Hey everybody. My name's Travis, and I'm 16 years old. For the last year and a half, I've wanted my eyebrow pierced with a passion. Both my parents were against it throughout that time. My mom never really gave me a reason, but my dad thought that I'd be treated differently (in a bad way) by basically everyone I'd ever meet because of it. I think the initial reason I wanted the piercing was as a source of independence and control of my own body, as I was molested by a close family member as a child. 3 months ago, my parents divorced, and I went through some rough times with my siblings and parents.
At A Glance Author Travis Contact Travis@bme.anon When A week ago Artist forgot Studio Next Body Piercing and Tattoo Location Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia I was eventually sent to boarding school this September, and came back for Christmas break. I asked my dad if perhaps I could get my eyebrow done as a Christmas present, and he seemed extremely reluctant. A few days later, he told me I could get it done, with my own money thought and not as a Christmas present. He talked to my mom, and she approved reluctantly as well. The day of my piercing, my dad got into an argument with me over something trivial half an hour prior to my appointment at Anatomic, and told me I wasn't allowed to get it done anymore. I exploded at him, as I'd been waiting a year and a half for it and he used it as a carrot so I'd be "good" (AKA obedient) around him, then pulled it away at the last moment. 10 minutes later, he kicked me out of my house. Extremely upset, I went to my mom's house, who knew how upset I was, and gave me the money to go get my eyebrow done that night and so it'd get my mind off of things.
That night, I met up with my best friends Nick and Hermes downtown, and also Nick's friend Taylor. Taylor happened to be going to Next to get her right nipple pierced, and I thought I'd tag along and get my eyebrow done if the place was clean. Hermes gave us a ride there, then he and Nick went off for a bit while me and Taylor got our piercings done. The girl at the front had an assortment of piercings and was very nice when we were filling out our papers. Unfortunately, Taylor had no ID at all and I had the wrong ID, so they called both our parents to confirm. My mom picked up right away and said I was allowed to, while they couldn't get ahold of Taylor's parents. I picked out my jewelry, a 16 gauge barbell, and went into the back piercing room with my piercer and Taylor.
The piercer showed us their autoclaves and how clean everything there was, and then gave us our aftercare speech which took about 5 minutes. Taylor eventually got ahold of her parents and left to get hers done. I lay down on the padded table (kind of like a dentists table), and she washed her hands, put on gloves, and pulled out all her equipment. Everything was packaged individually and looked very sterile. Once everything was out, she changed her gloves again, and marked where she thought it would look best (I had decided on my left eyebrow) I looked in the mirror, and it looked like awesome placing on her behalf. She then pulled the clamps out of their package, and clamped around where I was to be pierced, and tied the clamps with an elastic band. She changed her gloves once more, and gave me some gauze that was lavender scented and told me to take a few breaths of it. I immediately relaxed with the scent of the lavender, and she removed the needle from it's package. She moved around the table to my left side, and told me to take a deep breath in, then out. I expected it to go in right away, but then she told me to take another deep breath in, then out. As I did, I thought that she'd ask me to do one more and pierce me on the third time around. As I'm thinking this, as I exhale, I felt a sharp pain, then it was gone and I felt a presence in my eyebrow. I was kind of surprised that it was done, and I asked "Are you done already?" She said "Yep, I just have to put the barbell in now." She put in the barbell, which didn't hurt but felt a little weird, cleaned the piercing, then put the tools into a drawer for used tools, and told me I was all done.
I went out front and found Hermes was in the front room, and he immediately told me it looked awesome. I looked in the mirror, and instantly was overjoyed. I went and bought the epsom salts and unscented Neutrogena soap from the front desk, they asked me if it was an enjoyable experience (to which I replied of course!) and we waited for Taylor to come out. After showing me her piercing, she bought her aftercare stuff and off we went in Hermes car. We ended up having a great night with our new piercings, and I love looking in the mirror every morning at it. I've had it for about 4 days now, and I found it only painful if I accidentally bang it (which has happened twice) and if I sleep on it. There were a few crusties on the third day, but I do two half hour Epsom salt soaks per day and clean it with the soap and q-tips every morning.
To anyone considering getting their eyebrow piercing done, I would totally suggest it. Mine cost $97 canadian, which is about $75 american. My only warning is that piercings are addictive, I was planning my labret the next morning, but I'm think piercing is a healthy method of self expression and body modification. Feel free to email me or add me to your MSN at clubberlang17@hotmail.com to ask specific questions about my experience or to see some pictures.