Explaining how my horizontal works is something I've done 100 times since I got the piercing, so this isn't too hard.
At A Glance Author sponge Contact sponge@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Louise Studio Cosmetics Plus Location Chermside, Australia My horizontal is a single curved bar that goes through the center of my lip, very much like a vertical labret, only horizontally.
It gives the appearance of two balls randomly sitting next to each other in the middle of my lip.
I'd never seen the piercing on any people out and about in my city, so I assumed that it wasn't that popular. This was perfect for me, because I wanted something that not everyone already had.
It wasn't a spontaneous decision, I thought about it for quite a while. I'd already had two vertical labrets and they healed well, and weren't painful to get pierced. Because no matter how many times I say that a piercing doesn't hurt, it damn well does. It's a needle, being pushed through your skin. And a lip is damn sensitive. So I wanted to think it through, I'd hate to back out of a piercing on the day, I'd just feel stupid.
So after a couple of weeks squeezing that part of my lip and cringing, I finally decided to get it done at Cosmetics Plus at Chermside. The piercer there, Louise, had done all of my other piercings, so I trusted her with this one.
The process was very professional, unlike the reputation for Cosmetics Plus suggests. She lined it up, I looked at it in the mirror.
Looked perfect.
She got me to lie down so I wasn't going to jerk away when the needle came at me. I have a problem with doing that.
Now that it was lined up, she was ready to do the piercing. I braced myself and got those initial jittery nerves.
She used clamps, and I think they were to most painful part of the piercing. The needle going through I didn't really notice.
But putting the jewellery in was horrible. It felt so odd and I was bleeding quite a bit.
There was a dull throb for a few minutes after the piercing and I felt a little light headed, which had never happened to me after a piercing before. But after sitting for a few moments while Louise explained the after care, I was fine.
I checked it out in the mirror. My lip wasn't swollen like most of my piercings normally do. It was fine.
I left the store and went to get a cold drink.
I found that drinking out of a straw was the damn near impossible, and not exactly advised for after this type of piercing. I had to do it out of the side of my mouth.
The healing process for this was fine. For a couple of mornings I woke up with a little blood on my lip, but other than that it was ok. Laughing hard and smiling big was limited for about 2 weeks after the piercing was done though.
A month after I had it done, it was finally healed perfectly. Unfortunately I went to bed and the ball fell off and the bar fell out. And it healed over night. By the next morning I couldn't get the bar back in.
But this piercing I loved, so I decided to brave the needle again and get it done again.
I went back to Cosmetics Plus a few days later, because Louise knew what to do.
The procedure was the same as before, except this time the needle felt horrible.
The pain was ridiculous. No other piercing felt that way. She put the jewellery in and my lip swelled up. It didn't bleed this time. But damn it hurt. It throbbed for a good three days and I couldn't smile properly for about a week.
But now, about 5 or so months later it is healed. Its grown out a little bit and gone from a 12mm piercing to an 8mm. But its fine. Changing the bars over has to be the weirdest feeling ever, much like changing a tongue bar for the first time.
I'm glad I got it done the second time, it is an awesome piercing and I love the slight shock factor it gives when people find that it goes horizontally through the lip.
I've had other piercings put around it to enhance it. At one stage I had a horseshoe in a labret piercing so it appeared that I had both a vertical and horizontal labret. And I'm planning to get two central labrets directly underneath the two balls in my horizontal to create a square of balls.
Overall, the piercing was an experience to be had, and though I sometimes get mocked for saying that it hurt, I'm not afraid to admit that it did. I recommend this piercing for people who want to try something a little different. Hope you enjoyed reading my experience with the horizontal lip piercing.