I'm not quite sure what made me want to get my monroe. I work at the local mall at a store called Torrid, which has been described as "fat girl Hot Topic", and every day I see many people with the same piercings... eyebrows, labrets, nostrils, ears of course... and I wanted to be a little bit different. I already had the following piercings: 5 ears piercings in each ear, ranging from 14 gauge to 0 gauge; both of my traguses (or is it tragi, like cactus is to cacti? really I'm not sure); my tongue, the product of rebellion at the age of 14); and my left eyebrow pierced twice, one right next to the other. The girls I work with have labrets, ear gauges, and nose piercings, so of course they were out of the question; I wanted to be different.
At A Glance Author SpookyTattooBoo Contact spookytattooboo@aol.com When A month ago Studio Unforgiven Skin Location Gary, IN I can't say that I totally trusted the guy who did my monroe. He owns this shop that is attached to his house, and you can hear his television blaring in the other room when you walk in, like you're a visitor in his home and you are intruding in his house. I had heard a horror story from one of my friends whose brother went to this guy to get both of his eyebrows pierced; the guy pierced one eyebrow, took off his gloves, ate a sandwich, put his gloves back on, and pierced the other eyebrow. I was a little bit iffy after hearing the story, but he only charges $25 for every piercing, and working at the mall makes me a poor girl. But as all good little boys and girls know, if you're going to have a stranger put a hole in your body, you should get his or her information first... a portfolio, references from friends, etc.
I walked and his apprentice took down my information. He did not ask me for ID, but I heard this was common practice in the shop. All the rebel 12 year-olds in my town go to this guy to piss off their parents with a shiny ring through various parts of their young bodies. Since I was 18, not being carded was not a big deal. But if I had known about this place a couple of years earlier, I would have gone to him earlier. I asked the apprentice a few questions, and he was nice about answering them. I slyly checked out the surroundings, looking for an autoclave and proper hazardous waste and sharp object recepticals. They looked good to me, so I payed the guy my $25.
I sat in the chair and waited for the piercer to get off the phone. The whole shop is just one big room: when you walk in, there is a wall to your right with tattoo flash on it. To the right is a long row of leather chairs for clients to wait. In front of the door is the display case with a few trite pieces of jewelry on the shelves. the chair is behind the case, and on the back wall is are shelves with his tattoo equipment. The autoclave is on the wall all the way to the left. Next to the autoclave is the door to this guy's house. There was a gaggle of underage girls waiting to get their first body piercings: bellybutton piercings all around!!! Nothing says individuality like going with ten of your closest friends so you can all get the same piercings!! They were all sitting gossiping and waiting for their other friends to show up. I was a little stressed out, and I told them that if they didn't shut the hell up while I was getting pierced, there would be a throw- down in the parking lot afterwards. I'm a big girl. They quieted down. When he was done talking on the phone, the piercer entered the room; he slapped some gloves on and got to work. He showed me that his needle was sterilized. He removed it from the package and set it on the counter. He got out some lube and the proper jewelry. He asked me if I had any questions, and he explained the after care procedures to me. After he pierced my lip, it throbbed. The pain was minimal. For some reason I thought there would be blood, but there was no blood. He slipped the jewelry in and I was done. He had me stand up to look at it and to see if I would be too dizzy to drive. I thought I was OK, but he asked me to sit down for a while. We sat and chatted for a while. After about ten minutes, I was free to go.
I would have to say that the monroe is my favorite piercing that I have. Although I did have some cleaning issues (after the hole healed, I developed a lovely pimple behind the ball. Hot stuff right there... trust me people, learn to take care of your piercings!!!), it is still my favorite. It has relieved my fear of oral piercings... well not really oral piercings, but lip piercings.. I would really like to get a medusa, labret, and possibly center lip above the labret. We'll see. But for now, I love my metal beauty mark!!!