Ahhhhh....the joy of the needle through the flesh. Not quite. Anyone who hates needles should relate to me on this one.
At A Glance Author Erin Contact Erin@bme.anon IAM erinleighralph When A week ago Artist R.J. Studio New Tribe Location Toronto, ON I am a strong enthusiast on body mod's but I am petrified of needles. Crying and running away scared. This is the main reason I took so long to decide on finally piercing my nipples.
First off, I have both my tongue and navel pierced at 14ga, and all 6 of my earrings done at 16ga. Nothing insanely abnormal but I would like to think that I have some opinion on pain and healing. When I went home from university at Christmas I had my heart set on piercing my nipples. Aside from the various sexual benefits, I was most interested in the beauty of the piercing and also the fact that they would be hidden. Private. Only for me and those who I chose to show to see.
My parents, although not conservative would prefer that I not have visible or "unusual" piercings and I have always respected that, so I knew that my choices for my next piercing would be fairly restricted. I considered getting a vertical hood piercing mainly due to the sexual advantages. I was more concerned about the healing with that piercing and I will admit that I still wonder about what if something goes wrong? Ow. Anyways, I had been thinking about getting my nipples done for almost a year. I even made an appointment when I was home to get them done and chickened out 3 hours before. I called them up and cancelled in embarassment. That same day I went to another shop and got my navel pierced.
I came back to school a little embarassed and dissapointed since I had told so many people that I was going to get them done *don't brag about it pre-piercing, I found that it totally psyched me out.* I got my navel done the 28th of December, and I had got my tongue done approximatly 2 months prior to that. Obviously both of those piercings were at different places (The Crypt in Winnipeg and New York, New York at the Eaton Centre in Toronto) and I had yet to establish any specific relationship with "my" piercer.
Once I got back to school I recieved my IAM and BME memberships and was free to browse the site more effectively. I also found the chat to be really useful as per actual "talking" people. I read more than my share of experiences, looked at some gorgeous and some hideous pictures of nipples and was still indecisive. Mostly about the pain. Everyone mentions that the pain is fleeting, but I was pretty sure they were full of crap. I mean, my nipple is sensitive and its a huge sharp object going through it. Also, I was really concerned about breastfeeding. Although I don't have kids now I would really like to be able to breastfeed in the future. Once I was assured that breastfeeding is completely possible my thoughts of pierced nipples started to become a reality.
I told my friend that I was more seriously considering piercing my nipples and she agreed to come with me as moral support. I had already emailed several of the shops reccomended to me by people in the bme chat and my friends. I had everything planned out-I was getting 12 or 14ga barbells, I didn't care if the piercer was male and I was going to do it and not chicken out. Yay for misguided determination, if only school captivated me this way.
Saturday rolled around and my friend and I went into the city, the appointment I had made fell through so I was gonna go and just "look around" and maybe see if there were any empty appointments at another shop I had emailed.
We shopped around on Queen, and I decided to go into New Tribe to check out their standard ring diameters and to talk to the piercer. It turns out they were really not very busy. I talked to Lyz at the desk for almost an hour (kudos to her for not kicking me out) and I sat on the couch for another 20 mins psyching myself up. Finally I signed the forms, paid, got my aftercare products, and sat my ass back down to wait.
My friend tried to distract me a little and we talked about school and people we didn't like. I think it kinda helped. But I was still undeniably nervous. When R.J. called my name I got up immediatly and nervously followed him back to his room. He immediatly tried to calm my nerves: explaining all of the procedure, the aftercare, what he likes to do, and how many rejections he's had. All of this was done prior to my shirt being off which was really comforting.
When I took off my shirt he cleaned my nipples with iodine. He also mentioned that I have "small" nipples. I was already aware of this, but it turns out that the standard MALE nipple barbell was too long for me. Not extremely long but the jewlery would have to be changed to something more appropriate after a certain amount of healing. RJ Marked a dot in the centre of my nipple then drew lines to where the nipple and areola meet. He checked his lines then asked me and my friend to re-check it. We were both happy with his placement and I asked him to go ahead.
At this point I think I had totally become removed from the situation and I wasn't feeling nervous. I laid down on massage table and he clamped my nipple. The clamp didn't hurt me. I barely felt it. He asked me to breathe in deeply, then exhale as he pushed the needle through. I was shocked that the pain was so brief and minor. A definate plus. I moved over and my left nipple was clamped. Again no pain. Same process, slightly more uncomfortable than the first. This time I looked down to see the needle through my nipple. It was a definate adrenaline rush.
The jewelery was threaded through and I was good to go. RJ again reminded me off all my aftercare (wash with tea tree oil soap 2x a day and use Bacatrin 2x a day for the first week) and I left the shop.
My nipples seem to be slightly heightened as per sensation but not overly so. I beleive that it is probably the actual fear that someone might hit them that makes me more aware. But it is a nice feeling nonetheless.
It has been a week since my piercing and my nipples are healing well. I have had no discharge, no swelling and no redness. There is no longer any tenderness. The only problem that I have is that the barbells are much too long, but I am returning to have the barbells exchanged in 3 weeks.
I would DEFINATLY reccomend this piercing. It has brought new meaning to sensuality and feminity in my life.