In February 2000, I had my left nipple pierced by an awesome guy named Ryan. It was painless, expertly-done and I was very pleased with it - I still have it to this day and absolutely love it. (You can read about it on BME - it's lamely titled "My nipple piercing - yowch!"). So, when the school year ended, I went home for the summer and I showed my younger sister (Laura) my piercing. She naturally freaked out, but when I told her that I wanted the right nipple done, her interest had been sufficiently piqued to come with me on the excursion.
At A Glance Author MtnBikeGrl Contact MtnBikeGrl@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Don't remember her name Studio Two Moons (in-house) Location Soldotna, Alaska The only "real" piercing place in our vicinity is called Two Moons, and Laura just happened to have the business card in her wallet from a previous expedition with her friend. I was slightly wary having heard nothing about Two Moons before, but I stupidly figured that it would be fine--Laura told me her friend had a good experience. Anyways, we called Two Moons and got someone's house, and it turns out that the studio was closed that day, but if we wanted to drive over, they would pierce me in their house. We got directions, and even though I was seeing all kinds of red flags (how sterile can a house be? Get real...), I went along with it anyways.
We had to make up a lie to our parents (they don't even know about my first nipple piercing - heh heh), and then we left. When we arrived, the house was messy and I was having second thoughts already. However, I didn't want to back out - I figured that it would be over quickly and we could get the hell out. Boy, was I ever wrong! The woman sat me down at her kitchen table (!!!!!) and had me take my shirt off to show her my left piercing. The first thing she did was to ask where I got it done, and I told her. I shouldn't have though, because she proceeded to criticize the piercer's techniques and choice of jewelry size (a 12g CBR).
Then she brought in her husband and fellow piercer, and he looked at my nipple as well. They conferred and decided that the ring was too big, and that I needed a 14g ring instead. I picked out a 14g green ring and then she changed the ring in my left nipple. Then it was time for the actual piercing of the right nipple. I don't remember much about it, except for that she had me sitting at her kitchen table - I had been lying down in a very sterile room when Ryan had pierced my left nipple previously - and that it hurt like hell. My sister Laura was watching, and I had to look away as well - it was terrible.
The lady gave me an aftercare sheet and verbal instructions, and then packaged up my old 12g ring for me to take home. We left, and then met some friends for lunch. The entire time the piercing was throbbing and being generally irritating - a little trick that I had learned from Ryan after my first nipple piercing was to cut a hole in my bra for the ring to stop rubbing, and as soon as we got home, I did just that. Unfortunately, it ruins bras!
I had some Dial soap at home and used that to clean the new piercing with, but when I got into the shower that nite, I realized that the piercing had bled quite a bit. I was used to blood, because my first piercing had bled the first night, but it had been fine the next morning. I put on a tshirt to sleep in and went to bed, thinking that the bleeding would clot and be fine.
When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I did was to check out my piercing. Turns out, I didn't even have to look at the actual piercing - my tshirt had a bloody spot on it!! Apart from ruining a good shirt, my piercing was still bleeding, and was still painful - and believe me, seeing blood coming from your nipple is pretty damn disgusting! I was upset that I had spent money on a shitty piercing, upset that the "piercer" had criticized the beautiful job Ryan had done on my left nipple, and another thing came to my attention that morning when I was cleaning the piercing. It was off-center!!!!
Ryan had taken great pains to mark the spot carefully on my left pierce, and he had done a fantastic job - the ring was centered just right and I was really happy with how it looked, especially with the 12g ring. Now, because I had let myself get duped into buying rings that I didn't want (the green 14g pair) and a piercing that was terrible, I was pissed off at myself.
I ended up taking the piercing out after less than a week - it just wouldn't start the healing process (looking back, I might have waited a little bit longer to see if my white blood cells would start doing their job, but it also hurt a lot.....) - and also putting the 12g ring back into my left nipple. Now, 3 years later, I still have the left nipple piercing and the same 12g ring, and am still loving it. I'll never set foot into someone's house for a piercing ever again, nor will I trust Two Moons again. They butchered me (there is still scar tissue on the right nipple - since I don't plan on having children this probably won't be a problem, but I still felt really cheated!) and I hope that others will be smart enough to listen to inner signals and cautions, and get the hell out. You'll thank yourself for it later.
My advice for anybody who gets a body modification is this - check the studio and piercers out for yourself!!! Trust your gut instincts - they'll never fail out. If you feel uncomfortable, just leave!! It's that easy - I wish I had!
Thank you for reading, email me with questions through BME, and to Ryan at Body Piercing Unlimited - you're the BEST!!! Please come back!!!!!!!!!!!