| At A Glance | |
| Author | Karli |
| Contact | karlibitess@hotmail.com |
| When | A week ago |
| Artist | V. J. |
| Studio | V. J.'s Tattoo Gallery |
| Location | Chandler, Arizona |
About two weeks ago, I told my good friend, Luke, about wanting my lip pierced on either side, AKA snakebites. He said if I wanted he'd do it after school, and I of course anxiously agreed. He told me I had to get ahold of a safety pin, so I got one from my favorite teacher, Mr. Zahner. He had no idea what I was going to do with it and thought it was bizarre that I wanted one, but he still gave me one. He was probably suspicious, since he knew I was interested in getting my lip pierced.
So after school, Luke sterilized the safety pin with his lighter, and grabbed my lip. I flipped out, and said I'd have to wait until tomorrow, and I went home. Tomorrow morning came, and as I walked up to my "crowd" Luke emerged and said "Karli, I'm piercing your lip right now." So I gave him the safety pin and he sterilized it again. My friends gathered round and I held on to my friends Jasmyn and Jacob's wrists tightly, and shut my eyes tight. Luke grabbed my lip and my eyes watered, and I started counting in my head. (That's what I do when I'm scared. Lame, I know.) He started to apply pressure and I thought I was going to break my friends's wrists. "Ohmygod Ohmygod Ohmygod.." I repeated over and over. A second later the safety pin was through, and a tiny amount of blood trickled out. I covered my mouth and went over to my friends Caitee and Sean and then uncovered it. "Karli, you have a giant safety pin through your lip!" Caitee shouted. I laughed, and it hurt, so I immediately stopped. I went over to Luke and gave him the earring post out of my ear, he sterilized it, and shoved it through with a little difficulty. I got out my compact mirror and looked; and I was horrified. He had pierced it sideways; so the back was visible even while my mouth was closed. I hit Luke over the head, and he apologized profusely.
Something made me decide to keep it in, though. Probably the thought that this was my only chance to have a piercing of my dreams; if I took it out, that'd be it. So I went throughout the day, shocking my teachers as I went from class to class. "I never thought you'd do that, gross!" They'd say. I'd just shrug it off. I was dreading the end of the day, when I'd have to face my mom. That end-of-the-day bell chimed, and I groaned, but went outside. I was relieved when I saw my step-dad behind the wheel, but it was only a minor relief. He'd be taking me home to meet my fate... As I got into the car, he was like, "Oh. My. God. You're mother is going to kill you." I told him not to tell, but I knew he would. Half way home Jacob and Sean called (Sean being the boy I am madly in love with...) and I told them that I was on my way home. We talked and then I got home and ran to my room to talk to them some more. Then, I heard my mom shouting, and knew he had told her. I braced myself and continued talking to them, scared for my life. My mom burst in, "IS IT REAL?!?!?! OH MY GOD ITS REAL" and took my phone, snapped it shut, and slammed the door. She came in seconds later, gave me a burning look, and slammed the door yet again.
I sat in my room crying for some time, before she came in and sat down. We talked for awhile, and we established that I am not doing this to fit in, or to seem cool, as she thought. (Although a tiny bit of me wanted to impress Sean.) So we decided that next week, she would take me to a professional to do my lip, and only one side, for now. I'm actually glad now that I took it out, because with some researching I realized that the safety pin was smaller than an 18G, which is bad.
So last Tuesday, I stayed home from school, and we decided on V. J.'s Tattoo Gallery. It was the only place in my area that we found that would pierce a minor. On the way there, my mom kept telling me, "Karli, this is the only piercing you're going to ever get, besides maybe the other side of your lip, right?" And I assured her that it was. Honestly, I do think that all other piercings are very ugly, except for left and right labret.
We got there, and discovered it was in the ghetto. My mom was a little nervous, but we still went in. The place was fairly nice, the only visible dirtiness was a candy wrapper on the floor, produced by the 3 children that lived with the piercers, V. J. and his wife. The place turned out to be their business as well as their house. Tattoo designs covered all walls, as well as signatures from people who had been pierced or tattooed. We filled out forms and then V. J. went in the back of the place (AKA his house) to wash up and get supplies. I sat down in one of the piercing chairs and watched him get out new clamps, a piercing needle, cleaning solution, a marking pen, and a 16G labret stud. I wanted a ring, but he said I needed a stud for now, and to come back in about a week and he'd put a captive bead ring on.
So he marked a spot, and asked me if it was alright. It was a little too low for me (I wanted it right on or below my lip-line) so he moved it up a little. I was satisfied, so he clamped my lips, (which didn't hurt at all, I don't know what people are saying about that) and lined up the needle. As when Luke did it, I shut my eyes and started counting. I didn't scream or anything as he did it, my eyes just watered but no tears fell. It was over in about 10 seconds, and he screwed the ball on. I got up and thanked him, my mom paid, and we left. My mom commented that he didn't really give us aftercare instructions except to clean it three times a day, which she thought was a little odd. That got me pretty paranoid, but then I thought that maybe he saw my mom had her ears pierced a lot and I had my lobes, so maybe he assumed we knew how to treat it.
When my step-mom saw it she tried to rip it out (literally) but I got away from her. Now I'm just avoiding her, because I'm sure as hell not taking it out after having to go through it twice. My dad is a little perplexed as to why I'd want something sharp poked through my lip, but he hasn't asked me to take it out. I was very surprised at that, and he had actually argued with my step-mom about it, saying I should take it out whenever I wanted and on my own terms, not hers.
I'm sure I'll eventually take it out when I'm older, but for now, it makes me feel pretty. I know people will now see me as a depressed teen with my only form of consoling myself is getting piercings, but I see it as just something to set me off from my classmates. (no one I know at my school has any facial piercings, except my best friend, Sarah, who has a side labret also)
I'd recommend a side labret to anyone, as it is and always will be my favorite piercing. I'd also suggest, though, to get it done professionally! If you have a friend do it or do it yourself, your on you're way to an infection or a botched job.
Here's a pic, you can kind of see the piercing.
