At A Glance Author Maria When Three months ago Artist Noah Babcock Studio Evolution Body Piercing Location Albuquerque, NM I had this great, prosaic... thing about my first piercing all written out in my head, but seeing as how it was indeedly my first, I decided to stick with the tried and true BME experience format.
The history!
Since I was about 4 or 5, when I first really looked at a tattoo, I've wanted one – er, more than one. It hasn't been too much of a rebellious teenager thing for me, since I simply knew without question since childhood that it would happen, and my mother is a very nice chick who doesn't fight losing battles.
The inkling!
Not the inking, the inkling. I have been a faithful BME reader for 3 or 4 years because of the tattoo-related content. Obviously, I'd been exposed to the piercings, too, but they made me a bit squeamish, due to two separate, equally horrifying, instances of gun-piercings in my lobes that went very wrong. Earlier this year, however, the time was perfect for a change, and I actually wanted to do something for myself (gasp! what a thought!).
The decision!
I haven't got the slightest idea what logic there was in it, but I absolutely, undoubtedly, and without question, HAD to get something pierced. It didn't take long for me to choose my lip, 14 gauge, lower center. It was just that fast.
The research!
There was much reading, calling around, and so on, but once I found Evolution (local, clean, and piercing-only), a few days after choosing my lip as the victim, I felt quite confident that this was the place. As I was visiting another city, I sat on the idea until I arrived home the following day.
The parent-child conversation!
"How was your flight, dear?"
"Lovely, mom."
"I missed you, but I did get a lot of studying done."
"Good for you. I'm getting my lip pierced."
"You are?"
"Yes. It's either going to happen at a nice professional place that has sterilized needles and someone who knows what they're doing, or it's happening in my bathroom with a safety pin. I'd love it if I could avoid a life-threatening infection and corrective surgery, so I'll need you to sign the consent form."
*silence*
The big day!
The next day, seeing as how I had lost the ability to be patient, we drove down to Evolution and met Noah, the piercer, and I described what I wanted. He asked where I wanted it pierced, and for some reason, I said the side, just completely spontaneously, and I have never regretted it.
We continued with the ID photocopying, paperwork, aftercare instructions, and all that good important stuff. I made myself listen very carefully to the cleaning advice, which thankfully I already knew, but everything else just sort of went in one ear and out the other, in that way it does when you're really excited, or really nervous.
The pain!
There were no clamps, as a few other of Noah's victims – er, customers – have mentioned to me or in their own experiences. This was good for me, since I was vaguely expecting them, and it was one less thing to draw out the whole ordeal. Lying on the table (the doctor's kind, not the coffee kind) with a needle hanging through my lip, I thought very clearly and very simply that when I wrote up my experience, I would have to note that it hurt much more than I was expecting.
It feels distinctly like a very sharp needle going against, through, and out of one's lip.
I actually had to close my eyes, which irked me a bit, since I usually make a point of being tougher than I really am.
The jewelry insertion wasn't excruciating, and was very, very swift. Once we were done, my lip swelled slightly, but I employed a great deal of water, Advil, and sea-salt water for the first few days, and all was well. The bleeding and lymphing was heavy enough to form visible clots for about a week, after which the piercing appeared healed from the outside.
The conclusion!
I admit, I totally babied my new piercing, but 6 weeks later to the day, I changed my CBR for a round barbell (which looks attractively like a vertical labret), with no pain, lymphing, or even discomfort. Although there was some odd whitish and dark red skin growth around the ring inside of my mouth between the fourth day and maybe the end of the fifth week, there is now no change to my lip except for the hole itself, which is quite discreet, and invisible with a good retainer in (not that I like to wear one too often).
Since then, I have gotten so used to my lipring that I don't feel like myself without it. I have quite thoroughly and completely gotten over my fear of needles, had my lobes done properly in 16 gauge (by Noah, as well), and have plans to get my nipples done on my 18th birthday.