Hey everyone, it's me again. I have already written about two tattoo experiences and figured it was about time to write about a piercing.
At A Glance Author Melinda Contact melinda_beach@yahoo.com IAM Tat2dMeL When Two years ago Artist ¿?¿? Studio Skin Illustrations Location Lawrence, KS Growing up, I had always wanted my belly button pierced-what little girl doesn't? I had my ears pierced when I was about four and then when I was in 5th grade I had a set of second holes done and the upper cartilage in my ear. This satisfied my "piercing craving" for a while. While staring at one of my numerous KoRn posters that I have on my wall, I realized how awesome Jonathan Davis's three eye rings were. I knew people that had eye rings but never really considered them as something I would like. After thinking for quite some time and discussing it with my mom, I decided that I was going to get my eyebrow pierced.
At the time I was only 15, a year from being legal age for a tattoo or a piercing, but we did find a place in Lawrence, KS that would pierce with parental consent--this is no longer allowed, you HAVE to be 16. I remember the car ride, we lived about 30 minutes away so I had plenty of time to worry, be excited, think about how it would look, think of the pain, and all of that good stuff. I even tried pinching my eyebrow to see if I could prepare myself for the pain-I realized later that this was pointless. We drove down the busy street, finally found a place to park, and broke my tattoo-parlor virginity as we walked into Skin Illustrations.
This place was nothing like I had ever seen before. Designs of naked women, animals, letters, symbols, and many other things lined the wall, people were hanging out in one corner of couches-smoking, talking, and looking through tattoo magazines, and a large, tattooed man stood behind a counter of body jewelry. He greeted us kindly with an English accent. My mom and I told him what I wanted and he gave us a paper to be notarized. "Take this down the street to the bank, have it signed, and come back so we can stick a needle in ya," he said and smiled.
The trip to the bank, about two stores down, seemed to take forever...I was so excited that I was going to be pierced! I think it was only 10 minutes and before I returned and was led back to the piercing room. My piercer told me to sit on the bench, looked like a doctors bench to me, as he would explain the piercing, size and type of jewelry, and cleaning of the piercing. After about 10 minutes of listening I started to wonder just how long it would be before I would actually be feeling the pain of a needle. 15 minutes..alright, opening the jewelery package. I chose a tiny silver barbell, it just seemed perfect. I handed my purse to my mom and laid down on the table. There were quite a few posters tacked up to the wall, I guess for people to concentrate on instead of the pain.
While preparing everything, my piercer talked to me and told me what he was about to do. First came the clamps. This part pinched a bit but once they were in place and he let go, it was fine. Now comes the needle. He told me to breathe in and then let it out slowly-this is the way I have been told to do all of my piercings since then. I actually did not feel a thing and did not know that I was pierced until I looked up and saw a Q-Tip wiping off the bit of blood. He told me to sit up and see how it looked. Awesome. All I could think was awesome, and it didn't even hurt! I was so proud of my piercing, I couldn't wait to go back to school, (we were on Thanksgiving break). I payed my piercer and left the store.
Before heading home, mom and I decided to walk around to some of the stores. I was still smiling ear to ear and kept having the urge to touch my eyebrow-I didn't though. All that my piercer really recommended was to clean it twice a day with good soap and water, and to maybe rub on some Witch Hazel. I had the mirror on the back of my sunvisor down the whole ride home just so I could look at my awesome eyebrow. I went back to school a few days later and got one of two comments, "Wow, that's awesome!" or "Hey, you've got something on your eye there." I have finally gotten used to that one.
Eyebrow piercings do not always look good on everyone but I would still suggest it to anyone. Especially if you want a piercing that doesn't hurt! And to think, out my 8 piercings and 8 tattoos, it all started with a simple eye ring.