For many months, I would say, maybe a year, I have been wanting to get my lip pierced.
At A Glance Author Black<3Kat Contact i_mblunt@yahoo.com IAM Black<3Kat When It just happened Artist Luis Studio Unlimited Tattoos and Body Piercing. Location Arcadia,CA. I started my mods with a tongue piercing, then a septum, and both nipples, and I just added a new lip piercing.
You see, I was not sure if I was going to end up getting one, because I recently broke my foot, and was unemployed for many months, thus leaving me very poor. As a result I needed a job, and a lip piercing is not the most professional piercing ever. (appearance wise, as opposed to a piercing that you cant hide). In the end I did get that job, and my hiring manager, is completely tatted up. So I knew she would not mind my lip piercing.
I did a bit of research to see how I could get it done, where the placement should be and all that. I also asked my friend Dennis to let me know about his experience. He said it did not hurt much, and that it only was swollen for like 2 days or something. Actually I forgot about this piercing for about 4 months. The other day, I finally decided it was the day to do it.
On April the 29th of 2004, I went to Unlimited Tattoos and Body Piercing in Arcadia, CA. I was kind of tired, but I wanted to know if he could do it with a retainer or something, I have heard of such experiences here on BME. It was only meant as a visit, and to see if I liked that studio, one that a friend had referred me to. I was looking at my credit card, and he showed me the jewelry id be getting pierced with, and the retainer I would get in 2 weeks. You know, credit cards are soooooo bad. I was supposed to wait 2 weeks until my paycheck arrived to get my lip pierced. Yet, I saw that with ease I could get my lip pierced that day, and not have to pay for it until another month,...... that appealed to me greatly. Anyways, I felt I should have a mini celebration of life by getting myself a new piercing, just because i might have died because of cancer.
Luis, the piercer, was very nice to me. We spoke of different method of different things and all that. We both chose a suitable jewelry, one that I could put a band aid over, so that at work my district manager would not care since it was hidden. At the same time, I wanted a hoop but... Oh well maybe next time. Luis set up his little piercing tray.
He brought out a couple of pieces of jewelry that I noted were individually wrapped in their own package from being autoclaved. He had me wash my mouth with Listerine. Whoa! That stuff is killer I swear , I can only swish it in my mouth for like ten seconds.
He told me to sit back in this very comfortable chair, but I was kind of anxious and like.... I don't know feeling overall funny. He had these individual packages of um... I think iodine soaked pads, it was very compact his workplace. He cleaned my area I had chosen for piercing. First with alcohol, then with that iodine stuff... Or maybe it was the other way around? I forgot. He put the clamp oh my lip. Then I don't know I talked to much for the clamp being on my fat lip, so,... he had to redo the placement. He took out my 14 ga needle , and wammerz! He poked me. It was a very quick movement. It did not even hurt. It just felt like a painless ,warm sting. Im sorry but that's all I have to say. I wish it could have been more exciting, "some blood started squirting out and it hit my name badge"..... I don't know. Anyways, he quickly replaced the needle and stopper thingy with my piece of jewelry, which I had forgotten had a little ball at the end. Shit!
He cleaned my piercing one last time, we spoke a little. Then he gave me my aftercare page. I asked him for a business card because I would be needing it for my silly questions that I sometimes have.
For the first day, I did not know if it would be a piercing I would actually keep. As with my tongue piercing, that was a piercing that I was not going to keep, I knew that within a few months. So I hoped this one would be a keeper. But, as the swelling has gone down , I think it's a great piercing. I will definitely be keeping it. In a week and a half I will be going back to get a retainer. Then I hope to be using a lip ring soon.