I wanted to have my lip pierced since the age of 14, but my mother wouldn't allow it. As the years went by the thought left my head and I was happy with my plain and boring lip, until a few weeks ago when the thought came back. I realised that I am now 17 and needed something to jazz up my face! A friend of mine works at Sunderland Body Art and a close friend recently got her tongue pierced there by the world record holder Charlie Wilson and everything seemed great about the place.
At A Glance Author Gav Clark Contact gav021288@hotmail.com When A week ago Artist Abigaile Studio Sunderland Body Art Location Sunderland, North East England I got out of work slightly early on the Saturday and met up with my friend who was coming with me while I got pierced. We walked around Sunderland for a while before making our way to the studio. Once in the studio I was greeted by the friendly face of Abigail, an old friend of mine and 'Saturday girl' of the studio. There were two men behind the counter, Steve and Paul the tattooists. They were very friendly and inviting and had a bit laugh with us before we started with the paperwork. I filled in forms and took a seat while waiting for my turn to go. The waiting room had newspaper cut outs of when Charlie broke the world record for the most piercing done in one session. There were books of tattoo designs and magazines to read and different jewellery in display cabinets on the walls. It was a very nice and friendly environment indeed. After 5 minutes or so of waiting Abigail lead me upstairs into the piercing room and asked me a few questions, sat me down and explained what was going to happen. She cleaned her hands and lower arms, put on a pair of gloves and got out her equipment and made me feel very comfortable and in safe hands. Everything was clean and explained in a clear and detailed way, I was surprisingly calm for my first needle piercing in my opinion!
She then marked out a spot on my bottom lip in the middle and placed a ring on and asked if I liked how it looked, and we all agreed that it looked smashing. The ring was then sealed in a bag and I was told that I would have that one put in my lip in about a week or so after swelling had stopped and things.
Now the fun part... she took the clamps and clamped my lip, told me to take a deep breath and as I was breathing out she would pierce me. I breathed out and then *stab*. The needle going in didn't hurt much at all, just a second or two of sharp pain then a tingling sensation in my bottom lip and chin. She then told me she was fitting the jewellery and it was going to be pretty uncomfortable, which it was. After putting the ring in and putting the ball on, she had a quite concerned look on her face. She then looked pretty disappointed in herself, which was starting to make me pretty worried. Then she told me that something had gone wrong and it had gone slightly off centre and the piercing was wonky. She apologised quite a few times and said that she hadn't messed up a piercing in a long time, and it's typical to be a friend that she messes up! I wasn't too bothered by this to be honest; I knew she wasn't bad at her job, other wise she wouldn't be working there. She took the ring out and held a piece of tissue to my lip tightly to stop the bleeding, which wasn't a lot. After a couple of minutes she asked if I was ready, to which I replied yes! She then proceeded to clamp my lip again. Same as last time, I took a deep breath and she told me to breathe out and then *stab*. Second time the needle went through felt the same as the first, nothing worse. Putting the ring in for the second time was slightly more uncomfortable than the first time but wasn't anything I can't deal with.
Although I went as white as a ghost after the second time and almost passed out, it was a good experience and I enjoyed it. She gave me some sugary sweets to suck on while going over the aftercare and told me to come back in about a week to get the smaller ring put in. My lip is in the middle of the swelling process at the minute but it looks very good! Abigail also gave me £5 off for being a student even though I didn't have a voucher; I think she felt bad for having to pierce me twice.