| At A Glance | |
| Author | ChasM |
| Contact | Chasm@ProjectPhalanx.com |
| When | A month ago |
| Artist | Robert |
| Studio | American Graffiti |
| Location | Davis, CA |
One day I was walking down the street, and it hit me. "I'd like to pierce right there" *Spencer points awkwardly...*
That's how it all began. And from there it grew. I mentioned it to my dad: "Why would you want to do something stupid like that?"
Judged from the beginning. But my parents are great, so I challenged him, and eventually...VERY eventually, he said he would let me, and my mom agreed to sign the forms and stuff. In the meantime, I researched. Ended up talking to a yo-yo child from TN who had his eyebrow and tongue done. "Just go to BME At 1st I was startled, it seemed like so much stimulation for my sheltered mind. But that changed quickly as I explored deeper into the depth. It was still a lot of stimulation, but it became less of a shock and more of an intense interest. So I read what I found, and quite a bit more at that. And I decided it was what I wanted. A labret that is.
So then the day came. October 10th. My girlfriend happened to be staying with me, mostly because my birthday was the next day, and down to American Graffiti we went. My little brother and my mom came too, out of curiosity and necessity (in that order). And into the studio we went. In front of me I was presented with a tall red counter, behind it I could see a guy sleeping on the doctorly chair in the background, then closer to me was a guy sitting on a stool getting a tattoo on his back. Closer still stood a guy, who immediately barked "No children in here" at my mom, I assume so she'd tell my little brother to leave.
"Not even on this side of the counter?" my mom retorted. A few paranoid glances were followed with "I guess it's ok...nobody is watching..." in which the remainder of the sentence was mutated into mumbling. My turn! I told him I'd like to have my 'la-bret' done. He said somewhat snobbishly 'A la-BRAY'. I didn't think I was wrong, nor did I feel it was necessary to argue. He then asked for the Ids, birth certificate, and all that. Filled out the papers and I signed in numerous places. The guy then called out for Robert, who just so happened to be the sleeping guy in the back. He walked to the front, and welcomed me with a smile and a hand shake "I'm Robert...we're doing your labret, right? (he too pronounced it 'la-bray')". I'm unsure at this point most of what exactly happened next, so due to memory constraints and length I'll just summarize over what I remember.
I sat down on the doctorly table, and he started talking to me, I think he was telling me what he was doing, but I was a bit nervous and don't recall exactly what he said. He did have gloves on, and did have me wash with Listerine. Everything seemed very clean...he was working on a small table which was covered in a fresh disposable material of some sort. He was really nice though, seemed very knowledgeable and friendly, especially in comparison to the counter crew. And so eventually he marked my chin. I went in the mirror, asked him to lower it, and so he did. Again I looked, and it was nicely placed. Not piercing through the butt of my chin, but right next to it. He grabbed some jewelry, asked me if the ball size was ok, or if I wanted a spike. I liked what he picked for me. Then he told me to come ask mom how it looked. He said it just like that, cute I though. She really didn't care enough to look to hard, but said it looked fine. She was a bit shaken up, as were my little bro and girlfriend, sitting outside all worried looking. Back to the table we went.
He told me he was going to clamp my lip, and he did. I barely remember after that, he might have asked me to breathe, but I can't say for sure. A poke, if that. Some inserting. "Take a look". And I did. The shaft looked huge, and he said it was 3/8" to take care of swelling, and I could downsize in 4 weeks. So he took me back to mom, and explained aftercare by summarizing what was on a pamphlet he gave to me. I had to sit down due to lightheadedness, but otherwise he seemed to know what was going on. Mom said he talked too fast. And that was that.
Since then it has been about 7 weeks. At 4 weeks I went to see him again, this time they had to call him on his cell phone. I guess it's not too popular a place. He looked at it and told me it would be a waste of money to downsize, as it was barely too long. I didn't agree at 1st, but later by looking at it myself I realized what he was saying. So goes life. Otherwise, it seems to have healed fine. I've taken it out a few times to shave or stare at the hole in my chin, and each time it has gone back in no problem.
Since then I've gone back to the studio to stretch my ears. Every time the desk person has been unhelpful, but Robert has been really great, so I think I'll continue going back to him and ignore the other kids. I'd recommend him, even though I have little experience, he just sent me good vibes.
That is all.
