For a long time I had been working at a job that I hated. My boss constantly argued about the smallest things. My earrings were unacceptable, my hair color was unacceptable even though I was hired with it, and I even lost my beloved septum ring to that job. When I had finally had enough and quit, I decided to treat myself to a vacation and flew out to Phoenix for a weekend to celebrate that amongst other things.
At A Glance Author Lyss Contact Lyss@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Frank Studio HTC Body Piercing Location Phoenix, AZ A few days before leaving I realized it had been a good six months since my last piercings. At the beginning of the year I had gotten my nipples done, but that is a different story. I needed a little rebellion since I had this new found freedom. I promptly searched through BME for piercing studios in Phoenix. I settled on HTC and called them up asking a few questions I had that could be answered over the phone about their shop. The girl I had on the phone was great. She answered every question and offered up extra information about the shop.
My next couple nights of unemployment were spent searching BME deciding on what to do. I had wanted snake bites for a while now, and since my job was the only thing holding me back from it, I had my heart set on getting them. So after two very long, turbulence filled plane rides, I settled myself into my hotel room, found directions, and set off with my friends to grab a quick bite and get poked.
The studio itself was amazingly clean, but without giving off that hospital impression. There wasn't a speck of dust or dirt to be found. I spent a good 20 minutes looking at their selection of carved plugs which were exquisite. The staff was totally friendly, joking around with us while we were waiting for other people to get their holes. Everyone working there had a ton of piercings which always makes me feel better about having someone put a hole in my body. I knew the staff knew what they were talking about. When it was my turn, Frank came out and we talked for a bit about what I was getting. Then we all went in to the piercing room, my friends included because they wanted to watch.
I immediately hopped up on the seat ready to go. Normally I deal with a lot of anxiety prior to being pierced, but something about the staff and the shop put me right at ease. Or maybe it had to do with me tackling and overcoming my fear of planes earlier in the day. While I was slightly nervous about all the stress I had already put my body through, I felt perfectly fine and was sure that two piercings wouldn't have any effect on my well being. Frank set up all his clean and sealed equipment then used some stuff to clean my lip, and had me rinse my mouth out. He then took the two rings and lined them up on my lip. We got really lucky and they were perfect on the first try.
He marked both the outside and inside of my lip, asked if I was ready and had me lay down. He free-hands almost all of his piercings including lips so we got right to it. He had me take one deep breath in and on the exhale pushed the needle through. Just a small pinch. One more breath in and on the exhale the jewelry was in. He popped the bead into the CBR and repeated the process on the other side. The first was a mild pain, and while the second was worse, it wasn't by much. Frank joked with me about the pain of the second one saying "You know why it hurts more the second time around? Your body doesn't believe you're stupid enough to do it again." However I do not recommend laughing at jokes with a needle in your lip.
I sat up slowly and he gave me the run of the mill after care instructions. Salt water soaks, rinse with an alcohol free anti-bacterial mouthwash, no touching, and no playing with the rings. With the exception of if the balls ended up inside my mouth to move them back out with clean hands. I felt fine after that so I headed out to the front and paid. With the aftercare they give you a couple bags of sea salt which was awesome since I was on vacation and didn't pack my supply from home.
It's been a week now and they are healing amazingly well. There has been minimal swelling and only in the morning when I wake up. Eating was a bit of a problem at first, as well as drinking and smoking, but after about 3 days it's fine. Forks were the biggest issue of all. But when it comes down to it, I highly recommend HTC in Phoenix. We were all so impressed, one of my friends went back the next night to get her very first body mod. My only problem with them is they are so far away from me I can't go there all the time.