Although I had wanted to get my labret pierced for some time, it was an odd occurrance that finally pushed me into getting it done. I had gone into Manchester with my boyfriend to go and talk to some piercers about the risks and aftercare etc. with a view to getting it pierced in the next few weeks.
At A Glance Author Betty Contact Betty@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Nikki Studio The Studio Location Afflecks Palace, Manchester We were walking around Afflecks Palace when I bumped into a girl who was now dating my most recent ex. All the time we had been together she used to call me names and generally be mean to me with her friends whenever she saw me. Although we had never been 'friends' as such, we knew each other through a couple of mutual friends so I smiled as she walked past. She smiled back with a smug grin and proceeded to laugh as she carried on past.
My boyfriend told me not to worry but it made me feel really bad. She was a year older than me, thin and blonde and pretty, and the thing i was most envious of - she had loads of cool mods. Although my ex had always said he thought I was prettier than her, and I was happy with my new boyfriend it still upset me that at the end of the day she had 'won' him in a sense.
That was it my mind was made up. I was going to get my lip pierced and show that I wasn't as boring as my 2 year old tunnels were starting to seem. Although this was a REALLY stupid reason for getting my lip pierced, I must point out I had been wanting it done for several months and was in the process of finding out the final pieces of information I needed.
I went into The Studio where I knew a lot of people had had their piercings done with normal, or no problems afterwards, and asked about getting my lip pierced. They told me that Nikki was free to do it and showed me the bar that I would be getting it pierced with, with the option of a free change-down. Although the bar was much bigger than the bar I would eventually hope to wear in my labret, the piercer explained about the danger of a shorter bar embedding as my lip would swell considerably in the next couple of days.
Although I didn't really like the idea of walking round with a swollen lip, it didn't seem such a bad price to pay having had to contend with a swollen gland last time I stretched my ear. That was it, my mind was made up and so I payed the man and Nikki escorted me into the back room.
Although small, the room was empty save for a bed, a chair, and a set of drawers presumably containing all the equipment. Nikki wiped the bed down before asking me to sit on it, washed her hands and put on some surgical gloves. She asked me about the placement of my piercing and I told her I had decided to place it on the left hand side of my lip. She drew on a dot with a purple felt tip and asked if it was ok. I looked and it was in the perfect place. 'OK then here goes' she said.
I squeezed my boyfriends hand as she wiped my mouth with what I thought was a small antiseptic wipe, but it also contained some kind of numbing cream as she told me to hold a tissue under my mouth 'for my drool.' Nikki asked me to spit out all the remaining mixture from my mouth, trying not to swallow any because it tasted really bad. With my boyfriend laughing at me i spat into the tissue and tilted my head slightly back.
Telling me to breathe in, and pushing it through as I breathed out, I was unaware that the needle had actually gone through until I felt it with my tongue as Nikki got my jewellery ready from an antiseptic bath. Although she said it might pinch a bit as it went through, I couldn't feel a thing. 'Right you're done!' and i rushed over to the mirror to look at my new piercing. I was in love. It just looked so nice and felt so right. I couldn't thank her enough and it took us about 10 minutes to finally leave the shop.
After a couple of weeks when my piercing had healed considerably I went back to choose my new stud. I went for a small jewelled pink stud and now my piercing was complete. I did now feel really silly for getting it pierced in order to try and make my ex want me more than his new girlfriend, but it turns out they didn't work out anyway and I couldn't be happier with my new boyfriend. I saw the girl a few weeks later and she came up to me and commented on my piercing, and we found out we actually have a lot in common. She even apologised for behaving the way she did to me and I now have a great new friend to go with my great new piercing.