I had been curious about facial piercings for some time and my birthday was coming up, so I decided I was going to have something done, but I wasn't quite sure what. My husband dropped me off at House of Tattoo! where I had a chat with Beauty, the piercer who was working that day, about some of the possibilities that sounded interesting to me. I could have added some upper lobe piercings (new lobe piercings had been my requested gifts for Longest Night and my last birthday), but I wanted something unusual to me, something I didn't already have.
At A Glance Author girlndocs Contact girlndocs@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist "Beauty" Studio House of Tattoo! Location Tacoma, WA I liked a septum piercing, but Beauty mentioned that people who tend to be bothered by the feeling of "stuff" in their noses might not have good experiences with nose piercings, so I decided against it. The other option I'd entertained was a lip piercing, not a labret but a ring around the lower lip. I'd never seen one of those in real life before, but after discussing it with Beauty I decided that was what I wanted to go with. I liked that she took so much time with me to talk about the pros and cons, and was totally patient with my hemming and hawing as I thought out loud about it.
I'd wanted to have a birthday dinner out, so we arranged for me to come back in 2 hours to have the piercing done. On the way back in the car I was becoming really nervous – this was my first experience being pierced in an actual studio with an actual needle – so I spent most of the drive with my eyes closed, breathing deeply and slowly. I was very calm by the time we arrived at the studio and already had some endorphins kicking in from the purposeful breathing.
I can't remember for sure if Beauty had me rinse my mouth out thoroughly, but I think she must have. Then I went into the piercing area and sat down while she selected the jewelry – a 14g CBR. At the time, I thought I might want to end up with a continuous ring, but she explained that those were best for after the piercing healed. She slipped the ring onto my lip so I could look in the mirror and make sure I liked it, then marked the spot to pierce with a marker and slipped the ring on again so I could affirm that it was in the right place. Then she laid out her instruments, changing her gloves a lot and laying everything where I could see it.
My husband sat next to me on one side and held my hand while I breathed deeply and Beauty sat on my other side and clamped my lip into the forceps. She picked up the needle and had me breathe in and out to the count of three – and then pushed the needle through.
I felt a "pop" and a very sharp intense pain. I grunted in surprise and a little bit of split-second panic and reached up with my free hand, but the needle was through. And the pain was gone! If I had known the intensity and short duration of the pain in advance I wouldn't have been nearly as afraid. It was so quick. I was pleasantly shocked that as she manipulated the lip to insert and close my ring, there was no pain at all. My ring was in and Beauty went over the aftercare instructions with me, gave me a packet of sea salt for soaks, and we said goodbye.
On the way home we stopped at the drugstore to pick up the correct kind of mouthwash and I'm sure the people there thought I was drunk or high. I had a huge endorphin rush and wasn't very coordinated or self-conscious. I had the giggles.
The worst time with the new ring was the first 48 hours. During the day after the piercing, especially, it was swollen and irritatingly sore and I wished I could just take it out and have done with it, but I didn't want to do that because then all the money and effort of the piercing would have been a waste. I think that time was worse than the actual piercing because it went on and on, bugging me. Warm sea salt soaks helped a lot, though.
Something like a week after the piercing I went back to Beauty because I was concerned that it was migrating. It wasn't, but I had been playing with the ring – moving it back and forth with my tongue – and irritating the surrounding inner lip so it had kind of developed a split where the ring rested. At Beauty's suggestion I swapped the ring for a barbell and that is what I have today. I bought a larger ball for it about a year ago, so it would be more visible, and I love it. I still have not seen more than about 4 people who have the same piercing – as opposed to the dozens I've seen with nose, eyebrow and labret piercings – and I like that a lot. I feel that the piercing really enhances my face and adds to my beauty in an exotic way (my husband likes it too). I would definitely do it again.