I have been interested in modification of the body since high school. Before I even got any modifications of my own I was doing whole art projects on the subject. Originally my parents had told me I wasn't allowed any piercings till I was at least 18 (when I didn't need consent). So it kind of went out of my mind for a while. Until one day I went with a few friends because on of them wanted to get his get his anti tragus pierced at a local studio, which was then called Perforations. Whilst we where there I asked how old I would need to be to get a piercing without parental consent, they told me I needed to be sixteen (it was my sixteenth birthday coming up in a couple of months). Suddenly piercing was back on the agenda!
At A Glance Author Cherry Bomb Contact Cherry Bomb@bme.anon IAM Cherry_Bomb When Six months ago Artist Rob Studio MetaFlesh Location Brighton, UK Now that I could get a piercing I could start deciding what I wanted. I never even considered getting a lip piercing until someone told me that it would look good on me. After thinking about it for only about 30 seconds I knew I was going to get it.
In the next two months I did more research than I've done on anything before in my life. I spent hours looking up pictures, experiences, jewellery and information on the Internet. I wanted to know every single detail from healing times and after care to risks and the comparison of different jewellery. Well my birthday came and I was finally ready, but I still waited a few weeks to make sure this was what I really wanted.
So one day in the summer holidays I went down to Perforations (now called MetaFlesh) with my friend (and now piercing buddy) Sadie. I was so nervous. When we arrived I asked for a labret with a stud, the person behind the counter asked if I wanted it done to the side or central. I had chosen central. I had to read and sign a consent form and also show my ID. I had taken my passport because I was also going on holiday the same day. We waited and talked a while in the waiting room and after some time, which seemed far too short it was my turn.
Rob showed us down into the "green room". It was a fairly small room but by no means cramped, it looked and smelt very clean. At this point I felt very nervous and I thought that I was going to back out of it all together. But thankfully I kept myself composed. I sat down, Rob cleaned his hands and put gloves on, he checked out my lip and marked up where it was central and asked me to take a look in the mirror. It looked fairly central to me, maybe just a bit off so I asked for it to be moved a fraction to the left. When Rob had remarked my lip he opened up fresh needles and clamps. I remember being told that the clamps might feel uncomfortable when they go on, but I didn't find them uncomfortable, in fact on the contrary I found them quite comfortable. The needle went in quite slowly when puncturing the 1st layer of skin then a fast jab as it went through and out the other side. The sensation I got was extremely sharp but I wouldn't call it painful by any stretch of the imagination. When the labret stud was put in place I couldn't even feel it. Although immediately after the piercing I did feel a bit faint, I needed just to focus for a couple of minuets as my hearing and vision went back to normal. Apart from that every thing was fine. Sadie asked me if it hurt, I told her it was relatively painless but she didn't really believe me.
After Rob had cleaned up we made our way upstairs and I paid the £25 and was given an aftercare leaflet and instructed to come back in two weeks to get the labret stud changed. Afterwards we went into town and I got a milkshake just to get some more sugar into my blood stream.
I didn't get any noticeable swelling thankfully. I was a bit obsessive with the after care, in fact a bit too obsessive! Instead of doing as they had told me too and wash twice a day with warm salt water, I cleaned it twice a day with TCP. This wasn't a good move; it was too abrasive and just irritated the skin around the piercing. I didn't find out that this was the cause of the redness until I went back to get my labret stud changed. As soon as I changed back to the saltwater the results were noticeable. After a while I stated wearing a rather large black spike instead of a ball for most occasions.
This was my 1st piercing that when I had done opened up my mind to alternative ideas and ways of existing. I feel that if I had not of got this done none of my other piercings would of followed and I would have been a far less confident person.