but completely forgot did piercing. My friend Gary also offered the same referral.
Jeremy is his name, piercer by day, kick ass bartender by night!! I called the shop where he works, Artistic Impressions on Geneva Street in St. Catharines. The lovely person that answered the phone informed that Jeremy would do the piercing, that he was in on Saturday and that I didn't need an appointment! Oh the excitement!! But it fizzled when I was told that they didn't have the jewelry required. The phone was passed off to Jeremy and he informed me that if I picked up the jewelry, he'd bend it up for me and knock the cost of the barbell off the price of the piercing! WOO HOO!! I was finally getting it done!!
Jeremy referred me to Out of the Past as the place to get the barbell, and seeing as I live Hamilton way, decided to purchase the barbell from the Hamilton location! As luck would have it, my friend Mike lives downtown and had to venture that way, so he picked up the barbell for me on Friday.
I slept like crap Friday night, and felt nauseous when I got up Saturday morning, but NOTHING was stopping me. No pain, no gain! So, I gathered my bearings, got ready and headed out to pick up my moral support, my sister Amanda. She was pretty much dead set against me getting it done, but came with me anyway! She had been telling everyone I was getting my boobs pierced together! Plus she thought it was a gross piercing.
So, we're on the highway, heading St. Catharines way, my excitement and nervousness growing more and more. Stopped and grabbed some lunch so that I had something on my stomach and wouldn't pass out.
We get to the shop, and I was quite taken with the decor and cleanliness. Jeremy was behind the counter, turned to me and knew why I was there. I passed off the barbell to him for it to be sterilized, so I was left to sit and fret for half an hour before the impending stabbing!! I wandered around, looked at the flash on the walls, watched the people wandering in and out, and above all, sat in my chair, freaking. The half hour wait killed me, every time Jeremy walked by I figured he was coming to tell me it "was time", and it made me more and more antsy. As I sat in the chair I kept twiddling my foot quite violently, or so Amanda told me.
So, this time Jeremy didn't just walk past, he stood imposingly before and asked if I was ready. I was as ready as I'd ever be! My sister and I followed him into the room, very clean, very sterile looking. The preparation was easy enough, I removed my bulky sweater, pulled the front of my dress down a little and, umm... separated "them"! Jeremy cleaned the area with some rubbing alcohol, and then marked my chest for jewelry placement. That took a couple tries because I wanted it to be precisely in the right spot, not too high, not too low. I was trying to gather my thoughts, and convince myself it wasn't going to be as bad as I had it built up in my head it was going to be. I took a seat in one of those fancy reclining hair dresser chairs, very comfy. However, I was still sweating my ass off, and hands too!
Jeremy came at me, asked if I was ready, and I said "You're doing it NOW?!?" He said yes, and just talked me through it. He told me when to breathe, what to expect as far as feeling and sensation. He told me before we started that the only thing that would cause any form of pain was the actual piecing of the skin as there are nerves on the skin, but the needle going under the skin wouldn't be felt at all. Apparently there aren't any nerves underneath, or something like that. He also told me the gauge of needle was larger than normal. The threading on the barbell had to fit inside, so that it wouldn't tear once it was pulled through. (I feel nauseous now just thinking about that!)
He told me I was about to feel a prick, and then the needle was part way through. I can't say it was really painful, but rather a quick burning sensation, like when you touch something that's hot for a brief moment. Another prick and the needle was through. The jewelry followed. Once the jewelry was in, I was pretty much okay. Getting the bead on was a little painful because Jeremy was "working in a valley" so to speak.
It was done. I laid still for a second or two, took a deep breath and attempted to stand up! Nope, my head wasn't going to let that happen. Things went blurry and I felt nauseous again, so I plunked my butt back down for about a minute. Took a couple deep breaths and felt pretty good, so I tried standing again, and all was well. I stood before the mirror admiring my pretty new piercing. Before I walked out of the room, Jeremy offered me some aftercare tips, relatively common sense tips. I was to clean it with warm water and an anti-bacterial soap twice a day, and apply a first aid ointment. Once it was a couple of day sold, he suggested I try pinching the area together to exposed the bar so that I could put cream on that in order to get it under the skin. I was instructed to buy something that was water based, but I looked at two Shopper's Drug Marts and a Wal-Mart and couldn't find anything, so I settled on Polysporin cream. It's a lot lighter in consistency than t he ointment, and petrolatum (the oil base) is one of the last ingredients, plus I'm not slopping it on. I guess the concern is that the heavier oil based ointments don't allow oxygen to get at the piercing, which aids in healing.
Reactions from others have been mixed! My sister continued to tell me how gross it was that I got my boobs pierced together the whole way home. The ride home was fun, the seat belt is not my friend, and hand-over-hand steering? FORGET IT! My little sister thought it was cool, didn't say much else though. My little brother told me it was "gay" (quote / unquote). My mom, oh that was funny! I was standing, holding my top out a little bit, to see if it was bleeding and she walked in. She asked what the Hell I was doing, she thought I was just looking at my boobs for some reason. Then she clued in, made a face and walked away! She knew I was going to get it done. I told her once while we were out shopping, but I guess she didn't think I was going to do it so soon. I had to go to my cousin Steven's birthday that night too, and I showed him shortly after I got there. He just did the heebie-jeebie twitch. My cousin's wife, Beata, came at me full force scaring the crap out of me. I thought she was going to touch it because she seemed genuinely intrigued. My other cousin did the heebie-jeebie dance as well, and kept muttering "ow" while grabbing her chest. My Dad found out at the party, he thought I was nuts. Yet, I can always tell when I do something like this that he's sort of proud in a weird way. He's proud that I'm doing my thing, and that he didn't raise a boring kid. Lastly my aunt, I thought she was going to pass out. She looked like she was going to vomit, poor woman has a weaker stomach than me with regards to such things.
All in all, it's pretty much irrelevant what everyone thinks, I LOVE it! I can't stop looking at it. I swear, I'm going to pass out from looking down so far so often!
I've heard that rejection can be a common problem with surface piercings, but I'm not really worried about it. I figure I'll just get it done again. Hell, I did it this time around, so if I should have to do it a second time, it should be a breeze. The fact that I was told that surface piercings, when done properly, can last a while was comforting. I think it totally depends on a person's body, and I heal out pretty well. I have never had problems with anything, but I've also never had a surface piercing, so time will ultimately tell.
I hope by reading this, if you had any doubts about getting a cleavage piercing, that I have put your mind at ease. I am the world's biggest wimp, so if I can do it, so can anyone!!