My parents both have a tattoo so from a very early age I'd been interested in tattoos. I especially loved my dad's but I recently learned that he hates it. Being only 16 the thought of getting one is utterly stupid to me. I have enough time to think about what I want to get and most likely won't be getting until I'm 25 or so. In my opinion you really need to think about what you're going to get and what it means to you. I wouldn't want to be stuck with something I only liked for a few months.
At A Glance Author RoacXIII Contact screamingcrow@gmail.com When N/A Artist Sessa Studio Tattoo & Skart Location Reykjavík, Iceland When surfing an Icelandic tattoo and piercing site I stumbled upon the Industrial and Instantly fell in love. That was in february this year. On my birthday in april I asked my mother if I could have it done. She said no way in hell! I would absolutely not be getting anything done now. I kept on asking her and had long discussions about all kinds of body mods, what it means to you, why you want to get it done and everything in between. After a long struggle we finally made a deal that I could get it when I became 17. I didn't give up and kept on asking at last we agreed on that I could get one of the holes done when I started Menntaskóli (somewhere between High school and college) in august.
I read a lot of stories on here, some said it hurt like a ***** and other that it wasn't that bad. Some of the stories were basically horror stories and others were like fairy tales. Although BMEzine is a very good resource the stories are so varied you don't really get a definite answer. You just have to try it out your self.
I used to be very afraid of needles but I decided that pain or fear was not going to stop me. When I was younger I was terrified when I had to get shots and bees still scare the living hell out of me.
Let's fast-forward to august 20th. I go to the piercing shop me and my mom had picked out but they're closed on mondays :( I go back the next day and wait for my mom to arrive. She talks a bit to the piercer and I go into the booth. The piercer prepares everything and we check out how an Industrial bar would look and where the holes will be. she marks the hole and puts the clamp on after sterilizing my ear. At that point I realize that she's about to pierce the wrong hole! I tell her that I want the other hole pierced and she says: "No problem".
She marks the other hole and from the speakers I begin to hear the song "Balls to the Wall" by Accept. It's one of my favorite songs ever and I'm stoked that I'm gonna get pierced while that's playing. She counts to three and shoves the needle through and I don't even notice when she puts the barbell in and screws the ball on. I then proceed to pay and get advice on after-care. The pain wasn't that bad until an hour later. Then I ran around my apartment looking for painkillers. After I took a couple the pain came back down to how it initially was. I couldn't sleep on my left ear for 3 weeks and about that time I was able to use headphones again. (Bye bye crappy in-ears.)
I have followed her advice very closely and cleaning the piercing has become part of my routine. It has healed really well and I'm extremely happy. My fear of needles is completely gone and when I had a blood test done a few months ago I really enjoyed it. I loved watching the needle puncture my skin and watching the blood flow. (You may think I'm sick but it's just the way I am :P)
Since then I've had to be pierced by a needle two times and it didn't bother me at all, this experience has really helped me overcome my fear. Now, it's only 3 months until I'm seventeen and then I'm going to get another piercing, I'm thinking about getting another Helix to make an Industrial (My mom has approved of that) or a Navel/Inverse navel but I haven't brought that one up with my mom so we'll see if she accepts that. I definitely think that it's more unique for a guy to have an inverse navel piercing than an Industrial that has become really trendy in Iceland in the past year. The same is to say about snakebites. My next piercing is also going to be done by Sessa and I'd recommend her to anyone ho lives in Iceland or is travelling here.
Snorri