I have always been a fan of body modifications, everyone in my family has either a tattoo, piercing or both. But although I now have 10 piercings & tattoos, Ive always been overly cautious about where they were placed. I wanted to make sure that they could be covered or shown off whenever I wanted to. And Im starting to run out of places that hasnt been modified already...but when someone suggested a scruff piercing wee...I just had to didnt I?!
At A Glance Author Stacey Contact staceylee4@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist Darryl Studio Retro Rebels Location Aberdeen, Scotland
After having 2 disasterous piercings previously I was glad to have met Darryl at Retro Rebels, it was while I was just browsing in the shop he started chatting away and by the time I left I had my tragus pierced. Im always impressed with the way he explains everything, his studio is always in pristine condition, and at how friendly and easy to talk to he is. He's the one responsible for my industrial ear piercing too, and I couldnt have been happier with the way they've turned out. I would never go to anyone else than him for any of my piercings and I reccomend him to all my friends if they want something done.
But when Darryl suggested getting the nape of my neck pierced I thought that was maybe a bit much for the likes of me. Im probably the last person you'd suspect to have any mods done. But after a few months I couldnt stop thinking about it I decided to get it done.
After an overnight shift at work I thought I'd nip in to see him and ask what he thought - I wasnt willing to get it done at that time because I hadnt slept in 24 hours & hadnt eaten in at least 18, so he agreed that was a bad idea, but sized me up for a bar.
I booked in with Darryl for a few days later, as he had to make the custom bar for me. When the big day arrived I took my boyfriend Bryan along with me just in case I wanted to chicken out (I usually have a 5 minute panic before I get anything done, which goes away straight after), but Darryl was still a bit tied up with the previous client. So a 20 minute wait later, Bry went out for a cigarette - leaving me alone in the shop. Lo and behold, thats when Darryl came upstairs to get me.
Downstairs in the studio I was immediately at ease, he's so friendly & chatty that you couldnt feel uncomfortable around him really. He marked me up and checked with a bright light that he wasnt going to go through any veins. He explained what he was doing and showed me the tools & the jewelery and made sure I was quite happy to go through with this. He went through all the consent form with me.
By this point he got Bry downstairs for me. So as Im crushing the life out of Bry's hands, he clamped my neck - this was by far the worst bit about it, I thought it was pierced already just with the nippy & hot feeling from the clamps. He kept reassuring me that I was doing fine and told me what was going on.
Then I felt the needle going in, he had to do this a bit slower than for a 'normal' piercing as he didnt want it to turn out crooked. I felt it going through and rather than being painful it was more of an itchy sensation - I was waiting for it to get worse.
It only took a second or two and it was over. I was pierced again! He kept the clamps on so he could fit the jewelery (shaped like this ---> i__i), they were starting to feel uncomfortable like they were nipping my skin or something & felt like pressure on the back of my neck, as soon as the clamps were off I felt so much better. The pain and pressure eased straight away. He showed me the end result with the help of two mirrors and although it was pretty red, I could see how neat & straight it was. For a couple of days there was swelling, but still no pain and surprisingly enough...I still havent caught it on anything!
Bryan has been great at helping me keep it clean, as you can imagine it a wee bit difficult to see the back of your neck. But so far Ive had no problems, no pain and no bleeding. Im really happy with it, mainly because Ive never seen anyone with the same thing and its never given me any problems, although any piercing Darryl has done has always been fine it usually has a wee bit of pain afterwards or Ive caught it on something, but this hasnt happened at all *yay*!