I never intended this story to be about spiritual satisfaction when I got my lip pierced, but I have a feeling it might be.
At A Glance Author Momentary_Seizure Contact punkposs101@hotmail.com IAM Momentary_Seizure When A week ago Artist Jim Studio Plug Location Liecester, England *
Ever since I was 12 I had an overwhelming urge to get my lip pierced. As a twelve year old, I wasn't really into piercings in a way that would leave me begging for hours upon end to my parents to let me get my helix pierced with a gun or whatever normal 12 year olds are supposed to do. After I got my lobes pierced at 5, I always dreamed of having piercings all up my lobes and helix maybe a psychologist would analyse this as the planting of a proverbial seed in my mind, but I don't know, I just thought it would look 'cool' but then the idea got lost as I grew up... unlike the idea of a hole just under my lower lip.
So jumping back to when I was twelve, my parents dismissed this as pre-teen demanding and asked me to think about it, hoping I'd lose the idea and ask for something else. Skip forward to middle fourteen and I started asking again. I'd just had my second lobes done and my first helix with a needle, you'll be pleased to know and it looked like piercings had had an effect on me.
Talks with my father about infections and ugly swelling and jobs later in life played a big part in my lead up to being a fifteen year old. His arguments were that I wouldn't be able to get a job, people would look at me funny, I'd have a horrible scar and people might not like kissing me. The list went on and yet, as always, I had a returning argument, pushing my point and using information gathered from BME to help me. Eventually, around March 2005, after I had my tongue web pierced, we had another one of our in depth conversations about it and came to an agreement I could get it pierced at the start of summer, providing that I'm completely responsible for anything bad happening, I wear a tiny stud AND I get my mum to OK it.
Convincing my mother was a whole new task. Hating modification and not knowing about my tattoo or tongue web, I decided to brave it and ask her, getting her in a good mood and explaining about my compromise with my dad. After a few months of her thinking and my subtle hint dropping she got into the frame of mind where it was either I give up or she does. It was obvious which way around it was going to be.
Right from when I was OK-ed over getting my lip pierced, I knew exactly where I was going to go Plug in Leicester. The piercer Jim had done my tongue web just a few months ago and I was very happy with the outcome and the 'bedside manner' that most BME experience reviews comment upon. I'd been into town the week before as my friend wanted to ask about a horizontal lip piercing that she'd seen on the image pages and I wanted to check about mine I'm ok with wearing a stud but initially I would loved to have it pierced with a ring. Jim told me that piercing with the intention to wear a ring and piercing with intention to wear a stud were rather different and that he'd have to have a proper look at my lip and my desired placement when I came in the week afterwards.
So Friday 29th July came and I'd planned on going into Plug at 11am. I met my friend in town and then my mother and her fiancιe a few minutes later. Our three minute walk to the studio felt amazing and terrifying all in the same breath. My mother and Mark were lagging behind, hating the fact that she was allowing me to let a stranger make a hole in her daughters face. Me and my friend were chattering away and getting all excited, discussing anything to take my mind off the imminent arrival of ourselves at the studio, yet the conversation always came back to what could only be described as mild hysteria in my case.
We arrived just after 11 and the tattoo artist who was setting up for a client that was outside said that Jim would be there in about 20 minutes but we were welcome to wait or come back. My mum decided that while I was killing myself in anticipation, she'd go and get her new phone, leaving me with my friend in the studio. We decided to wait on the park bench style seating just outside and wait for the arrival of Jim and my mother.
At about 11.25, Jim arrived and spoke to me outside, saying he'd set up and then we'd have a proper talk. The nerves really started to kick in now and we made our way to the seating inside, looking at the tattooed pages on the walls and discussing why anyone would want some of the tattoos. Jim came out and for about 5 minutes we discussed placement and how he'd pierce it, what type of rings he would use and what size and more importantly, he reassured me he only uses titanium my allergy to surgical steel proving a problem in healing helix and my recent retiring helix/lobe type piercing. Jim told me he was ready and I said I had to wait for my mum.
Twenty gut wrenching minutes later she arrived and I went into the back room and sat on the dentist style chair, shaking. My friend kindly was taking photos for me so she was playing with the camera, catching the worried expression on my face and my nervous laughter. Jim showed me the ring and told me that he would use a 10mm/1.6mm CBR to allow for swelling, but not to be offensively big which would probably hinder, rather than help my healing. Jim and I were talking about BME experience reviews and how a friend emailed him the link to my tongue web story as I told him that many people praised him for his septum piercing abilities and this lightened the mood and made me feel more at ease, much like he did when I went in for my tongue web.
He cleaned the left side of my lower lip with a sterile solution and slipped the ring over my lip to see if I liked the placement. The three of us looked at it closely and agreed that it was probably the best place for it to be so he lifted the ring slightly and marked it with a purple dot. I then looked at the dot again and was slightly concerned by how low it was I wanted it to be rather close to my lip. He said it would be just a bit higher than that and drew another mark to show this. I was more pleased this time and watched Jim open the sterile 14g needle packet and smiled at me. He moved closer to me with the needle and asked me to put my legs straight so I didn't kick him, probably as much for his safety as mine. Amy wanted to take as many pictures as she could and it seemed that Jim wanted to make sure he looked good in the photos, which we all had a laugh about.
The needle touched my skin and I gripped the bottom of the chair tightly. I felt the needle break the skin and I closed my eyes and gripped my teeth tightly. A slight groan escaped through my teeth as the needle was removed and the casing trimmed down. I felt my eyes sting slightly and tried to blink back any tears that wanted to escape. Again, this is the point where I'm supposed to say 'well, it is all peoples personal pain limitations etc.' and so I will. For me personally it hurt when I got my helix pierced, so it isn't a good thing to base it on. I'm ok with strong dull pains but sharp and quick pains make my eyes water. It didn't hurt as such; it was just a huge pinch which hurt for a few seconds. The ring was threaded into the end of the casing and pulled through my lip, the casing tugging slightly and bringing the pain back. The ball was clipped on in no time at all and I was all done. All previous pain had died and I jumped up and looked in the mirror, still trembling.
The smile on my face would have been broader if I had dared, but I think it was apparent that I was madly in love with this new addition already. I thanked Jim profusely as he handed me a drink of water that made me tremble a whole lot less. We went over aftercare as I continued to stare at my beautiful ring in the mirror and talked about me going back in around 6 weeks to get my stud put in. I then went outside to show my mum and paid Jim, cursing my lack of money to tip with. The next few hours were wonderful; I loved the feeling of the tiny piece of metal on the left side of my mouth and I smiled all the way home.
Even though I only got it pierced on Friday (Today being Tuesday) I feel it has been here forever. I love the look of it and I've had about 10 minutes of pain over the whole few days I've had it, which I'm exceedingly happy about. Cleaning with salt water and Listerine has been very successful; as has been keeping a small pot of Vaseline in my pocket to make sure I'm not licking my lips too much. I'm now able to move my ring, though I'm trying to limit this so I don't risk irritating it or scratching the still fresh wound. And again, even though I've only had it a short while, I can't imagine it not being there and hope that I never have to loose it. I'm in love with the placement, the feel of it and especially how happy it's made me feel. Being an overly self conscious person, I now don't mind if people look at me because it's made me feel better than I have in a long time as most people on IAM have said how natural the placement looks on me.
Though most people recommend the piercing they've just received, I also recommend Jim more than anything. He said that he pierces quite a few people from outside of Leicester so if you're anywhere near Leicester and need a good quality piercer, I'd recommend paying Jim a visit.