I've wanted a madison for what seems like forever... or at least 10 months. It was only recently however that I quit my problematic job teaching after-school art to very curious and mouthy children, where it would have been impossible to get away with a ring hanging off of my throat. So I was psyched.
At A Glance Author cedes Contact cedes@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Sean Roth Studio Nathan's Tattoo and Piercing Location Woodland Hills, CA Having learned through stalking and ninja skills (i.e. phoning a thousand times to see when i could get my nape bar changed out) that my favorite piercer, Sean Roth, worked on sundays I grabbed up my friend and fellow mod enthusiast, Serina, and headed over to Nathan's with a pocket full of cash and a head full of dreams. We walked in, me with my heart fluttering and giggling nervously as usually precedes a piercing, waltzed up to the counter and caught Sean's eye as he bustled about with customers in the piercing cubicles. He came over to the counter and in his businessy manner asked what we wanted from him that day.
"I want a madison."
"No you don't."
This had me slightly flabbergasted, because all I wanted in the universe at that moment was a madison.
"Wh-...Why not?"
"Because they're almost impossible to heal and 6 months from now all you'll have is a big ol' scar."
To which I respond with an incredibly dejected "...Oh..."
Sean leaves us to debate and look at portfolios. He'll do it if I really want, but after the stern warning I wasn't too sure any more. Hell if I wanted to leave without getting anything done, and, after finally deciding that one more scar wouldn't be the end of me and I didn't want anything else, I told him I wanted to go for it.
Since it was a weekend the shop was pretty busy, and Serina and I sat filling out my form, reading Tattoo magazine and making fun of the various 12 year olds that came in with their moms. Sean kept coming over to say sorry for the wait and explaining how long my piercing would take and I really didn't mind. I'm glad I had time to relax before it and that he was getting as much out of the way as possible so he could do a really perfect job on this tricky procedure.
After a bit he comes out to the waiting area and calls me back, sits me down, and asks me where I want it.
"Can you do it right here?" I ask, pointing to the dip between my collarbones... but Sean started shaking his head as soon as my fingers went up.
"No, not enough tissue." He explained as I hung my head in shame and disappointment.
"Well, how high can you do it?"
He held up a surface bar just a couple centimeters below the collarbones and I was like...alright, go for it. He asked me to stand up as he marked, erased, and remarked me for about 20 minutes, meticulously checking and consulting Serina to make sure it was even. Of course, me being anal and generally annoying, I notice in the mirror that it's slightly off center...so there's more marking. I was afraid Sean would be annoyed but he wasn't at all and was glad that I'd noticed the slight askew-ness. Finally the marks were perfectly even and centered and he sat me back down.
He did the piercing freehand, and this piercing was probably the most interesting sensation I've ever felt. Because there's so little flesh so high up on the chest, the needle sliding under the skin felt like a big steel pipe rubbing against my ribcage. Not nearly as painful as I had imagined (not very painful at all, actually), but a very bizarre feeling. It must have looked painful because Serina was squeezing my hand and making the most terrified looking faces you could imagine. Once the needle was through Sean briefly admired his work before turning to another shop staffer and saying "Hey, you want to see something freaky?"
He left me with the needle in for a minute to settle in to the feeling, and then the NON. STOP. PARTY. BEGAN.
The insertion of the jewelry far out-did the pain of the actual piercing, and Sean had to gently but firmly wrench the bar through the left-side hole. Owwww. But he got it done, and finished me up, and it was incredibly gorgeous.
I have had nothing but awesome experiences at Nathan's and I would definitely recommend it as the best place to get pierced in The Valley. Everyone is friendly, super-clean, and with so much experience and expertise you'd think they'd invented piercing. In short, totally <3 that shop.
It's now been about a month and the piercing looks great. I've followed Seans directions of washing it twice a day and doing a sea-salt soak every three days. About a week into it it swelled up a bit painfully, but I called in and they recommended taking Ibuprofen to bring down the swelling and that took care of it. It's had very minimal crusties, no icky ooze at all and the only visual problems I experienced were some redness for the first couple weeks and some dry skin from the severe washing, which has been completely remedied by Lubriderm unscented lotion a couple times a day.
Now it is absolutely perfect, and I have high hopes for its bright and shiny future of continuing to freak people out. Awesome!
P.S. It's been really fun telling people weird stories about it, saying it is all sorts of bizarre medical devices, etc. I highly recommend this piercing for the conversational bonuses alone. Yeah, I know, go back to 6th grade, Mercedes.