At A Glance Author LadySwank Contact LadySwank@bme.anon IAM LadySwank When A month ago Artist I wouldn't dare call her an artist. Studio Paul's Piercings Location Whalley, British Columbia, Canada I'd been hankering for another piercing, and amidst playing with my single tongue ring, a brilliant thought entered my head. Wouldn't it be twice as fun having TWICE as much metal in my mouth? Yes, yes indeed it would.
For a couple of weeks I kicked around the idea. It very much appealed to me, I was infatuated by the thought of two barbells inside the mouth. I thought it to be very sensual, endearing and sexy, if you will. And so, the time came when I could no longer wait. I wanted this very badly.
I made plans thereafter with a close friend of mine named Jenny. She suggested we go to Paul's Piercings (which I'd gone to before but didn't really trust their sanitation methods), but I reluctantly and hesitantly agreed because she had wanted to go there so badly. A bad judgement on my part, I know.
We had planned to take a trip there after last block when school had ended. We waited anxiously for my boyfriend to arrive to drive us to the studio. He came, and we hopped in the car nervously.
The drive there wasn't too bad. Usually, i'm a nervous wreck when I know i'm going to be pierced, but I was strangely calm this time. In heinsight, I probably should have been worried had I'd known what was to come.
We arrived at Paul's Piercings and walked in the small, dingy shop. We were greeted by the smell of sterilizing liquids and also by a rude, snob of a woman who I pain to call an "artist." Her 'hello' to us was simply a nod of the head while she gabbed on the phone to one of her friends. This should have been an immediate sign for me to get my ass out of there. However, Jenny was desperate to get her navel pierced, and I knew if I'd left she would have been devastated.
And so, while the 'piercer' chatted on the phone with her pal, I browsed the jewelry. Not a great selection of jewelry, I must admit.
The woman ended her conversation and proceeded to ask Jenny, almost in a mocking or criticizing voice, what she wanted. Jenny responded shakily with "...I would like to get my.. my.. navel pierced." The piercer rolled her eyes. It was almost as if she didn't think we noticed; either that or she didn't care. Jenny chose her jewelry. The woman then asked me, "are YOU getting anything done?!" I responded warily, "yes.. a second tongue ring." I chose my jewelry and we were led into a small back room.
Jenny went first, and it was quite successful. Then, it was my turn. I was not nervous, I knew what to expect. I did not fear the pain; I did my first tongue ring myself. However, that is a completely different story.
The woman had me rinse my mouth with a harsh antibacterial mouthwash for two minutes. It burned severely. As I finished, she had me stick out my tongue to mark it. I had specifically asked that it be placed in FRONT of my existing tongue ring, but a misunderstanding must have occured and she put it behind it. I don't know how she might have done this; even *I* knew that a second barbell would not fit comfortably back there. She had even gone to the extent of clamping it before I yelled, WAIT! WAIITTTT! (and with a speech impediment, of course), I told her I wanted the mark in front. She sighed as if irritated by my request and took the clamps off. She remarked it and re-clamped. I did the usual breathing technique, one breath in, one long exhalation, and the needle went in. No pain, just a small pinch. The barbell was then threaded through my tongue and I pulled my tongue back into my mouth. That was when I knew it...
..It was crooked.
I couldn't believe it. I convinced myself that it must just be crooked because of the swelling that had started to occur. And so, I rinsed my mouth once more and walked out the door.
A week later, the swelling had gone down and it was STILL CROOKED. Not only that, but the barbell had made a VERY LARGE indent in my tongue because the piercer used jewelry that was far, FAR too small to accomodate for swelling. I was thoroughly unhappy with my piercing and wanted a refund, or at least for it to be re-done, but they refused. I ended up removing the darn thing once and for all and the pain that the crooked piercing was causing me alleviated immediately and my frustration subsided. Although, it was a lesson learned the hard way. Trust your instincts; if a studio does not look up to your standards, LEAVE. Also, make sure that the shop can stand behind their work and if you are not happy, they will give you a refund of your money or at least redo the piercing.
Hopefully you've taken something useful from my negative experience. Thanks for reading, happy modding.