After waiting a year since my last piercing, I decided to once again treat myself to a birthday present. For my 18th it was an industrial, and for my 19th I decided on a vertical transverse lobe piercing. Naturally I did my research on bme first, but I think that I pretty much knew what to expect after having an industrial for a year. I knew what to look for in a good shop plus Luis has an awesome reputation so I had no fears in going to him to get pierced.
At A Glance Author jonquille Contact jonquille@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist luis Studio no ka oi tiki tattoo Location philadelphia The night began as a simple trip to Philadelphia with my friends on a Saturday night, but I had been planning to get pierced for months and knew where No Ka Oi was located and how close it was to South Street, which was where we would be walking around. Amazingly, my friends were quite receptive and willing to go with me when I got pierced. I decided to do it right before we left since the shop was on the way to the car and I also didn't want to risk having someone bump into it right away (South Street was pretty crowded that night).
The first thing I noticed about the shop was how friendly the person behind the counter was; this is always a good sign. The sitting area also appeared to be well looked after and clean. The counter girl asked me if I was in for a piercing or a tattoo, and then asked me what type. I responded with my piercing of choice, and Luis magically appeared next to me to take a look at my earlobe and make sure it was suited for the piercing. After massaging my earlobe for a little while to see that I had enough tissue, he announced that my lobe would take a14 gauge barbell well. The rumors are true – he does his homework and knows what he's talking about.
We walked upstairs to the piercing area of the shop, where Luis handled the business transaction including checking my id and taking my payment for the piercing. I asked him a few questions about the procedure and my industrial, which was giving me some problems; once again his mannerisms were reassuring and he gave the answers that I was looking for. He asked me why I had decided to come to No Ka Oi, to which I said that I had heard about him on bme and he seemed a little surprised/excited by this. I also looked at his portfolio and in the meantime, my roommate and one of our friends were turning a little pale with nervousness. I found this to be quite amusing since they weren't the ones going anywhere near a needle. I was nervous too, but tried not to show it since I knew what I was in for and was doing it willingly.
After a little while, Luis ushered me into the piercing room, which was very clean and neat. My friend Ian accompanied me, probably to see if I would wince. Luis explained the procedure and asked me to remove my earring as it was dangly and getting in the way a bit. After he explained the procedure in full, I became a little more nervous: this wasn't going to be like the other piercing I had gotten. Since I didn't have stretched earlobes, the needle would take a bit longer to go through my ear. Luis explained that this was because the piercing had to be done accurately and evenly through my earlobe in order for it to stay in place and not reject, a requirement that could only be met by a slower needle. He cleaned and marked my ear then asked for my approval, which I promptly gave.
Next came the part I had been waiting patiently for: the actual piercing. I knew it was going to hurt more than my industrial had, but I wasn't expecting it to hurt as much as it did, which was definitely because it wasn't a piercing that could be done quickly. The worst part was when the needle had to go through the cartilage at the top of my lobe-an industrial was nothing compared to this, which made a pop and hurt quite a bit. Luis then followed through with the barbell and screwed the top ball onto it. Ian told me after Luis was done that I didn't even flinch!
Luis escorted Ian and I out of the piercing room where my roommate and our other friend were waiting for us. They still looked pale and it made me laugh, even though I probably looked the same way the first time I went into a piercing shop. I thanked Luis profusely and tipped him. He gave me an aftercare sheet with his name and the gauge and length of the barbell he had put through my ear, as well as his IAM name and told me to get in touch with him if I had any questions. Luis also asked me if he could take a picture of my ear as he rarely got to do a vertical lobe on someone without stretched lobes and even showed me off to his boss.
I left No Ka Oi feeling completely alive and vibrant; it's amazing how much a simple experience or small addition to your body can make such a large change.
I would recommend Luis to anyone looking for an excellent piercer around the Philadelphia area – he is definitely worth the trip for his piercing skills as well as being a very nice person in general.