Once upon a time I had lots of piercings. Then one cold December, this half-Korean hottie came into my life. I was and still am in love with him. But as we all know, people we love can have an influence on our lives. He was an intelligent man of forty and I thought this one was for the long-haul. He didn't like my piercing as much as I did, in fact, he thought they were silly. So, for him, I got rid of the extra ear piercings, the eyebrow, the nipples, and the nose...but the labret and my gauged bottom ear holes, no way in hell.
At A Glance Author Victoria Noire Contact victorianoire@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist Taylor Studio Big Daddy Cadilliacs Location Lawrence, Kansas Then the drinking got to be too much for me and it was time for me to hit the road...not that 'the road' was that far away, considering he was my downstairs neighbor. During the course of our relationship, I had started getting help for my depression and was unsure of who I was without him. I felt like there was a part of me missing, but it wasn't him. One day I decided I wanted to do something to make myself feel good. I always do this when something shitty happens. So one day between therapy and work, I hopped down to the local badass tattoo and piercing shop. They pretty much rock, with a team of award winning tattoo artists and the most fabulous and intelligent hottie piercer name Taylor.
I told her what was up and what I wanted, a surface piercing, horizontally on the back of my neck. She charged me $80.00 and we headed to the back. First she had me sit down while she prepped everything, washed up, and put on gloves. Then she had me stand up and put my hands up over my head and then out to the sides, straight out. Then she had me put my arms in front of me straight. She had me do this a few more times and then cleaned the area and made some marks on the nape of my neck. She gave me a mirror and had me check out the marks. She explained to me she chose this position so that any necklaces I had wouldn't get caught on it and it's out of reach of most necklines.
Next she had me lay down and take a deep breath. She shoved the needle half-way through the length and told me to exhale. She let me know we were half done and told me to take another deep breath, then exhale as she pushed the needle the rest of the way through. She had me lay there a little longer while she cleaned the area and then told me whenever I was ready to get up and I could look at it. I'm pretty tough and was excited as hell so I was up right away. It looked great! She asked about the pain and I told her it stung but it didn't hurt. She explained aftercare to me, wash it twice daily with soap, nothing girly, and water and get witch hazel to put on it afterwards. She said it would probably take 3 or 4 weeks to heal...and if I had any problems, call her. I thanked her and was on my way to work.
Of course everyone thinks it's weird and they want to know why I'd do something like that. The only response I give is, "I like it". My mother kinda freaked but she never liked my piercings anyway and lives 700 miles from me, so who the hell cares? My ex-Korean hottie hated it. I told him I wasn't his girlfriend anymore so what he thought didn't matter.
I got my neck done on Tuesday of that week and it made me feel so good that I went back to Taylor and got a vertical bridge on Thursday. It was so strange that I found the parts of me I thought were missing...and they were made of metal.
Aftercare was a little bitch! It's in a hard to reach spot and you can't see it. Then, on top of that, it's summer. I didn't think about that at all. I'm always sweating and it puts bad things inside of those poor little puncture wounds. Kansas Summers Suck! For the first three weeks after it was pierced, I worried constantly about it. It was always red around the holes and usually a little inflamed. I called Taylor and she said that's to be expected and just to keep caring for it as usual. I kept up with the soap, water, and witch hazel, everyday, twice a day.
Three weeks later everything is doing well. The ends of the piercings are still red but the inflammation is gone. I've gone back recently to see Taylor and she says it looks great. It should look perfectly normal in about a week. That rocks. The Korean and I are dating again. We both seem to be much happier this time around and he hasn't had a drink in months.
If I were to get another piercing even similar to the nape piercing, the only thing I'd do differently is get it done when it's colder. Weather has a huge impact on healing. That's an important lesson.