I come from a small town in upstate New York where you're either the run-of-the-mill type that never does anything outrageous or you're completely "out there" and do whatever you can do piss off the run-of-the-mill types. I decided I was sick of being average and wanted to do something cool to show that I wasn't like everyone else. Stupid, I know. But hey, when you're 15 you think any defining trait is the best thing in the world. Or at least I did. When I was 15 I decided I wanted to be somewhat "rebellious" (so I thought) and get a facial piercing. Since I needed my parents signature to get one done and I knew they wouldn't go for the more radical piercings, I opted for an eyebrow piercing. I had thought about it for a long time and couldn't decide what I wanted to get done. After some encouragement from my guy friends who assured me it would be "totally hot" I decided that's what I wanted done. My mom told me she'd "think about it." Typical. One day I came home from school and she said to me, "Go pluck your eyebrows you're going to go get it done."
At A Glance Author Krista-Comfortably Numb Contact kristaziegler@hotmail.com When N/A Artist Mike Studio Needle Wurks Location Saratoga New York Soon enough I had driven to the piercing/tattoo studio that I had heard the best things about. It's called Needle Wurks in Downtown Saratoga, NY. I grabbed my best friend Chelsea on the way and we waited in the studio. After filling out some forms and photo-copying my mom's ID, signing some papers, and picking out my jewellery, Mike, my piercer, told me we were ready. He took me to the room used for piercing and sat me down in what looked kind of like a dentist's chair. This was the first time I had gotten anything pierced aside from my multiple ear piercings. Anyway, by this time I was so nervous I was practically shaking.
I opted for a silver metal barbell rather than a ring. I had heard the benefits and drawbacks to both and finally just decided that I thought barbells looked better. I had read that curved barbells were probably the best option because the curvature worked well with the healing process. I always thought rings looked kind of ugly so I opted for the silver barbell. I think this was a good idea because cleaning was quite easy as was plucking my eyebrows.
Mike calmly explained to me what he was going to do, unwrapped all the equipment in front of me to ensure it was sterile, marked the spot with two dots and asked me to look in the mirror to see if I liked the placement. It looked good to me so I told him to go ahead. He clamped my eyebrow and after several seconds told me to start breathing in and out slowly. I grabbed my friends hand and squeezed for dear life. As he pierced I realized that it really didn't hurt much at all. Less than a shot, in fact. After he put the jewellery in he told me how to care for my new piercing. With that I let go of my friend's hand and was so excited to see how it came out. I looked in the mirror and was so happy that I had gone through with this because I thought it looked awesome. In subsequent years I've gotten many more piercings (I consider it my addiction) and I've found this to be the least painful. The cartilage piercing in my ear hurt more than my eyebrow did. In a few month s I came back and got another eyebrow piercing next to my original one. One of the major bonuses to this piercing is that very little blood is involved. I was surprised to find that I hadn't really bled at all, maybe a drop or two at most. Afterwards in school I got a lot of compliments and a lot of people who couldn't believe I had done something so "radical."
My advice to anyone thinking about getting this done is to care for your new piercing exactly as they say to and to keep cleaning it regularly. I once had a scare that mine was going to reject. Salt water soaks are the best thing I've come across for infection as well. I'm really very glad I got this done although I do miss getting my eyebrows waxed. Some people get really squeamish about waxing someone that has piercings for some reason. Also, I worry about infection from the wax. It's worth it though in my opinion. On one last note, it may sound sort of ridiculous but you may end up liking the thrill of body mods more than you know. Once I got started I realized I wanted to get everything pierced and was really jealous of people who were 18 with money to get things done whenever they wanted to. So, if you're thinking about it and you have about $50 or so, go for it.