The first piercing I ever wanted was my eyebrow, but I decided long ago that I would never get a facial piercing (it's hard to look respectable with metal sticking out of your face) and so I settled on my bellybutton. A couple of months later, though, I was jonesing for another one.
At A Glance Author daniela Contact daniela@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Dawn Studio Stiehl's Body Modification Station Location Ithaca, NY My friend Alex called me while I was at work and told me that he was getting his nipple pierced and I was coming with him. Well then. I told him to meet me at my house in a few minutes. The entire way home I thought about getting mine done again. When I got home, my housemate, Liz, was screaming out the window to hurry up so they could go get pierced. Wait, Liz was getting hers done again? (She had her nipple pierced before but it grew out when she was in Cambodia due to the dirty water or something.) Not wanting to be left out, I decided to get mine done too.
Off we go to Stiehl's, and I have to say that I have gotten all my piercings done there and the place is absolutely amazing. Everyone there is friendly, and the place looks more like a dentist's office than a piercing studio. They even have all the things you're not supposed to use, like piercing guns and bactine and jewelry with sharp edges, right in a case out front so you can see how awful other piercers might be.
We filled out the forms and showed ID and made the clutch decision--right or left. Alex and I got right, Liz got left because her old piercing was in her left one, and the scar tissue would help anchor it. Liz asked the piercers if they could pierce her with her old nipple ring, and the woman looked at it and said simply, "It's crap. We can't pierce you with that. Look at the ends, they're all sharp." I don't know about anyone else, but that totally impressed me.
Dawn was out designated piercer, and I like this woman a lot. She had previously pierced my boyfriend's cartilage and is a very talkative, very interesting and very professional piercer. She told us that we needed to get 12 gauge rings if we wanted to get any sexual pleasure from it, so we all agreed to that. Liz and I were going to get 5/8" diameter rings and Alex, being a small-nippled male, would get a ¼" diameter.
We all went into the back room and Liz volunteered to go first. She grimaced slightly when the clamp went on and a little more when the needle slid through, but she wasn't shouting in pain or anything so I figured everything was OK. She seemed a bit dizzy when she got up and was breathing really fast, but kept talking about the rush. Liz had brought her camera along, so I took pictures of her nipple with the needle going through and with the jewelry in. And then it was my turn.
I took of my shirt and hopped on the table, and opted to sit rather than lie down. After cleaning me and making two dots on my nipple and asking me if it looked even (looked fine to me) Dawn put the clamp on, which hurt, and told me to inhale deep and exhale slowly. On the exhale, she pushed the needle through. I won't lie, it hurt, but not nearly as much as most people probably think it would. I was actually comfortable enough to watch her push the needle through, which was very interesting. More pictures were taken and I was done. I accepted an offer of Sunny D more because I was thirsty than because I felt faint.
Alex was the last one, and his I'm-a-boy-I'm-tough pain face was pretty funny. Afterwards we took a picture of all three of us and our new jewelry.
After Dawn explained the cleaning process (salt soaks once a day, washing once a day with soap, don't touch it too much) and gave us a handy pamphlet, we paid for out piercings and got a bag with sea salt and provon (a back to school gift. Awww.)
Walking back to the car was a little difficult because my boobs kept bouncing, but I managed. All in all, I felt very little pain. The only scary part was when my nipple started spontaneously bleeding, but that was more annoying than painful (and stained my favorite gray tanktop.) On the other hand, Liz was almost dying for a while there. Her nipple bled much more than mine and she was in much more pain after. She walked around our house for two days with no shirt on because it hurt too much to wear one. I think it might have had something to do with the scar tissue. She's fine now though.
Two weeks later and we're all doing OK. My nipple is MUCH more sensitive than it used to be, and that's good in my book. Liz has stopped complaining, and Alex reports that his can be gently tugged on. Alex also says that getting your nipple pierced with two girls is a great excuse to see them without their shirts on.
In general, I would recommend this piercing. It's a lot of fun, doesn't hurt as much as you think it will, and is easily concealable. As long as you wear a bra to sleep for a week, and a tshirt after that, everything will be OK. I plan on getting a vertical hood done soon (at Stiehl's, of course) and will let you know how that goes.