At A Glance
Author	Anna
Contact	Anna@bme.anon
When	A month ago
Location	Ireland

Let's see. I never really wanted an eyebrow piercing, actually, until the day I got it.

My parents and I had been walking around Dublin and stumbled upon a little market. We browsed the stands, and stopped at a piercing one. I had been planning on getting a lip piercing soon, but my work wouldn't allow it...so I really wasn't expecting to get anything done. The little stand looked kind of awkward and amateur, as well.

I contemplated getting my eyebrow done, just for the endorphin rush. I looked over the jewelry on display and talked to a very old man with a thick accent about coming back after lunch.

I tried to eat, but I was getting impatient. I forced myself, though, so that I wouldn't feel weak after getting it done.

I came back and there was an enormous group of kids all watching their friend get his nipple pierced. I guess you don't have to be 18/have a parent with you to get pierced in Ireland, seeing as how they were all young teenagers. Upon seeing their friend's piercing all cleaned up, they all decided to get something done, too. The old man shook his head and pointed at me...dooming me, basically, to an hour of being sworn at in Spanish and an abundant supply of dirty looks.

My dad came into the back nook with me. There was a chair and my red-faced piercer. I now realize that it was pretty stupid to not look and make sure there was an autoclave, certification of his piercing abilities, a sterile room, etc., etc. But...we were leaving Dublin in a few hours and I was in a frenzied rush. Not a good thing, definitely, but I was lucky.

He didn't walk me through the process at all, which should have also been suspicious, but my dad (who's a doctor) said everything was very sanitary and safe. I don't recall much - him dabbing a number of liquids on my eyebrow and the area around it, marking the dots, clamping the area, and saying...'I'm not piercing it yet, darling' - and then him jamming the needle through. (What is that, some sort of fear-reducing method? It's bullshit, that's what it is.) I was alarmed, but I have a great pain threshold, so it was fine. He slipped the ring in (which I think is a captive bead ring, but I have no idea what gauge - he really didn't tell me anything about it - ugh) and dabbed at a healthy amount of blood with his Q-tip ("cotton buds" in Ireland). I looked in the mirror and it was perfect, surprisingly. Not too shallow, wonderful placement - a great job done.

He started the explain the aftercare process to me...but his accent was strong enough so that I honestly didn't understand a word he said. In response to my blank stare, he gave me a sheet that vaguely outlined using saline or salt water to clean it and that 'puss' (no, not PUS - it's puss, apparently, haha) is normal. I was a little worried about it, since the definition of 'migration' was, 'When your piercing pushes itself out of your skin, leaving a big mess and closing up the hole - can happen at any time.' I now know this to be a not-very-accurate definition, but oh well.

I was shaking a bit as we left, and was fired with more dirty looks from the Puerto Rican kids, but was still very energized.

So far, I'm almost worried about how well it's healing. I clean it two times a day with saline and warm water. After the first three days, all of the dried blood/crust was completely gone. I haven't experienced any more crust/pus/ANYTHING! I wonder if my piercing isn't healing at all or if it's already fully healed. It's my left eyebrow, so I take care to only sleep on my right side. It's been about a month now, so I've stepped down on the cleaning regime a bit to once a day. I've dabbed some lavender essential oil on a couple times, because I've heard it speeds up healing, but I just felt a very unpleasant itching/stinging and washed it off soon after. I went swimming in a pool once with it in, against better judgement, but it was fine.

I was at a music festival about a week ago where my friend informed me that there was some dried blood around each hole. I think it was because I was incredibly stoned and had been pushing my face into a pillow in some random girl's tent numerous times. Yeah, don't do that - heh. I cleaned it up when I got home, though, and it's all good again. I seem to be incredibly lucky with this piercing.

I'm really happy with the way it looks. It fits with my face perfectly and I don't even notice it.

I wouldn't advocate getting pierced at such a non-reliable-looking place, but it turned out alright for me.

Remember - be safe, be clean, and take good care of your piercing.