So I have this pretty big problem. I'm sure you know the one, or at least you have at some point in your life. I hate my body. I kind if hate myself a lot. I figure that a good way to express this is through body mods. I love the rush of adrenaline that I get from it. And I love the look of metal on skin. Hence my obsession.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A year ago My parents are not as into body mods as myself. That is an understatement, they hate them. HATE. They found out about my ears about 2 years ago (they were/are pierced about 16 times), and couldn't understand or relate at all. As a result I have to hide all of my piercing. Anything I can hide, I have them all; septum, tounge web, nipples, smiley. It was only recently I found out about surface piercing.
I'm not exactly rich, so I cant really afford to pay for my obsession. And surface piercing runs about $100 each. And then there's the whole having to be 19 to get anything pierced where I live. So I started doing them myself.
My first surface piercing was easy. I didn't think about it a lot. One day I was sitting at home alone and I thought "I'm so bored, I should just pierce myself". I looked up some pictures on the internet of surface piercing and found one incredibly attractive one of a girl with horizontal one on each hip. I have to admit that I was not in the least bit professional about my piercing. I first measured the bar I was going to put in and marked where I wanted the entry and exit to be. I didn't really take the time to make sure that it was even that straight, as I would later see. Then I used this kind of sewing needle that I found in my house. I decided to use that because it was thicker then the other needles that I was going to use. I think that the only relatively sanitary thing I did was to hold the needle over my lighter. I didn't have or like using clamps, so I thought I would do it free hand. I hesitated before sticking the needle in, thinking about how much it would hurt, but noticed that my grip was slipping because of the lube I was using. I didn't even feel the needle going into my skin. I hardly had to push it and I could feel it from the other side. Then it was through. I was so thrilled. I stood there staring at the needle through my skin in the mirror for ages. Unfortunately, the needle was only 16g and I needed it to be 14g. I had to find a nail that was really sharp and gradually got bigger. I'm already cringing just remembering this.
It was a little harder to force the nail through. I had to try and get it to go through the same exit as the needle had, which proved harder then I thought it would have been. It also proved much more painful. I managed to force it through after A LOT of fiddling around and practically re piercing myself over and over.
After that, all I had to do was put in the barbell, which looked great. I thought it would have migrated by now, after a year and a bit, based on what I had heard from friends. Thankfully, it hasn't.
I realize that I am so very lucky. Looking back, I can't even believe I did that. I mean, I still do most of my own piercing, but the way that I did that first surface piercing was just disgusting.
I now use actual piercing needles, which is much easier and less painful because they are hollow so that after you pierce your skin, you just thread the barbell through. Also, as much as I dislike them, I use clamps which is also much easier, especially if you are using some kind of lube.
The problem with me before was that I was too lazy to go out and find all of the things necessary for a proper clean piercing. Or to save up enough money to get them professionally done. I have seen some of the piercing that my friends have done themselves and they are sick. They get infected, or migrate quickly, or are off center/crooked. My body heals very quickly and doesn't get infected easily, so that is probably what prevented me from just ending up with some hideous scar for the rest of my life.
Now that I'm more familiar with how to pierce, I'm much better at it. I'm an apprentice piercer and can be more safe when I pierce myself. I would definitely not advise piercing yourself. It's almost not worth it. If you are going to, then I would suggest researching it very well and talking to a professional and asking their advice. Odds are that they too have pierced themselves, probably more then they'd like to admit.