I don't want to bore you with my whole life story that leads up to me getting my eyebrow pierced (because frankly, it's not all that interesting), but I'll say a little bit about what lead up to my decision on this piercing. This was my first piercing, aside from my standard ear piercings that were done when I was about two. Originally I had planned on piercing my lip, but that didn't work out. I ran the idea past my mom and well, lets just say she didn't take it too well. She threatened to kick me out of the house if I ever did it. So I forgot about it for a while, but after a couple of months I knew that I had to do something or I just wouldn't be happy. I decided I wouldn't pierce my lip because I really couldn't afford to be kicked out of the house. There wasn't a whole lot of other piercing that I thought I would like on myself though. I started looking at different pictures. I've never really cared for eyebrow piercings on most people, but when I tried picturing it on myself, I thought it would look pretty good.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Randy Studio Extreme Tattoo and Body Piercing Location Piqua, Ohio I already knew where I was going to go. A couple of months before, when I was going to get my lip pierced, my friend had her tongue pierced and I went with her. We went to Extreme Tattoo and Body Piercing in Piqua. I'll admit that when I first walked in there, I wasn't all that impressed. There was just a counter, a couple of chairs, and a park bench in the main room. The people seemed really nice though, so I felt comfortable. Plus I wasn't the one getting pierced at the time, so I didn't really have anything to worry about.
The first day I stopped in to have my piercing done, there wasn't a piercer in at the time, so I decided to come back the next day. I was afraid I'd never come back though, because I was getting more and more nervous. I don't deal well with pain. The next day, my friend and I drove back over to Extreme and a couple of girls we went to high school with were there. One of them was just finishing with getting an ear piercing and recommended that I should have Randy do mine. That made me feel a little better.
I told Randy I wanted to have my eyebrow pierced and asked if he could use a 16g curved barbell instead of the ring, because I hate those. I've heard of some studios that will only pierce with rings because they're supposed to be easier to clean I guess. He said he didn't care for rings either and that it would be no problem. I started to fill out the paperwork. I had to laugh at the "Are you prone to fainting?" question because I passed out at the dentist once after some procedure where they had to cut into my gums. Whole other story...anyways. I marked no. As long as there was no blood I would be ok. My whole body was so stiff because I was trying to hide the fact that I was a little shaky. My friend told me I looked kind of pale.
Randy had everything set up and ready to go. I went into the back room. It was clean and professional looking. That was the least of my worries since I had been in there before and knew it was ok. I'm sure he could tell I was really nervous and was making friendly small talk while measuring my eyebrow (I think that's what he was doing at the time. It's been a while and I was so nervous, I can't remember.). He showed me that everything was new, clean, and unopened. Then he cleaned my eyebrow and marked it. He apologized for being so picky on the placement, but I had absolutely no problem with him being picky. He had me check his markings in the mirror and I thought it looked great. He cleaned my eyebrow some more and massaged it to loosen up the skin. Then came the clamp. He said it might be awkward or uncomfortable, but it didn't bother me at all. He had me take a couple of deep breaths and on the second exhale, in went the needle. Now, this is the part in everybody's story where they say how it didn't hurt a bit, or that it just felt like a pinch. I never believed any of those stories before, but that really is the best way to describe it. There wasn't any pain. It just felt like the clamp might have tightened just a little, and this is coming from a person who has not just low pain tolerance, but NO pain tolerance. I'm thinking, "Ok, so maybe that didn't hurt, but it's going to kill when he actually puts the jewelry in.' That didn't bother me either. I read so many stories where people would say that the piercer would kind of tug a little on the jewelry or fumble around with screwing on the balls. He did it really fast and easy though. No problems.
He had me sit there for a minute or so, just to make sure I was ok. Then he told me I could go check it out, so I jumped up and headed towards the mirror. I loved it. And hey guess what-- no blood, no fainting. I smiled. After showing me that he was throwing everything away, we headed out to the counter. He went over the whole cleaning and taking care of it process and gave me a little pamphlet. Clean it once a day with a mild antimicrobial or germicidal medicated soap like Satin or Provon. Also do a sea salt soak once a day. My friend checked it out and she liked it. I paid him and gave him a nice tip. Then we were out of there.
The piercing didn't bother me at all the first day. There didn't seem to be any swelling. The next morning I forgot about it when I woke up and hit it pretty good when I laid my arm over my forehead. It didn't really hurt so much, but it did bruise. It bled a little that night. Other than that, I've had no problems. It's almost fully healed now and it never once got infected. Everyone said eyebrow piercings are a bitch to heal, but just keep it clean and you'll have no problems.
Oh, and in case you're wondering how my mom took it when I got home... Well, that didn't go so well. More screaming and door slamming and threatening to kick me out. She finally calmed down the next day, though. I still don't think she likes it but she has at least let it go. So all is well.
I am so happy I didn't chicken out and went through with getting my eyebrow pierced. If the only thing that is keeping you from getting it done is fear of pain, don't even worry about it. Go get it done! And I definitely recommend Randy at Extreme Tattoo.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me. :)