So I have had my labret and tongue pierced by JR [the owner] at Lady Luck, but apparently this guy Phil works there now too. He used to work in Atlantic City at some other place, but whatever, I guess he moved or something. I was a little nervous because I trusted JR, and my friend Katie had been pierced by this Phil guy and she said he couldn't get the jewelry in right and it was pretty painful. The only thing is, JR was busy doing someone's ink, so I couldn't have him pierce me. So, I went in with the intention of getting both of my tragus' pierced with 16 gauge CBRs. My friend [Katie] took hers out so she gave me her jewelry and they sterilized it for me. I waited for about ten minutes in the waiting area with my friends Jill and Steve. All the time Steve was telling me how I am going to become paralyzed if he does it wrong, which is NOT TRUE, but I was getting nervous anyway. I tried looking at new labret jewelry and magazines, but it just was not helping. I had never been nervous to get anything pierced before, but this was driving me absolutely crazy. I knew I just had to sit down and do it and I would be happy afterwards.
At A Glance Author Baby *dani* Contact discod3@hotmail.com Artist Phil Studio Lady Luck Location Absecon, NJ Phil called me to the back finally and he cleaned my ears with cotton balls. Jill came back with me and she had Katie on her celly to experience my pain. Steve kept staring at me so I told him to go away. Anyway, then I had to stand and face him while he drew the dots on my ears. He took his time, so I was becoming a little more eased. I looked in the mirror, was happy with the placement and sat down on the edge of the chair. He immediately clamped my left tragus and I breathed in and he popped it through as I was breathing out. It hurt like a bitch. Apparently I was jumping around cause he was yelling at me to stop moving. I even screamed a lil when it went through cause I was having a wuss moment. He put the jewelry in and clamped my right ear. Jill gave me her hand for this one. I breathed in and again he poked it through as I breathed out. This one hurt much less than the first one although I still moved around quite a bit. Jill felt the need to mention that she was squeezing my hand tighter than I was squeezing hers, so obviously I was fine. He put the jewelry in and I stood up.
I was bleeding a bit and he wiped me off with more cotton balls. Steve told me to get my hair out of the piercings and I thought that might be a good idea. Dean, the counter guy who is awesome, gave me an aftercare sheet and reviewed some stuff with me about cleaning and healing time before I paid. It was only thirty dollars total, since I had the jewelry. I then thanked them and left. Yay! I had gotten it done. I was so excited. Even though my ears kept bleeding and people looked at me funny in stores.
But I just have to say that Phil was great. I was scared in the beginning, but he was talking about all these stories he had. Like once some girl puked on his shoes when he pierced her and he made her buy him new ones. I was completely at ease with him. I recommend either of the wonderful boyz at Lady Luck to anyone. They are amazing piercers and tattooists and just all around great guys. Also, Phil is living in his car right now, so if anyone has a place to rent in the Absecon area, let him know, just call Lady Luck. ;-)
The healing process was pretty easy and fast. I could not sleep on either side of my head the first two nights, but by the third night, it was all good. I used Dial liquid soap with hot water to remove the crusties and blood. I rinsed it out really well and then I applied Bactine with a cotton ball. I made sure to rotate them, but not too much. I didn't want to irritate them. They hurt the first couple of days while I cleaned them and had to turn them, but it was definitely bearable. I love them so much and even though they were much, much more painful than my labret or tongue, I would do it again in a second. If they had hurt THAT much, then I wouldn't be getting anymore piercings and I am hopefully getting my nipples and industrial cartilage done very soon. :) I can't wait. I will send in pics and experiences of those piercings too. Well, the nips at least.