Many days ago, I decided to get my eyebrow pierced. It seems like just yesterday, really, but it was over two years ago. Being a tender 15 years old, I figured I was on top of the world. . I was young, cool, and popular. You know, the important things in life. In the midst of a teenage crisis, I decided that it was painfully uncool to be a 'normal' looking person. In high school, so many try to be alike, but there are a few like me that struggled to make an impact in some way.
At A Glance Author jiggababe When Two years ago Studio Dragon F/X Location Edmonton, Alberta I decided the easiest way to make an impact would be to change myself. But how? I asked myself the question for about a week (which in teenageland, feels like eternity!). I figured that I'd get a piercing of some sort. The first one that came to mind was TONGUE! I thought it was pretty nifty looking, and it couldn't hurt too much. As soon as I proposed the idea to my mother I got a big, large, stinking NO, which I find to be a pretty common answer among parents about tongue piercing. My mom made up some excuse about how I was going to die if I got it done, and being pretty young and uneducated in the whole field of piercing, I believed her. Looking for a 'safe' piercing, I decided that I wanted my eyebrow done. My mom again, said no.
The next weekend we were in Edmonton, at WEM (West Edmonton Mall). There is a popular tattoo and piercing place there, called Dragon F/X. I had heard nothing but good about them, so I figured that it would be a good time to get my eyebrow done. I begged my mom so much that day that she finally gave in.
We cruised around the mall for awhile until we found Dragon F/X. If you go there now, its pretty impressive looking. Clean lines, new setup, etc. When I went there, it wasn't so nice. There was a dirty old futon couch thing in the lobby, a few ruddy photo albums containing pictures of tattoos and piercings. My mom wasn't too impressed with the whole setup. She thought it looked kind of skuzzy. I didn't really pay too much attention, because I was so excited and I would go to any lengths to get this done. I went up to the counter, and told them I wanted to get my eyebrow pierced. A lady told me to come back in about 30 minutes, when it is slightly less busy.
My mom and I wandered to a stand to buy drinks while we were waiting. I remember I had this disgusting blue slushie thing that turned my entire mouth blue. It was pretty gross. Thinking back, I really should have had a meal with some amount of substance, because I hadn't eaten anything in like 6 hours. But what did I know? I'd only had my ears pierced ever at the mall before, and hadn't even been inside a piercing or tattoo studio.
We went back eventually, and filled out all the forms. They were pretty strict about the ID, which was excellent on their part. They took both my ID, and my mom's, and asked lots of questions, I guess to make sure she was my legal guardian. Once they were all satisfied, I stood blankly in the lobby looking at the walls, eagerly awaiting my new piercing.
It seemed like a year, but the piercer came and finally got me. He probably told me his name, but I was all hyped up so I didn't really care. I remember laughing at him, because he had his pants tucked in his socks. I sat down on a doctor-type bed in this room which had a counter, sink, and a huge chest that is normally used to keep tools in. As he was getting prepared, he told me the aftercare. I was SO nervous at this point, I was shaking. He was very fast and efficient, but didn't really put me at ease. I was wondering what I had gotten myself into!
I lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Now, I have a pretty foggy memory about what happened next. He marked my eyebrow, didn't show me where he put it, and told me to tell me what I bought shopping. In mid-sentence, he poked the needle through but I definitely didn't feel it. Just as quick as the needle went through, he had the ring through and I was done. I was so shocked he did it so fast, but he was good. He tightened the ball and I jumped up to check my ring out in the mirror. I remember thinking "Its too far off my eyebrow!" but I was pretty excited and went to show my mom.
I walked out to the lobby and a bunch of people were looking at me, asking me to look at my eyebrow. I felt pretty damn cool, a bunch of kids my age were in there getting their navels pierced, and here I was with something a bit different. I was using Interac and as I went to type in my PIN, my piercer asked me if I was ok. I felt fine at the time, so I just shrugged it off. Apparently, I was as white as a ghost!
So I thank my piercer and start walking out of the studio when it hits me. "I just got a piece of metal shoved in my face". My face starts to get hot, and my mom is walking a few paces ahead of me. I start to see spots and stuff, so I tell my mom I need to sit down. We were pretty much in the middle of the mall so she asked me to wait a second and we'd find a bench. But, I just sat down on the side of a planter and just started breathing crazily. I put my head between my legs because I thought I was going to puke. I then blacked out for like 30 seconds. I woke up in a huge sweat, and then I suddenly got cold again. Hot again, Cold again. I felt like I was going to die. My mom ran to McDonalds and picked me up a Coke, but while she was gone it felt like forever. It felt like people were staring at me (which they probably were, being all white, sweating, rocking, etc in the middle of a huge mall). It was kind of creepy. My mom eventually came back, and like shoved the straw in my mouth. I got the Coke in me, and I started to feel much better. After about 5 more minutes, I was able to walk. But I tell you, that was probably the worst pain I've EVER felt in my entire life, going into shock. Worse than dislocating my shoulder. Ouch.
Anyway, for the first month I followed the aftercare directions that my piercer handed me sometime before I passed out. Soaked my eyebrow with saline 3-5 times a day, and kept my hands off it. It healed pretty nicely. However, at about 2 months, I noticed it had started to migrate. I didn't really know what was happening, because I'd never had a piercing do that before.
I left the CBR in for 3 months, when I finally changed it to a cute barbell. As I was changing it, I noticed I could see the barbell through the skin in my eyebrow. This kinda looked gross, but I started cleaning it again and didn't know what had happened. So eventually, the inevitable happened. I had to take the bad boy out. It was like a part of my body by then, and I sure missed it. Smartly, I picked the scar as it was healing. I now have a fairly large gash in my eyebrow, which is pretty noticeable, even after 2 years of healing.
So the moral of the story is, go get your eyebrow pierced. It hurts little to none, and is pretty easy to take care of (just mind the hairbrush). However, it does carry a high chance of rejection. And, if you take it out DON'T PICK IT. I was dumb, don't be dumb. :)
Thanks !
(P.S. I'd recommend Dragon F/X now, I've had work done there pretty recently and they were very friendly/clean and all that good stuff. Expensive though....)