Since I was ten, I've wanted my labret pierced. I don't remember what made me want one so bad, but I do remember always buying the fake rings and putting them on, parading around my house and anywhere outside of my house (just not school) with a fake ring on. I guess I wanted to be perceived as cool.
At A Glance Author Mary Contact Mary@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Corey Studio Adrenaline Location Granville I always pictured it being a circular bar ring, and I knew that during the first six months you had to have a stud so that it could heal properly.
So since I was ten, I had been trying to convince my extremely strict parents to let me go and get pierced. Of course, as most parents these days say, it was a straight out no. I was not to ask questions as to why not until I eventually got from my mother that, "they're disgusting and I don't want to look at it and that's that." So I left it alone and just kept on wearing my fake jewelry.
Fast forward to sixteen years later, beginning of August 2005, I'd been really contemplating getting my labret even though my parents were strictly against it. I didn't really believe them when they said they would rip it out, though I was freaked that they would kick me out or at least beat me up for going against them.
My friend Craig wanted to get both his nipples done and so we decided to go together downtown to Adrenaline to get pierced for the very first time. By that time, I had already been downtown and asked a couple questions with other friends about getting a labret and knew what I wanted.
So we picked a Saturday, lied to my parents, and they dropped me off at the Central Sky Train Station. It was a nice sunny day and I was freaking nervous. We decided to shop around downtown before getting pierced, but really, we were just getting up the nerve.
We got something to eat at a cheap dollar pizza place, because it's always best to get pierced with a full stomach. You don't want to be passing out or anything once you've got a needle through your skin.
We went into Adrenaline on Granville and the place had some patrons walking around, browsing at tattoos and clothing. We talked to this short, pixie of a girl (I can't remember her name) but she had the cutest piercings on her face and she was really polite and easy to talk to. She gave us papers to fill out and told us it would be a couple minutes.
I wasn't as nervous when I was waiting, because I was looking at the book of piercings that they had from pictures of previous clients. A lot of them looked really good so I was feeling more confident about coming to Adrenaline to get pierced for the first time.
My friend Craig went in first and I went with him and held his hand as he got both his nipples done. They turned out really good, except for the fact that my hand was crushed! Next up was me and as Corey (the piercer) cleaned up and got everything sterile again. He put the chair up to a sitting position and told me to take a seat. He was also easy to talk to, and easy to look at. He joked about how he finally got new gloves that fit him as he opened up a new box of gloves and got out a felt and tooth pick to mark my lip.
We fiddled around for a couple minutes but it felt like hours as he placed and re-placed the dot, it kept on being crooked and I could tell he was getting agitated by the fact that he couldn't get it placed right. Finally he got it, and we were both reasonably happy with where it was placed. He told me to not worry to just breathe and on the count of three he would stick the needle in.
I closed my eyes and started breathing, he told me to relax so I did (I was more nervous when I had my eyes open.) On the count of three he stuck the needle in and it didn't hurt at all! I opened my eyes and said "that was it?"
All he had to do was put the actual jewelry in; I had picked out a nice silver little stud with a pink jewel in the center. That was the only time it actually hurt, but it was more like a bee sting then anything else.
He talked to us both about how to clean it and asked me to repeat to him how to clean it, just to be sure I had heard. I looked at my piercing in the mirror, and it seemed a bit off to one side, and he seemed to notice as well but said it was just due to swelling that it looked crooked so I didn't worry about it.
I was really ecstatic about finally being pierced and we paid at the counter, leaving a tip as well. The girl who I had talked to when we came in said that the labret really suited me and that made me even happier.
When I went home, my mom calmly talked to me and told me not to mention it to my dad, who would likely freak out and kill me. My mom couldn't do anything about me getting pierced so she just accepted it. My dad didn't even notice until a couple months later when my mother told him.
It healed with no problems and I really liked it. The only thing that I ended up disliking about the whole thing was that my piercing was crooked; it was still off to the centre. Also, he pierced it low, which I hadn't noticed at the time so I couldn't put a cbb in and the fact that when filling out my forms, I had asked the gauge to be 14, it turned out he had put in a 16g without telling me, so I had bought a bunch of 14g jewelry that I couldn't use and couldn't return either.
Though the whole process was a lot of fun, and I don't regret getting it done, I've taken it out and am waiting for it to heal up so I can go and get it pierced again..just preferably at another location. I am also planning on getting my nostril pierced. You live and you learn folks.