I've always found nipple piercings very intriguing. For a long time, I'd say at least a year, before I decided to get mine pierced, I was thinking seriously about it. I had read about the pros and cons of the piercings, and finally decided that I would do it, when I had a chance. The town that I'm from doesn't have a piercing shop, and the nearest one was an hour away, and that one is kind of sketchy. When I planned my vacation for the summer of 2000, I never once thought that I would finally be able to get one of the piercings that I had wanted for a long time.
At A Glance Author miss_snaggy Contact miss_snaggy@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Lindsay Location Chilliwack, BC
In July of 2000, I took 2 weeks off of work to go to visit my friend Julie with my friend Leah. Julie lived in Agassiz, BC, which is a little town in the Fraser Valley that smells like cow poop, but it's only about a 20 minute drive to Chilliwack, the nearest city. It was on our second day of the vacation that Julie and Leah both expressed interest in getting their navel's pierced. That's when I dropped the bomb of telling them that I wanted pierced nipples. I hadn't told them, so needless to say, they were shocked. Leah is terribly afraid of needles, and as much as she wanted a pierced navel, she was absolutely terrified to go through with it. Julie and I struck a deal with her. If we both got the piercings we wanted done, she would. In hindsight, watching us get pierced probably made her more nervous, but it didn't show. We looked up a couple of piercing shops and called them to ask questions about the procedure, jewelery, and, of course, prices. Only one shop even took th e time to answer our questions. After getting directions to there, we went there to check the place out in person.
I was instantly at ease there. The shop was very clean, well lit, and had a calm atmosphere. There were a couple of piercers working that day, but since Lindsay was who we had talked to on the phone, that's who we went to. She was very professional, and we decided that we would go ahead and get poked.
Julie went first. Needle in, jewelery in, done like dinner. No problems at all. By this time Leah was looking a little queasy. My turn next. I decided to only get one done, mostly for financial reasons. So, I stripped from the waist up, and Lindsay prepped Mr. Righty. After I was marked and the jewelery was picked out (14 gauge 5/8" CBR), I laid down on that ugly and uncomfortable table that most piercers seem to have and waited. Poor Julie was holding my left hand and Leah was rubbing my ankles. Lindsay told me to take 3 deep breaths, and to my surprise, she poked at 2. Holy hell, did it ever hurt. I tensed right up and squeezed Julie's hand a little too hard. I said "OW!" very loudly and everyone in the lobby heard me. Once the needle was out and the jewelery was in, it was fine. Minimal bleeding, but I got sterile gauze to stick in my bra just in case. Then it was Leah's turn. Same as Julie, no problems and no pain, which made her happy. Lindsay recommended Bactine to cle an with, and it worked fine for all of us. I should mention that Linsday was very clean, using new gloves for marking and piercing and cleaning the areas to be pierced. We were all very impressed and said so to her. We all paid, tipped and left, and I was getting some strange looks from the people who had heard me howl. I can only imagine what they thought I had pierced. It felt damn good to spray the Bactine on my poor nipple when I cleaned it later on that day. She said to clean our piercings 3-4 times a day, which we did religiously. Having the others there helped us all to remember.
Mr. Righty was healing nicely. By October, I was cleaning it in the shower with a mild soap and I was having no problems at all. I was feeling somewhat lopsided, so I thought that it was about time to get a matching pair. I was going to Agassiz again, to see Julie, and went back to see Linsday to get Mr. Lefty pierced. This time I was much more prepared for the pain, so I never squeezed the life out of Julie's hand this time. No problems with the procedure, either. I used the same aftercare as I had with the first piercing, because it worked well for me. You know the saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I must say, it was good to have the matched set. I loved looking in the mirror and seeing my pierced twins.
After several months, the twins were healed and I washed them in the shower with the same soap I used on the rest of me. I also use one of those poufy shower thingies. One day, I guess I was a little too rushed in the shower, because I wasn't as careful as I usually am around my piercings. My shower pouf got caught on my left piercing, and proceeded to tear it out. Not all the way, but enough that the ring was held in my a tiny, tiny piece of skin. My poor, poor nipple. That was the single most painful thing that I had ever experienced to this day. Heck, I have yet to go through anything more painful. It bled like mad, and my whole boob was sore. It was terrible. I got out of the shower and very carefully took the piercing out. I was still bleeding, so I taped some sterile gauze to myself and took some Advil and went to lie down for a bit. I left Mr. Righty in, but a little while later, that one got snagged onto my pouf as well. I didn't tear this one out, thank God. After m y shower that day, I took my right piercing out as well, because I didn't ever want to go through that again.
So, I was without my much-loved nipple rings, and it was because of my own carelessness. My left nipple healed, but it left a hell of a scar. This was definitely a lesson learned the hard way by me, and I wouldn't wish that sort of pain on my worst enemy. I'd like to go on record as saying that nipple rings are great, and if you want them, then go for it. It hurts to get done, but the pain doesn't last much past the initial procedure. Also, beware the dangers of shower poufs, because I never want anyone to experience the pain of getting their piercing ripped out by their own doing.