I've had my nape pierced for almost 2 years now. So this experience was a little slow in the making. At the time, I only knew 1 person with a nape piercing. My buddy Bruce. And boy is he and advocate for it. I think he's talked a handful of people into getting them now. And he worked his magic on me. Now before this point I had heard that they would all reject and so forth. So the idea that I would get one just didn't seem plausible. I mean, why waste the money on something that will reject?
At A Glance Author Kel Contact Kel@bme.anon IAM Kel When Two years ago Artist Sean Studio Beyond Body Piercing Location Arlington VA So I started doing my research on BME about nape piercings as well as surface piercings in general. And I talked to Bruce about his and how happy he was with it. So once my fears of the rejection rate were calmed, I seriously considered it. I worked in a place that was very anti piercings. Absolutely NO facial piercings allowed. Well...I figure the back of the neck is not the face, so I should have been good.
So right before my 24th birthday (this was a birthday present to myself) I gave Sean a call and we discussed it. He advised me he did have some standard length surface bars in stock.
So I was on my way. I picked up two of my friends, Jen and Missa, to accompany me and take pictures. Bad idea. Jen is a wimp and gets grossed out. Missa doesn't like to see me hurt. Go figure. It was a good thing that Bruce was coming up at well. So we all converged in Sean's shop and talked shit for a little bit. My nerves had started to kick in. I was entering a whole new world. A world of surface piercings. It was rather exciting. Bruce had asked if he could watch. He was interested in seeing how it was done since he obviously couldn't see his when he got it. I had no problems with that. He was actually going to be my camera person since my friends wimped out on me.
So we did all the usual stuff. Sean marked me and had me look at the placement as best I could. I trust him so I pretty much was taking his work for it. Looking at the back of your neck is just an odd thing to do. So if he and Bruce thought it was a good spot, I was going for it. Next he told me to lay down on the table, face down. Not a problem. Laid down. He pinched the skin. I said stop. For some reason I was reason nauseous now. That was weird. I never get nauseous from a piercing. I get nervous...but not nauseous. So we all sat there for a few minutes with everyone looking at me. So once again I laid down. Sean pinched the skin and asked Bruce to glove up and help him hold the skin for the piercing. The camera had been given to Missa who had to suck it up and deal with it and take some pictures. Once again I said stop and sat up. I started to get upset with myself. It was only a damn piercing! So I drank some soda. Everyone was real patient with me. Now I figure 3rd time is the charm. So I laid down once more. Sean pinched the skin and waited a moment. I guess he assumed I would say stop. He lined everything up and we did the normal "take a deep breath in....and exhale". And that was it. I didn't feel a thing. The only thing I had felt was the tip of the needle pressing on the entrance area. Then he slid the jewelry in and cleaned me up. I stood up and checked it out in the mirror as best as I could. It was pretty. And I felt like such a loser for being such a pain about it.
The aftercare on it was pretty simple. Leave it alone. Wash it in the shower but other than that, don't touch it! That works. I was wondering how I was going to do salt soaks on the back of my neck. I'm glad that wasn't the way it needed to be done.
For the first few days it was pretty tender. I couldn't wear a necklace obviously. I was afraid to sleep on my back because I didn't want to snag it. Drying my hair after a shower or pulling a shirt over my head was different. I was much more aware of what I was doing. It was perhaps the easiest piercing to heal. The method of just not messing with it worked rather well. I did snag it a few times (well, make that many times) and those always sucked, but luckily those snaggings didn't cause it to start migrating.
I've had this piercing for close to 2 years now. I forget it's there most of the time. I do occasionally snag it on a tag of a shirt or jacket. And that still sucks when it happens. I also need to eventually get a shorter rise bar for it. I think this will help with not snagging it. It does still lymph occassionally, but then again, most of my piercings do. It doesn't matter how old they are. I've had to take it out twice since I've had it done. Once was when it was just under a year old, for surgery. It was out for about 12 hours. I had a friend put it back in, which required a little bit of force as one of the holes had started to close. I guess it's a good thing I was still pretty doped up on meds from the surgery. And the next time was when I had X-Rays done after a car crash. I was able to get it out and back in myself with no problems.
I recommend this piercing to anyone who wants a low maintenance piercing. It was very low maintenance for me. Although nape piercings and other surface piercings are becoming more mainstream now, I still find a lot of people who have never seen one. Many of those encounters start with "damn that had to hurt" and end with "that's pretty cool". My nape piercing led to many other surface piercings that didn't make it, but I think this will always be my favorite just because it was the first. And anyone in the Northern VA area should go see Sean for your surface piercing needs. He's awesome and really knows what he's doing.