Well, well, well - here I am, sitting with a new piercing again. I see why my friends say that I get pierced weekly - pretty much because I do. Last Friday I got double nostrils, and today I did my own frowny.
At A Glance Author Melody Contact Melody@bme.anon IAM melody When It just happened Artist myself Studio the infamous bathroom Location riga, latvia How I got to it? Well, I wanted a new piercing, one that would be easy and I could perform myself, since I'm not new to self piercing, proper self piercing that is. I don't want anything except a tragus on my ears, I don't want anything on my face, I want nipple piercings yeah, but I'm not confident enough about my skills to do them myself, plus I don't have clamps yet and I'm afraid they'd turn out to be crooked if I freehand them. No navel piercings, no genital piercings, no surface piercings - that leaves me with oral piercings. Hmm. I already had my tongue done by a professional piercer and my tongue web done by myself, so I looked at what my options were - a smiley or a frowny. I wasn't too keen on a smiley plus I like private piercings, because I get them for myself, and not to be cool or original or whatever. And frowny is such a discreet piercing, it's basically invisible unless I show it off, just like tongue web - it was perfect! I went to the bathroom and examined my lower lip frenulum, then came back to the computer and looked at the pictures on BME again - people with webbing much thinner than mine had gotten it pierced so I figured mine was okay to do. Then I read some experiences, especially DIY, I was hoping to gather some useful tips from there but most of them were about how kids had pierced themselves with safety pins which isn't really something I'd want to do so I just carried on.
I went to my room, collected everything I need and went to the bathroom. I put the 14g barbell in hydrogen peroxide, although it doesn't make the surface sterile, it works well enough. Then I brushed my teeth and tongue really well, used mouthwash, washed my hands and I was all set. I put cotton pads behind my cheeks so I wouldn't drool everywhere, got the jewelery ready and opened a brand new 14g cannula needle. I held my lower lip with one hand, aligned the needle to the webbing and pushed. It slid through as if I was piercing paper! So yeah, it went through in a second, maybe two, but it didn't hurt at all. I then removed the needle from the plastic tube and inserted the curved barbell into the cannula and quickly pulled it out, leaving the barbell in the webbing. Then I screwed on the ball which was extremely easy... I thought I'd be having trouble with that like I did with the tongue web piercing, but no! It was all done in less than a minute, and with absolutely no pain. Out of everything I've had done in the past (more than 10 different piercings) this was by far the easiest piercing of them all.
After it heals I will probably put a 16g barbell in, one that has really small balls because the one I'm wearing currently is rather big, although it does look mighty fine. What's even better is that I managed to pierce it all straight - it's not even a little bit crooked, which is very satisfying. As for aftercare, I'll be using mouthwash after every meal for probably a week - that's what I did after I pierced my tongue web and it healed in virtually 2 days - I didn't even feel it then, but I'm sure it took a few more days to heal completely.
It's been about an hour now, and it doesn't hurt or anything, but I'm guessing that's a yet. I'm ready to deal with the pain or whatever I have coming.
I'm very proud of my newest addition to my mod list. This is something I'd recommend to everyone who wants some kind of oral piercing, but mind you, it's not the best thing to get if you want everyone to notice it, because unless you wear a CBR in it or run around pulling your lower lip back, they won't. Blimey. Also, please don't self pierce without proper equipment, really, if you must do it yourself, order needles and matching gauge jewelery off the internet, and forget about safety pins, sewing pins, "sharp" earrings, sterilizing your stuff by burning it with a lighter and all that punky jazz. Also - research, research, research. You can never read too many experiences, articles, FAQs and look at too many pictures. If you really want the piercing, you'll be willing to wait, and if you're not, well, maybe you shouldn't be getting it at all. And remember, even when using proper tools self piercing is rather dangerous, so you'll be better off going to a professional piercer anytime.