I absolutely love piercings and tattoos. I have my ears pierced ten times, my navel, and my tragus, as well. I'm always looking for a new piercing I can get but they can't show while I'm at work. So I was driving home last weekend and got into a huge argument with my boyfriend. He pissed me off so bad that we broke up. I needed to do something! I decided to go get something pierced. This is when I remembered that my ex-boyfriend hated the idea of getting my smiley pierced. He always said it looked gross to have something dangling from the webbing between my lip and my gum. This was the perfect piercing. I almost felt like a rebel and it felt good.
At A Glance Author Michelle lippa Contact Michelle lippa@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Rob Studio American Tattoo Location Baltimore, MD
So I got home and called my friend, Robbie, who I knew would appreciate what I was doing. I asked him to take a ride with me, no questions asked. We drove to a tattoo parlor up the street from my house where a bunch of my friends had gotten pierced at before. I had been there so many times with them, I knew they had a good reputation for being clean and doing good work. Besides, they give me good deals because I refer my friends there all the time.
I walked in and told the piercer what I wanted. He looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about, so I enlightened him. Then he realized what I was talking about. He had me fill out a consent form and showed me the bar he was going to use. It was a 16g curved bar. Just the perfect size. Its not too big, but it's not small either.
We then proceeded to the back where I was told to sit in a dentist-like chair. He had me lift of my lip to take a look at the web and make sure he had enough to work with. He handed me a cup of Listerine and told me to rinse. I think rinsing was the worst part because it began to sting so bad! As I was rinsing my mouth, he prepared the needle and bar. After he had finished preparing the table, he told me to spit the Listerine back in the cup. Thank God!
He looked at me and said, "I'm going to need your help with this one." I assumed he wanted me to hold my lip up. And I was right. So I lifted my lip up and he grabbed a piece of cork and placed it where the needle would come out of. Then he took the needle and held it up to my lip. The needle was curved to make it easier to go through and work the bar in. He told me to hold still, so I did. I felt the needle go through, but it didn't really hurt. It was more of a pinch if anything. It was really quick, too. He put the bar through and everything was fine. Even while he was pulling the needle through and putting the bar in, it didn't hurt. He had some trouble getting the ball on the end because it was so small but once it was on, everything went smoothly. He handed the mirror to me and when I saw it, it was love. It is so cute. It felt like I had a piece of food stuck in my lip but after a few hours I couldn't even feel it anymore.
He told me how I should take care of it. After eating, drinking, or smoking, I was to gargle with saltwater. If I was to use mouth wash, I had to dilute it a little by adding some water.
I was able to eat and drink everything just fine. I can talk without any problems, too. I find myself playing with it all the time. I move it back and forth with my tongue constantly, and people are always asking if I have food stuck in my teeth. I simply reply telling them I got my smiley pierced! I love showing people. Not many people have seen this piercing so when I show them, they are completely surprised. My mom even thinks its pretty sweet.
If you're considering any piercing, the smiley should be on your list. It's pretty much painless and it's cute as hell. It's easy to take care of and it heals in about six to eight weeks. I haven't experienced any pain at all, except for when I banged my lip this morning. But as long as your careful, this is the easiest piercing ever.
You can also put a ring through it, which will show when you smile. But if you need to hide it, like me, the bar doesn't show at all.
But always make sure you find a clean place with a good reputation. Also, research the risks of any piercing before you get anything done.