At A Glance
Author	Chris
Contact	fooie@bigpond.net.au
IAM	fooie
When	A week ago
Artist	Jeanette
Studio	Acid Gear
Location	Strathpine, Queensland, Australia

2nd September 2006

Piercing time: 10.15am

Hello my name is 'Chris' and I live in Australia. Today I got my nape pierced at the age of 16.

I have always wanted to get my nape pierced for around 18 months, I kept on putting it off though because I wasn't completely sure if I really wanted to get it done, and the fact that I was afraid of it rejecting, etc.

So, on the 2nd of September I had arranged to go to the movies with this chick "Emma", and I was talking to her the night before and said that I was thinking about getting my nape pierced, she said just do it. So I arrived at Acid Gear.. I had been in there about 6 months ago asking them if the did nape piercing and the cost, etc.

I told her that I wanted my nape done, I showed her my Licence and the filled out this small form, Apparently there were a lot of bookings for that day, and I just turned up before an appointment so I got in straight away, which was good I hate to wait.

I walked into the back room and talked to Jeanette, she explained about the process and after care, we chatted about what I had pierced, tongue, labret and 8 gauge, I went on to tell her about my retired right lip and eyebrow, while she was cleaning my neck. She then went on to mark a position, and got me to look at it which was difficult, I had to hold a mirror and look into the reflection of the mirror.

I heard the change of gloves then the packaged opening of the needle and bar, I was sitting down on this stool thing leaning forward, she then grabbed a piece of skin, and said 1, 2 and 3, and then shoved the needle though, I was still talking to her about different piercing etc, and I thought that it was finished, I felt a weird sensation as the needle went through, then I felt the second half of the piecing and the needle come out at the other end, it wasn't that bad the piercing it's self, I personally thought that my eyebrow was more uncomfortable, when she put the bar in the sensation was just odd. She then covered it with a patch in case it bled while I was at the movies.

Jeanette then told me about after care and gave me an aftercare sheet, and told me to come back in on the 16th of September for my 2 week check up. I thanked her and left, we then went to the movies it wasn't really sore it just felt weird after around 30 minutes it was ok, I felt like a weirdo when I tried to move my neck as the patch made it pull.

Current time: 11.30pm

13 hours after getting my nape pierced, it isn't really sore anymore, maybe a little bit tender? I looked in the mirror, it's a bit red I think that it's bruising of some kind? I was looking through my bathroom draw and found a makeup pads "I don't know why they're there?" I decided this would help with cleaning, so I got a boil of sea salt solution placed the makeup pad in it and then soaked it on my nape for 10 minutes before I had a shower then 5 minutes after I had a shower, it made my nape feel good.

Day 1 - September 3rd 2006

9.30am

Sleeping with my nape piercing wasn't that difficult, it really didn't effect how I slept? I have read that some people had a lot of trouble sleeping with it because it was uncomfortable, it didn't bother me though.

I looked in the mirror about 30 minutes ago, it's still kind of red, I guess that's to be expected. I did the sea soak again and it made it feel better.

3.50pm

During the day my nape felt kind of uncomfortable I think that it was from my shirt, due to the tag just sitting above it kind of a scratchy feeling, very annoyed to say the least. I ended up cutting the tag off and that made a huge difference.

Day 2 - September 4th 2006

I had school today, I'm in grade 11. Mondays – formal uniform day, which is annoying with a nape piercing, the collar is high so I was getting annoyed all day with the tag, I felt like I wanted to rip my nape out due to it annoying the hell out of me. I found that it was starting to itch, I know that when I'm healing my piercing itch, when I had my tongue pierced it annoyed me so much.

It was sore during the day, mainly from the tag, between classes I went into the bathroom and cleaned it with paper towel and water, it made it feel better. Some people at school thought that it was weird, and some thought that it was cool. I even decided to show some of the teachers that I knew wouldn't care about piercing, my school has a high strict policy about not having any body piercing.

Day 3 - September 5th 2006

I have been doing the sea salt soaks around 3 – 5 times a day. My nape is still kind of red though, I don't know why that is?

I still haven't had any problems with sleeping or anything, also when I'm changing clothes it hasn't gotten caught yet, which is a good thing.

Today I wore my sports uniform which is a lot better because the collar doesn't go anywhere near my nape piercing, which means that the nape piercing is fully exposed for everyone to see, it doesn't bother me, I just face a different direction when I see a teacher who will make me take it out.

Day 4 – September 6th 2006

Today I woke up and my nape was fine, however it's still red for some reason, I don't know why it's staying red? It's not sore or anything though. I'm continuing with the sea salt soaks.

I hope that my nape piercing heals and doesn't reject, I don't think that it's going to reject though, because I would of thought that I'd be experiencing pain if it was starting to reject. I'll just take it day to day and keep on cleaning it and hope that it heals.

In Conclusion,

Getting your nape pierced isn't really that bad, it doesn't hurt as much as people think it does, just because it's in the back of your neck. Even though the surface piercing does tend to have a high rate of being rejected, I think that if you do the correct after care and baby, it there shouldn't be a problem with healing it. I hope that mine heals fine. I'd suggest getting it pierced if you want to get it done.

Regards,

Chris