I remember when the urge to get first get pierced came up. It was rather out of the blue. I had previously had my ears pierced six or seven times since I was a little girl. Only one hole in each ear but I was always taking them out and allowing the holes to close up. High school finally came along though and reading through my yearbook, I noticed a few graduates who said their Claim To Fames were an eyebrow ring, or a tongue piercing. Well, that certainly caught my eye. I started checking out body piercing websites and really wanted to get something done. It came down to my eyebrow or my nose. Cliché, I know. My final decision came about thanks to my love of music. Daniel Johnson of Silverchair had this awesome looking eyebrow ring in his left eyebrow and I just sort of told myself that was it. That was what I had to get.
At A Glance Author Lindsay Sevenfold Contact Lindsay Sevenfold@bme.anon When Five years ago Artist Denise Studio At piercer's home Location From Ottawa, Moved to Vankleek Hill Now I had just turned 13 and I was in grade 8. My parents have always been rather conservative and immediately disliked the idea. I had been shopping around for good piercers and e-mailing them questions asking whether I'd be able to get pierced at the mere age of thirteen. My dad took little coaxing before he finally gave in and said as long as I had properly informed myself, he'd take me to get it done. My mom still didn't approve but didn't have much say in it.
Finally I stumbled upon this great place in Ottawa, Ontario (however I do not recall the name) where Denise worked. I e-mailed her, asked questions and she responded without hesitation. She said as long as my dad was there to consent, it wouldn't be a problem. The only problem was that she was moving from Ottawa to Vankleek Hill and she was going to be doing some renovating and therefore finding time to pierce was going to be a problem. She told me not to fear and that she would still in fact pierce my eyebrow. About a month rolled around before she finally told me to make my way out to Vankleek Hill to her new house that was in progress. It was winter, a couple days before Christmas so I was so amazed that she would take the time to do this for me.
I got there and got to meet her husband (who was also a piercer) and her little kiddies who were so cute! They had some friends visiting. Immediately I liked the atmosphere and felt at ease. I knew this was right. She sat me down and got me to fill out a form or two, while my dad sat at the table. Afterward when I was ready, she took me upstairs and sat me down on a doctors table. She asked me which side, I said left. She marked me and asked me to take a look. I said perfect. She showed me the ring. It was beautiful: stainless steel with a little darker colored captive bead. She clamped me and asked me to take a deep breathe in. While I was breathing out, I had realized she hadn't pierced me yet so while I struggled to keep breathing out I felt a slight pinch. That was it! She put the ring through; with the aide of pliers tightened the bead and I had my eyebrow pierced. She explained aftercare and when I was ready sent me on my way back downstairs.
Her friends immediately sought out to make sure they approved and they did indeed say "very nice." I was so pleased and oh so proud! I felt so beautiful. Originally, the piercing was supposed to cost somewhere along the lines of $45 however since Denise had to reschedule so many times she felt bad and decided to only charge for the jewelry, a mere $15. I ended up giving her a $20 tip and wished her a Merry Christmas and my dad and I were on our way.
I felt really great and couldn't help but smiling the whole car ride. I was getting really hungry though so we stopped at the Burger King along the way and ate, feeling much better afterward. I got home, went to bed. My mom got home from work not too long afterward and came right into my room, asking to see it. I do not remember her reaction but obviously it wasn't that bad, otherwise I definitely would've remembered!
Aftercare was really simple. I washed it twice a day, morning and night. The easiest was when I just did it in the shower. I merely used hand soap and it healed really quickly. It might've gotten infected once or twice but for the most part it was a really great piercing. The only problem was telling people that they couldn't touch it! I lived in a small town so they were all very curious about something so new (and shiny!)
A couple months later, I had a snowboarding accident and my eyebrow ring came close to getting itself ripped out. I decided it would be safer to go for a change and get a barbell. So when I went down to visit my grandparents in the US, I went to Hot Topic (bad idea, I know now) and bought a barbell. When I was back in Canada, I went to Ottawa and got my ring changed to a barbell. Unfortunately, the piercer thought the barbell I bought was too big and the hole was going to have to be stretched slightly. It didn't hurt but I was just annoyed. She showed me the barbell that she would've preferred putting in me and I was upset because it was that much cuter than my big one that stuck out. Oh well. I was going to have to be satisfied with what I had.
A few more snowboarding accidents later combined with the piercing migrating just resulted in me being fed up. It had been about a year and I decided it was time I retired the piercing. It took a little while to heal up and I have two tiny little scars which I couldn't be more proud of. Five years later and I still love telling the story of the eyebrow that went through quite a bit. It's a beautiful piercing and I recently went with my best friend Steph to go get hers done. Since then I've gotten my tongue and my lip pierced. No worries, there's still more to come. Definitely no regrets.