I got my ears pierced when I was 5 years old. I loved them. Over the years to come, the number grew and grew. By the time I was 13, I had 4 holes in each ear. I used to think that that was a lot. Little did I know that soon I would have 17 holes in my body. Anyway, back on track. After getting my ears pierced numerous times, I decided that I wanted to do one myself.
At A Glance Author Alyssa Contact piercemepretty00@yahoo.com When N/A Artist Friend (Jessica) Studio My bathroom Location My house That's really when my obsession took off. I ended up piercing my ears 3 more times each. Along the way I had also gotten my navel and my nostril pierced. I soon began to pierce my friend's ears and what not. The more I did it, the more comfortable I felt.
So I was sitting around one day. Total number of piercings was 16 at that moment. I was thinking about what else I could get done. I chose my eyebrow because if need be, I could hide it the easiest. After what seemed like months of begging my mom to support another piercing, and getting rejected over and over again I decided I was comfortable enough to do it myself.
So I called up my best friend that very night and told her the news. She agreed to help me and came over right away. I gathered a few cubes of ice, a needle, a circular barbell, Bactine, and a towel. I was ready.
Ironically, the circular ring that I had bought didn't quite look right in my nose. Since it was just a circular barbell, I knew that I could use it for my eyebrow.
Quick note: as much as people tell you that the ice helps, don't look into it too much. The "numbness" you get from rubbing ice on your skin fades pretty quickly into the piercing. I find that when I use ice it toughens up the skin too much, whereas when I'm piercing I like the skin to be as soft and flexible as possible. I used it to ease my mind along with Jessica's (the "piercer")(the towel was just so we could get a grip on the needle...and for blood)
I rubbed the ice along my eyebrow until I couldn't feel anything. I pinched the skin and pulled it out creating almost a ledge of skin, so that Jessica wouldn't have so much trouble piercing it. She marked the top and bottom and I held the skin the whole time. She took the needle and placed it on the mark on top. She applied pressure (more than we both thought we would have to) and the needle finally broke through the skin on the other side. It was through, but not far enough. I told her to hold the skin surrounding the needle and I would push it through further. This part was pretty painful, but it went through.
Quick note: when piercing (anything for that matter), don't be afraid to push too hard. The harder and faster you go, the less painful and messy it is.
Next came the jewelry, or so we thought. We pulled the needle out. (it's harder than you think, so be careful) and then followed it's path with the jewelry. It only went in through the top and wouldn't come out the bottom of my eyebrow. We tried and pushed over and over again. It wasn't moving at all. Pushing it began to look pretty useless so we decided we needed to pierce the bottom again to open up the hole. Eventually, we removed the jewelry and re-pierced the bottom half. This is when the process became rather painful because my eyebrow was starting to feel raw.
Anyway, we pulled the needle back out and tried once more to apply the ring. This time the jewelry went in much further. However, it still wasn't far enough. It was half way in. Jessica took the towel and wrapped it around the ring and pushed as hard as she could. It didn't budge. I worked it through the skin very slowly. (It might take a long time, but don't give up) After 30 minutes of pushing, wiggling and straining the jewelry finally popped out the bottom of my eyebrow. You could just barely see the metal. So I held the skin around the small tip of the jewelry and Jessica pushed as hard as she could again. All of the sudden we heard this loud popping noise and the bar was officially through. The skin all around the whole was raw and in so much pain.
I put Bactine around it and slept on the opposite side with my hair tied back. It came out fine and I reallllly, like it.
I continue to clean and rotate it and hope that it stays just how it is now. And I definitely...definitely don't regret it. The small pain I endured while piercing it was worth it.
By the way, when my mom saw it...she just said "Nothing surprises me with you anymore."
Just for the warning, I don't suggest you pierce anything yourself. There are a lot of risks. Personally, I was willing to risk a lot for the sake of a piercing. But that's who I am :)
Haha, good luck to you all and be careful. Have fun!