Every few months, I get an itch for a new piercing that I think most BME readers can sympathize with. It's not for anything in particular, usually—just a nostalgia for the routine of watching a new piercing heal, getting reacquainted with a specific part of your body, and the old-fashioned enjoyment of something new and shiny to look at! The last piercing I got was back in December, and while it wasn't totally healed yet, I had been feeling that familiar urge to get something else done for quite a while. But despite that, I'd been delaying—I don't get spur of the moment anything, much less body modifications, so I wanted to wait and get something when I was certain that I wanted it.
At A Glance Author Moodeln Contact moodeln@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist Jimmy Studio 252 Tattoo Location Oberlin, OH I waffled back and forth for a long time—my friends got used to me asking "What do you think of ____ piercings?" every week or so. I was tempted by lots of them—lip piercings in particular. I've never been a huge fan of them before this year, but suddenly I was fascinated with how they looked, and thinking about how it would feel to have jewelry on my mouth. I even twisted open a chain-mail link and tried wearing it for an hour or so, just to see what I thought of how one would look. And then? I chickened out.
I mean, it's a lip piercing—pretty big statement there. And what's more, I knew my mother would have a huge problem with it. She still feels that piercings and tattoos are for convicts or white trash, and while she's at least tolerant of my other mods, I knew something this prominent would set her off. While I don't agree with her, she's someone that I love and respect a great deal, and so I wasn't sure I wanted to do something that I knew would cause so much turmoil between us.
So, I was all ready to get an eyebrow piercing. I've had them before, and I'm comfortable with them. And oddly enough, they tend to blend into my face—when I had my barbell in before, I went through an hour-long job interview with no mention of it...I finally asked at the end of it "So, will this piercing be a problem?" The woman who would end up being my boss, who had just spent sixty minutes staring at my face, looked puzzled and said "What piercing?" I had to point at the silver metal sticking out of my face before she finally saw it.
Anyway, so I headed on down to 252 Tattoo, the piercing/tattoo parlor in Oberlin. The piercer there, Jimmy, has done a few of my other piercings, and I like the guy a lot. Besides being a very cool, friendly guy, he's also damn good at what he does. In addition, he refuses to bullshit you, which is why when I mentioned that I'd had eyebrow piercings before and they had rejected, he immediately said that that was my body telling me it didn't want jewelry there. Damn.
But I was all psyched up! I couldn't just leave! I turned to my friend and asked what she thought I should get, and Jimmy piped up again saying if I was asking other people what to do to my body, then I shouldn't be getting anything done. I know, I know, I just need a second opinion! I ended up sitting for about ten minutes mulling it over...I really wanted my lip pierced. I had chickened out of it because I was afraid of what other people would think, and now I couldn't get my consolation piercing...well, that's as good a sign as any, I decided. I went for it.
The piercing wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Part of this was the piercer, I'm sure—the worst part of it for me is always when the jewelry is put through. I was fine when the needle went in; comparatively, it hurt roughly as much as my nose piercing, not as much as my rook. Then I felt a little wiggle, and braced myself for the jewelry...and Jimmy turns around and I see him coming back with the ball for my cbr. He is ridiculously fast at getting jewelry through. And yes, I tipped him—here's my mandatory reminder to TIP YOUR PIERCERS. Find a good one, stick with the good one, and for the love of god let them know that you know they're good at what they do!
I've been tremendously happy with my lip ring. I was expecting much more swelling and drooling and badness, but it's been one of the quickest healing times of any of my piercings. It was slightly red around the piercing for a few weeks, but that's gone now, and within a day or so it had stopped feeling like a fresh addition and more like a comfortable ring in my mouth. Since it's on my face, as opposed to my ears or elsewhere, it's also very hard to bang or sleep on or anything else that can cause complications (just don't get in a fistfight if you've got a new one!) A few days ago I went back in to switch the jewelry to a smaller ring (the original one had a larger diameter, to accommodate any swelling), and Jimmy asked if I wanted to keep the first one as a keepsake—apparently, I've been fiddling with it so much that I left little nibble marks all over the ring. Whoops.
In spite of the quick healing and easy procedure, though, this lip ring has been the biggest change for me out of any of my piercings. It's just up-front way more than anything else I have, and that's something that you really need to think about if you're considering getting one. EVERYONE will comment on it. Everyone. But that wasn't the big issue with me; it was my family. I finally told my mother about it about a week after I had it pierced, and to say she was upset is an understatement. My mother—who, I'll stress again, I have a very close relationship with—was so angry that she wouldn't speak to me for two days. At first, I was angry back—well, fine, screw you too!—and then I was sad myself—I mean, was I really willing to upset someone I loved immensely over a little piece of jewelry? I had a long conversation with my twin sister (who doesn't have any mods herself) during this time, and realized—yes, I was. She was trying to explain why our mom was so upset, and she sai d "I think she just doesn't see you as the kind of person who gets a lip ring. I mean, I don't either."
My reaction was what I think anyone here would have—"Well, obviously I am the kind of person who has a lip ring, because I do." And that was what really clarified things for me. This is not a little piece of jewelry; it's a way of expressing myself that's very important to me. I think lip jewelry can be beautiful and interesting and sexy, and that can be a good enough reason to get one by itself, but it's also a statement that I don't need society as a whole to approve of everything I do. I'm confident enough in myself and my abilities to have this piercing that will make some people assume things about me that aren't true, and challenging (and hopefully changing) those preconceptions is important enough to me to be willing to deal with it on an everyday basis. Not everyone who gets this piercing has to think like this—maybe all you want to do is hang outside the mall with your labret piercing and your manic panic hair dye and your hoodie, and that's a role you're comfortabl e assuming. And there is nothing wrong with that. But that's not who I am. I'm a young woman about to enter a doctorate program for English. I own a spinning wheel and love to knit. I also have one tattoo and eight piercings, including this lip ring. And all of those qualities are equally important to me in describing who I am. Maybe I don't strike some people as the kind of person who would get a lip piercing, but like I said—that isn't my problem, it's theirs for believing that stereotype to begin with. I am the kind of person who gets a lip ring. I have one. And even if I take this piercing out tomorrow, that will still be who I am.