I'm not quite sure what enticed me to piercings. I don't have any older brothers or sisters and my school friends were not into that sort of thing so it's not like I had some sort of role model to look up to. In fact, I remember the first time I stretched my lobes, it was purely by accident. I used to wear massive hoop earrings and I fell asleep with them in my ears. I woke up to find that the hoop had gone through my ear and there had been no pain whatsoever. So I switched the hoops for a 1.6mm barbell (that's 14ga to you Americans) and my love affair with modification had begun!
At A Glance Author mademoiselle Contact mademoiselle@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Reka Studio Chioko Location Camden, London (next to the Electric Ballroom) Anyway, I digress.
My mother has never been keen on my piercings. The most common question she asks is "Will you be able to get a job?" When I was 16, she would not allow me to get my ears pierced a second time. So I went to a jewellery shop in town and got them done myself. With a gun. Yes, I know guns are bad, I wish someone had told me this 4 years ago. (I removed them 4 years later because even though they had healed well, they still caused me some aggravation when I put earrings in them.) Since then, my mother and I have come a long way regarding my piercings. She showed her disdain at my scaffold piercing aged 18 and did not want me to get any more piercings done. But as I grew older, I still continued to get pierced, acquiring a tragus piercing at 19 years old. My mother relented. She knew I was becoming more responsible for myself and she couldn't stop me. So she negotiated. I could get all the piercings I wanted - as long as I didn't touch my face. That suited me very well and I got both my anti traguses pierced for my 20th birthday.
But I couldn't stop there.
The piercing itch had taken a hold of me and there was nothing I could do to stop it. One day I looked in the mirror and decided that my face was incomplete. A nose piercing would definitely have to go there. Whilst visiting a friend last October, I stopped at a very reputable piercer who did the grand job of calming my nerves. I have only been properly pierced in one place by the same person so to go to a different place where someone else was going to pierce me terrified me a little. It went well, I was impressed with everything they did and minutes later, I walked out with my left nostril pierced. Even though I was old enough to make my own decisions, I still agonised over how to tell my mother I had got my face pierced. In the end, I didn't tell her. She noticed it on the first day and remarked "So you've got your nose pierced? Good luck getting a job."
I have a feeling I am seriously going off the point. Not that I had one in the first place.
I've never been a fan of symmetry. But every time I looked in the mirror, I just knew I had to have the other nostril pierced. Friends warned me against it, saying it would not look pretty and I questioned myself over it. But I knew I could not put it off any longer and two Thursdays ago I went and got my right nostril pierced. Even though it was as painless as the first, it was quite difficult as it had to be absolutely symmetrical. Me and my piercer must've spent about 10 minutes deciding if the placement was correct or not. She then told me she was going to do the piercing freehand which was something new to me as I had done the first one using clamps. I closed my eyes and did my breathing exercises as I had been taught by my piercer every time I had got something done. I breathed in. The needle went through my nose. I breathed out. It was over. She put the jewellery in and I looked in the mirror worried that it would not be symmetrical. I needn't have worried. My piercer then ran me through the aftercare, even though she had said it to me so many times, I understood that it was a necessary procedure. After a quick look in the mirror, I was out of the piercers and on my merry way home. I am a huge fan of the LITHA method (Leave It The Hell Alone!) and have not touched my piercing apart from when "the crusties" appear. Which they haven't yet.
Now I have both my nostrils pierced and my mother has seen it and hasn't said a word. I love how we are getting somewhere on the piercing issue. I want to get an anti-eyebrow piercing on my 21st birthday in September as a "well done for passing my exams" present. Maybe one day I'll push my luck. Who knows?
My biggest worry right now is finding a part time job. Recently I went and applied for a job at a coffee shop and the lady interviewing me kept looking at my ears. I realised she was looking at my stretched lobes. Maybe I've become paranoid but I could've sworn that the moment she noticed my ears, her demeanour changed and she said she would be in touch. The next time I get turned down for a job, I'll always wonder whether it was because I wasn't right for the job or whether the employer was put off by my piercings.
This is really a message to people in my age group (16-20) who get pierced. Sure it's great to have a piercing, I know it's wonderful but sometimes you have to consider your future. It annoys me that despite the fact that I may be the best employee in the world, I may not be able to get a job due to a few bits of metal in my body. Maybe you need to think about that when you get your next piercing.