I've always loved looking at piercings and tattoos and body mod in general so when I turned 18, I was eager to get something done. I had to wait until I was 18 because my parents just thought it would be better if I thought about it extensively before I got anything done. Although I've already designed 2 tattoos for myself, I haven't had the funds yet to get any so I decided a piercing would be better for now.
At A Glance Author Stephy Contact xBassGoddessx@aol.com When It just happened Artist Reverend Cooper Studio Endorphinden Location Iowa City, Iowa Originally I wanted my lip pierced but I play clarinet so that may turn out to be a problem later on, so I decided on my right eyebrow. My ears hold 9 piercings (most of which have been stretched) so I thought the eyebrow would be a nice change of pace.
I told my mom the day of and she wasn't thrilled but I knew she would get over it. The funny thing is, it wasn't really the fact that I was getting my eyebrow pierced, it was more that I was spending money on it. Oh well. The week before I had talked to my friend Abbey and she agreed that we would go the following week sometime. There are a few piercing studios where I live but there were tons more choices down in Iowa City which was only 25 minutes away.
About 2 weeks before this, I had gone with Abbey to get her septum pierced at this studio called Endorphinden and I loved the atmosphere and the cleanliness of the place. Another reason I was drawn to this place was because they told me that they would do piercings with barbells (which a lot of other studios wouldn't do) and that's what I wanted if I got an eyebrow piercing. I guess a lot of other piercers in the area don't pierce with barbells because they don't know how to tell people to take care of them properly. When I was there with Abbey the first time, I got to talking the piercer there named Reverend Cooper. He sounded very experienced and friendly and so I knew this was the place.
I drove over to Abbey's house on Wednesday and picked her up so we could go down and get pierced. It took us a while but we eventually ended up at Endorphinden around 4 pm. We walked in and talked to the lady at the counter (I think her name is Beth) and she told us that the piercer was on break but he'd be in shortly. There were two other guys in the place but they were just hanging out. We talked with the lady at the counter while I filled out the forms and Abbey picked up some salts for her septum.
The piercer (Reverend Cooper) came in and asked what I wanted. I told him my eyebrow and he filled out the rest of the form. He handed me the aftercare sheet and a bag of sea salts. He explained to me exactly how to clean the piercing (mix 4 tbsp of sea salts with a gallon of distilled water – lasts 30 days – pour a little bit of solution into paper cup, warm up and clean with Q-Tip and paper towels) and how long it would take to heal and whatnot. Since I was getting the barbell, it would cost a little more than usual. Rev. Cooper gave me $10 off so it only cost $40 all together.
While he went and got everything set up, Abbey and I just stood around and talked with everyone at the counter. One of the 2 guys there asked me if he could watch me get pierced and I said "sure, why not". Rev. Cooper came back out and led us into the piercing room. It was white and very well lit and looked like a doctor's office. I sat down in the chair (looks like a dentist chair) as he put on the doctor's mask thing and rubber gloves while he explained and showed me that everything had been sterilized and a person could tell. Everything was in packages and completely sterile. He asked me if I wanted a spike or a ball on the barbell and I told him the ball. Meanwhile, Abbey and the other guy took a seat in the room. He asked me what eyebrow I wanted it in and where and then told me to lean back and relax in the chair and massaged my eyebrow and wipe it down with this yellow stuff (I think it was to clean the eyebrow). He marked 2 dots on my eyebrow then had me g et up and look at the placement. I was happy with the dots so I went and sat back down in the chair.
He put on a fresh pair of rubber gloves and now it was time for the clamps which I had read (from stories on BME) were the most uncomfortable part. I barely even noticed they were there. Rev. Cooper told me to start taking in deep breaths: in through the nose, out through the mouth. I had taken about 3 when I felt the needle go through. The actual piercing was pretty painless. I won't lie and tell you that I didn't feel a thing because I did, but it was mostly just pressure I felt. Pain really doesn't affect me very much anyways. I had my eyes closed the whole time so I really didn't know what was all going on. I couldn't even feel him putting in the jewelry, maybe my eyebrow went numb or something. He had a little bit of a hard time putting the ball in the top but that's because the barbell wasn't threaded so it worked a little differently. So while he was messing with the barbell, he was making sure I was still doing okay and just talking to me about my job and stuff. He was finally finished and made sure that I saw him throw the used needle away (it was inserted into some cork).
,p> I got up, checked out the piercing and was extremely happy with it. It was an 18 gauge titanium barbell and it looked great. Afterwards, I headed to the counter and paid for everything. I took my sea salts and instruction sheet and headed home with Abbey. The rest of the day, I was a teeny bit sore and had a headache but the next day I felt nothing at all. It's very easy to clean and take care of. I love my eyebrow piercing and can't wait to go back and get something else done!