A couple of years ago I became very interested in body modification. I found that piercing was a very attractive thing, but because I lived basically in the middle of nowhere and did not drive, actually having modifications proved difficult.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Sarge Studio Metal Fatigue Location Bournemouth Then I moved to a bigger town and after a friend mentioning that they were getting a tongue piercing and they were concerned about going alone, I jumped at the chance to go along. So we decided to skip college for a day and go into Bournemouth town.
Towns were still a scary thing for me at this point, so many big buildings and lots of people, but I made my way there alone and waiting for my friend at the bus stop seeing as I was not sure where Metal Fatigue was at this time, it has since become a usual place to visit!
While waiting for my friend who happily slept in while I waited in the rain, I considered getting a piercing myself, if I thought about it to much I knew I wouldn't go through with it. So I just went for it. I always found industrial piercing to be a very attractive and thought it isn't too extreme that I will have problems finding work. Also I wouldn't be such a big thing, so there was less chance of me getting in the building then running away in terror!
Finally my friend arrived and by this time I was very cold and desperate to get moving, so off we went to Metal Fatigue, up to the second floor and I soon felt warming after that!
We opened the door and were welcomed by Sarge. He is a great guy; there is no fault with him or his studio at all! He is very happy to except walk-ins and his studio looks like a posh dentist waiting room. He has portfolios out on the seats to look at so we sat and waited until he finished talking to a person already in there. He asked what we wanted and got us to fill out some forms and show some ID. Then we had to make the decision of who to go first.
My friend is very extrovert and happily dived into the piercing room and had her tongue pierced first with no issues, she came out happy as anything and garbled something, which I assumed was my queue to go next. I went in to have my piercing, the room was so clean and tidy and Sarge opened up new needles and jewellery to use after marking a placement on my ear and measuring it up. I was marked up, asked to check the placement which was perfect first time and then I got dead nervous, put my hands over my face and said just do it before I run away. The needle was put through my ear; it didn't hurt at all so I calmed down a lot. Sarge was very patient with me being a fool and I was very excited when looking into the mirror with a big needle shoved through my ear! The bar was then put in and I looked in the mirror and was a very happy bunny! Hardly any pain and it looked great. Sarge then said that some people cannot heal a industrial with a bar as it may cause pressure and if this is the case I could go back to him and get the bar changed to double rings for the healing. I didn't need to do this, but I thought it was lovely for him to add that! We paid and then we then went outside to go get lunch and a drink, the cold air sure made it sting a lot, note to self not to get pierced in the middle of winter and then walk a mile through town!
We then went to Legends which is a little funky café across town; we sat next to a big mirror and just admired our new piercings! My piercing had been bleeding as we had walked across town, but I decided to leave cleaning it till I got home, instead of going in the café bathroom, I thought it would be more hygienic. I'm not seeing this place was dirty, but with so many people passing through I wanted to be safe.
Once I got home I cleaned it up and my whole ear felt very hard and heavy, it wasn't it just felt like it was. Sleeping on that side was a definite no no, and catching it on my hair or hairbrush also proved fun! But eventually it felt more and more normal, but it did take about a year to fully heal, but it healed beautifully! I do think it would have been healed sooner if I hadn't got hit in the side of the head at a gig, it caused my lower hole to rip slightly, but it healed fine after that thankfully. But it is a warning if your going to a gig try not to aggravate a new piercing with sweaty people and it getting knocked a lot. I catch it a lot still, but now it is fully healed nothing aggravates it, but during the healing if you catch it, it sent a shiver down your body!
I hope to go and see Sarge tomorrow about some microdermals and I look forward to it now, rather than being scared to death!