Ok, so I've finally decided to stop lurking and getting free advice and generally being useless to the FANTASTIC folks who run this show we call BME (wild applause!!!! you guys rock) and actually become a contributing member of our little community.
At A Glance Author Shane Contact Shane@bme.anon When Five years ago Artist I forgot Studio Warlocks Southern Dragon Tattoo and Body Piercing Location Raleigh, NC 1st: The Setup....
One day about 5-6 years ago a friend of mine and I went to Warlocks to get SOMETHING done. No, this was not a spur of the moment thing, we pretty much knew what we were going to have done (she wanted the old favorite, a navel ring, and I was going to have the nipple pierced), we just needed some time to get ourselves up to it. This was to be a first for both of us. We both had gotten tats already, now it was time to move up in the world. So, after arriving at Warlocks, we kind of wandered around the shop a bit. Warlocks is a busy shop (at least they were, and I doubt if it's changed), and we knew there would be a wait no matter what. So, at this point, as neither of us had really gotten up the nerve to take the needle yet, we looked at the flash on the walls and started to get decidedly undecided about whether or not to get inked or poked. This was pretty much just nerves talking, as you know it's NEVER a good idea to get inked on the spur of the moment. So, finally we went to the piercer and told her what we wanted. After filling out the requisite paperwork, showing I.D.'s, etc., we waited our turn. About a half hour later we get "The Call".
2nd: The Room...
Of course, The Room is your typical setup, with the "dentist chair" dominating. We decided (yeah, right, "we". I wanted Lisa to go first so I still had PLENTY of time to chicken out)that Lisa would be the first to get perforated. About this time, two girls (college students from NCSU down the road) walk out of the bathroom and past the piercing room. They asked what we were having done and if they could watch. Sure, why not? So, after measuring, marking, and all the good stuff that is the preliminary to a good endorphin rush, Lisa assumed the position in the chair. She was instructed to take a few deep breaths. This she did. The piercer told her that on the count of three she would do the piercing. 1....... 2.. Needle through. Never got to three. Not happy about this. Glad it's Lisa's navel and not my tiny little man nipple over there. Lisa's face contorted somewhat (to be honest, I thought she would yell. Lisa is VERY girlie. Nothing wrong with that, just not really conduc ive to dealing well with pain), then relaxed a bit. She was a bit white. The piercer then
wiped up a bit, installed the CBR, cleaned, dressed, and finished up. My turn.
3: Oh, shit, it's MY turn......
Now the moment you've been waiting for. The piercer instructed me to take off my shirt and sit down in the chair. I, being the gentleman that I am, complied with the request of the nice needle wielding lady.
I asked (and not in too much of a joking tone) if I was going to get some lidocaine. This was met with a low chuckle and a "sure". Enter the sweats.... Now I looked up and see this woman coming at me with a disposable razor. "WHAT THE FUCK?????" goes through my head. Turns out, she just needed to trim back the hair a bit around the nipple. "PHEW!" Then she brought out a tiny little seamstresses (did I spell that right? Is that even a word?) ruler to measure the entry and exit points. I'm in the chair trying to stall for time (why? cause I have a feeling this is going to sting somewhat and am still trying to get ready for it), asking questions, trying to make jokes (humor nearly failed me), and generally trying to calm down. The two chatterboxes over in the doorway are talking about how they had been in a few days prior for their navels and were basically just hanging around today. One of them piped up with "Why would a man get his nipple pierced?" The piercer, God love her, replied "The same reason a woman would." Now comes the clamping portion of the program. The piercer proceeded to clamp my left nipple, to which I said "Hey, wow, no one told me there would be clamps involved! My lucky day!" Trying to calm down some more, you see. The piercer told me she could do it freehand if I wanted her to, and good luck on getting it straight. I declined the offer. She asked me if I liked needles. What the...?? If not, she says, turn your head. This seemed the wisest course of action for me to follow. So, she gets me doing a few deep breaths and tells me that when she is ready she will tell me to take a deep breath, hold it for a second, and when she says let it out she will put the needle through. "Take a deep breath and hold it." "Let it out."
4th: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God.....(insert deep breath for maximum volume here).....DAMN THAT HURTS!!!! YEAH, that stings just a LITTLE! This was probably one of the more intense pains I've experienced in life.
So, anyway, I look down and there is this HUGE fucking needle in my tit. Ok, not really, it was only a 12ga, but it looks MUCH bigger when it's actually IN you. And there seemed to be A LOT of blood. Again, not really, just perspective. I say "Hey, is it normal to have blood dripping out of there?" Her answer was "Of COURSE it is, I just rammed a big ass needle through you." Seems reasonable. Ok, wipe off some of the blood, run the ring through while pulling out the needle, and take a few pics for her portfolio. I guess she hadn't done too many mens nipples. Then install the bead, snap off a few more pics, clean up, bandage, and now I'm sporting my very own nipple ring.
5th:.... Aftercare.
Now that we're done, she gives us verbal aftercare along with the written sheet. Leave bandaged for 4 hours, wash with Dial antibacterial ONLY, and put Neosporin on it. Wash 2-3 times daily with Dial, continue with the Neosporin. Do this for one week, then just wash daily with Dial.
This fucker hurt for a couple of days, with the first being the worst. A few days later I was walking in to work, and there was a pen in the inside pocket of my jacket. Every step I took, my left arm would move in such a way that the pen would push up and jog the ring. That hurt, but I noticed that it also felt kinda nice..... Yeah, I think we'll enjoy this one!
Ok, so now that I'm older and wiser and have learned and experienced more with piercing, I look back on this and think "Damn that was really crappy." The biggest thing was the aftercare. I know better now. Although, I must say I didn't have any problems with healing.
I have since retired that piercing, because I started seeing a girl who was freaked out by it. Of course, I no longer have the piercing OR the girl. Dammit! I will probably get both nipples done at some point in the future. Just need to get the nerve up to go through that pain again.
Thanks for reading my crap! I'll follow soon with my PA experience, and the other perforations that will happen in the near future.
Later.