THE SLIP PIERCING
At A Glance Author Dreadlocksmile Contact Dreadlocksmile@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Myself Studio In my flat Location Cardiff, Wales I've always had a love for subtle and hidden piercings. I'm not entirely sure why this is. I guess it started with the idea that wherever I am and whatever I'm doing, I know that I have them, but I can select who I'm going to let know about them and when I will let them know, and it kind of went on from that. I suppose it's all about the idea of having hidden secrets. There are obvious advantages to having these piercings, the most prominent being due to the unfortunate fact that piercings are still often viewed by others as "unsuitable" for the modern working environment, even if you're not even dealing with members of the public.
Exploring the nooks and crannies of the human body with the potential for these subtle piercings is something I know a lot of people these days take a great amount of pleasure in. Look at piercings such as the tongue web, uvula, smiley, scrumper and even piercings that are usually covered by clothes such as the nipple or genital piercings. These piercings are all not regularly seen by people, but yet many own them.
I'm certainly not one hundred percent sure that I am the first to have such a piercing as the one I am going to share with you, but as of yet I have never come across one (and I have scoured the BME pages for a similar one). Most types and styles of ear piercings have their own names (rook, snug, tragus, orbital, daith and industrial), so I thought that it might be a good idea to give this one a name. Due to the positioning of the piercing, I thought the name "slip piercing" is fairly appropriate.
If you take hold of one of your ear lobes with your thumb and forefinger, and then pull it away from your face, you will find a soft area of flesh at the point where ear meets face. This is where you can then pierce and put the jewellery in, such as a small ring or barbell. You will want the piercing to go reasonably high up the fleshy area in case of migration or ripping of the jewellery (I've had the piercing for well over a year now and there seems to have been no migration of the ring at all). The effect you get when the lobe is left to fall in place again is a thin outline of the ring that seems to rest against the side of the face, with no clear indication of where it enters the flesh. The lobe (well in my case anyway) covers almost the whole ring, making it a very subtle addition to my ear project. It's a very simple idea, but has proved to be one of my personal favourite additions.
Cleaning of the fresh piercing was easy and the piercing process was a simple one. I did the piercing myself and found it a reasonably easy area to pierce but the jewellery was incredibly fiddly to put in. I used a very small ball closure ring which gives the subtlety I required, as it can slip in behind the lobe. The only problems you may find with the piercing is a little flaky skin around the area where the piercing is, which you may get for a long time after the piercing has healed. I found that I was getting this, but a little moisturiser after a quick clean with soapy water does the world of good. The area is prone to attracting dirt due to it being in a natural crevice for the dirt to collect. Whilst healing, this should be barred in mind and therefore cleaning should be kept up throughout the period. The area is also prone to cracking in very cold weather, so again, watch out for that. Yet again, a little moisturiser can solve all these problems. In the yea r and a half (ish) that I have had the piercing, only three people have ever noticed it, hence it really has proved to fulfil one of its criteria for me. This could be played around with depending on the persons wants from the piercing. I have shown it to a few professional piercers, and as of yet it appears to be an original piercing idea, but I do look forward to trying to spot it on others in the future.
Any questions or comments on the piercing then please feel free to email me at this specially made email address: Slip_Piercing@hotmail.com
I've included a photo of the piercing on the BME site which you can find under 'Standard Earlobe Piercing' so you can see exactly where it is located and what it looks like.
Happy Piercing.
Chris Hall (Dreadlocksmile) 2004