I remember when I was about 11 or so, seeing a picture in a magazine of that guy out of "California Dreams" with his top off and both nipples pierced. I seem to remember being disgusted at the thought of it.. oh well... opinions change.
At A Glance Author smurfsmurf Artist Holli Studio Asgard Location Britain Anyway... when I was 15, my friends and I had gone to a festival. I saw a piercing stall and said "oh, how about it?". My friend blushed and told me she had already had something pierced that summer - her nipple. Naturally, I was a tad surprised, she was only 15. She told us about how she had one into a tattoo parlour and asked for it done, and rather than ask for ID the guy just took her word for it that she was 16, which is the legal age over here. Fool.
Well, to cut a long story short, I became fascinated by it, and she showed me it often, so my interest grew. It was only a year later, when my other friend told me she had had hers done that I realised I wanted mine too. Yes the words "jumping" and "bandwagon" come to mind, but I wanted it for myself. I dislike my nipples, due to their lightness in colour and I figured that if I added some interest to my body, I might feel better about myself.
So, I made arrangements to go to town and get it done. I went along with my passport (my only ID), £20, and stomach full of butterflies. There are three main piercing places in Soton, so we decided to go to the same one as my friend. I got there, filled in the little form, showed them my passport and was told to come back in 20 minutes.
After a milkshake and some comforting words from my friend, we returned to the shop and the guy behind the counter told the piercer she had a nipple to do before her break. She swore quite loudly, which made me somewhat nervous, but i plodded into the backroom with my friend.
When we got in there, it wasn't too bad. She asked me if wanted to know a "nipple fact", which was something about them rotating... hmmm. Anyway, I stood in front of her with my arms by my side and she marked on my nipple where she was going to do it. Then, she told me to lie down on the little bed/seat thingy, and she began talking about the sterilisation process. I was shown several instruments and the needle packet being opened. Then I lay back and she put the clamp on my nipple. My friend stood holding my hand and I stared at the ceiling, then the clamp, then the ceiling again. There was a poster of those yellow smiling faces, which was quite cute, so I looked at that for a bit, and then down at my clamped nipple. The piercer started spraying some sort of stuff on there, and said something about it being like a can being sprayed... which helped me to relax. The she proceeded to stick the needle through and I'll be perfectly honest, it was not at all as I expected. The pain was very small, and almost... sensual. It got a bit much when she was pulling out the needle with the little bar still in there, but apart from that, it was Ok. She put on a bandage, and I sat up and got off the bed. A bit of a mistake.
I started feeling dizzy, and I had a ringing in my ears, and unfortunately she was explaining the aftercare whilst I was trying not to pass out. She wrote down most of the important stuff on the leaflet, and I left feeling slightly ill, but happy at the same time. The piercing ached for about an hour, but then (with the help of some ibuprofen) it was fine. And has been ever since. It really hasn't hurt at all, which I find strangely unsettling. I am totally in love with it, and although my parents don't know about it, and they won't either, I am going to have some more. I'm planning on my tongue web in a few weeks, and also my ears a few more times. Maybe if I lose weight, my naval too.
I personally think body modification is a good way of expressing yourself. I think tattoos can be beautiful, and also think that getting mods is no different then dressing individually or having a personal taste in music. Well, theoretically anyway. My main concern for myself is that I didn't do much research on nipple piercing before I had it done, and therefore my age (16) hadn't come into it. I'm hoping that if I look after them properly, they'll be alright when I'm growing, which I realise now I will still do. I also realise that most of the people who know more about this than I do will think I got it too early, and perhaps I did, but I guess I didn't realise it would be an issue.
Anyway, I do like it a lot, and I hope it will be one of many.
xxxxx
p.s – BME rocks!