After months and months of nervously considering it, I finally decided to take the plunge and get my nipples pierced. I all of a sudden came into some money when I was in Ottawa visiting an old friend, so I decided to get pierced right away. I was walking down Rideau Street trying to decide where to go, when I went by Future Skin. I'd gotten my nostril pierced there a few years ago and they seemed decent, so I headed in. I actually would not go there again, since I've seen tattoos that they're fucked up scarily badly, but this was quite awhile ago.
At A Glance Author anonymous When Two years ago Artist can't remember her name Studio Future Skin Location Ottawa Hiding my inevitable jitters, I talked to the counter person, explained what I wanted done, and got the price, which I could afford. I had to wait a few minutes for a piercer, so I went outside for a smoke, checked out the cheezy flash on the walls, and did all the other stuff people do while waiting to get punctured.
Finally, the piercer called me in. I can't remember her name, but I do remember she was really nice. Not at all condescending or patronizing, but still took the time to explain every step of what was going on. I took off my shirt so she could clean off the piercing site. She marked the placment on each nipple, and let me check it out in a mirror. It looked fine, so we were set to go. I was still a little nervous, but I seem to calm down lots once I'm actually close to getting pierced. It starts to seem more like an eventuality and less like a scary possibility. Anticipation is the worst part, as everyone knows, so once that's minimized it gets a hell of a lot easier.
At this point, she took out some freezing, and said she saved this only for girls getting their nipples pierced. She figured guys could deal with the pain, she said, but that she liked to help out the ladies. So, she gooped on the freezing, and we were all set.
She then asked if I had one nipple that was more sensitive than the other. Apparently it's easier to pierce the more sensitive one first and get it over with, which makes sense. I thought about it for a bit and concluded that I didn't have one more sensitive nipple. Wrong.
She got all set up with the needle, made sure my breathing was regular, then pierced my left nipple. I could barely feel it (whether that was a function of the freezing or just that it didn't hurt too badly) as she put the needle through then slid the jewelry in and closed off the ring. Then, onto the right nipple. Man, was this one a different story. The piercing went fine and quickly with as much skill as the first, but did it ever fucking hurt. I was totally surprised at the pain, the first having been such a breeze. It wasn't a big deal, it was just surprising.
The piercer gave me the standard aftercare sheet, and sent me home. I dutifully cleaned the piercings for the first week, then ended up taking off to another city to go to a weekend long show/drunken party type thing out in the country. I ended up getting completely filthy, completely fucked up, and completely neglecting my new piercings. Amazingly, they got a bit irritated, but not infected or anything. I felt very lucky not to be in lots of pain, and I vowed to definitely be more careful with aftercare, and not get any more piercings done unless I was in a situation where it was possible to care for them properly. I felt pretty stupid to have neglected them that badly.
Still, the nipples healed fine, and three years later I still have them. I'm thinking about upgauging, as they're at 14, but I'm lazy and may not get around to it. They look so flimsy at this size, though, so I'd really like to change that. I had so few piercings when I got them that I didn't give any thought to what gauge I wanted them at, just that I wanted them pierced. I don't think it really occurred to me that going bigger was an option. Besides being thin, the rings are also fairly large diameter, which just accentuates the small gauge. I'm also thinking about getting barbells instead of rings, just for a change.
I'm overall very happy with these piercings, though. They make more comfortable with my breasts and like the look of them better, which is cool. Plus, I don't know if it's psychosomatic or genuine, but the piercings seemed to greatly enhance the level of sensitivity of my nipples, which is definitely a good thing.