I am happy. My life is going well at the moment. After having Laparoscopic Gastric Banding Surgery in 2002, and getting a good job, I am really looking forward to my 39th birthday coming up. It's been about five years since I've been pierced or tattooed and I've been thinking about having something done again. I've lost 23 kilos (50 pounds) in the last two years and my health is relatively good. My Lupus has been quiet for the past few months and my self-esteem could use a bit of a boost. I decided that I needed to reward myself for being so good and losing the weight, and give myself a birthday present. Something other than more food. I'm a strange woman though. I hate shopping for clothes and shoes and handbags and jewellery. When you're my size, it's hard to find anything that looks attractive without it looking like a tent or the kind of rings you put through cows noses.
At A Glance Author Cactus Witch Contact Cactus Witch@bme.anon IAM CactusWitch When A month ago Artist Lori St. Leone Studio Vogue Body Piercing Location Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia So I found the BME site on the Internet. I submitted my story about my nose piercing that was done several years ago, and was granted access and a free web page. I initially joined for research purposes, but I ended up making a lot of friends in the month or so I've been online and finding a real sense of community, among some very caring people.
I also did a lot of reading of other's experiences, and looking at photos. Surprisingly I found quite a few Big Beautiful Women (BBW) out there with tattoos and piercings who were absolutely glorious and proud of it! I've never been very shy myself, although I must confess that I am quite conservative, while trying hard to look like I'm not.
Ok, so I needed a treat and a birthday present to myself that would make me feel like the BBW my family always thought I was. I initially wanted an ear cartilage piercing. You know, the kind every other woman on the corner seems to have. The little silver or gold ring hanging just outside their ear, lying smartly against the edge. Yes, I wanted to look like everybody else. I had no idea what the proper name for the piercing was; I just liked the way it looked on other women.
After making friends with a local body piercer, Lori St. Leone, on the IAM web site, I asked her about some piercing types. Between chatting about our lives in general and body piercing, I decided to pop into the studio and have another chat in person.
So I went to Vogue Body Piercing in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, where I live. I had my nose pierced there before, and I know they specialise in just body piercing, so it made sense to go back there again. It was under new ownership and the new staff was very friendly and helpful. And Lori worked there. When I stopped in one day on my lunch break, Lori was busy with another customer, so I spoke to Janine, the shop owner, and told her what I wanted. She had a look at my ear and said that the cartilage on the outer ring of my ear was very thick and I may want to re-think what kind of piercing I wanted done. She suggested a tragus piercing.
I walked out disappointed but determined to have my ear pierced again and decided to have another look at photos on the BME site. What the heck was a tragus?! Ok, I needed to get more knowledgeable about ear anatomy so I could ask some intelligent questions and decide what I want in proper language. More research.
The more I read experiences and looked at tragus piercings, the more I liked them. They look very feminine and more conservative than some of the other ear cartilage piercings. Ok, so I try to be wild, but I'm just a dork and a little miss homebody conservative white bread woman. As much as I hate to admit it.
I also started looking at nipple piercings, of all things. I saw quite a few ladies with large breasts and nipple piercings and I really liked the way it looked. Again, I went to Lori, as well as the IAM web site, to ask about nipple piercings. How much, compared to other piercings, did they hurt to have done? Would they look right on somebody large breasted? Would they restrict lactation and breast-feeding should I ever get pregnant? What kind of after care did they require? After getting very satisfactory answers: About the same, yes, no, I had a chat with my husband, Glenn. He is not happy about me having a lot of body piercings. But he is very supportive and said that I could do what I wanted and he would live with my decision, as my life partner.
So now I felt guilty for wanting my nipples pierced. He has always been a 'breast man' and I didn't want to take away something he really enjoys about my female anatomy. So I decided to just have one pierced. That way we'd both be happy. I had also decided I wanted a tragus piercing as I really liked the way it looked.
Two months prior to the actual piercing, I was ready to go. All except for the money. One of our cats, our boy Bandit, got sick. After numerous trips to the Vet, and several bottles of medication and injections later, he passed away due to a congenital heart defect, and we're still paying off the bill. I had also spoken with my doctor (GP) about possibly getting more body piercings. He said that my Lupus was quiet at the moment, and as I know my body's reactions to these types of things, he didn't see a problem with it. He noted that if I have a problem with infections, or any part of the piercing while it's healing, he is more than happy for me to contact him for medical advice.
Finally, the payday before my 39th birthday, we had enough money for me to finally get it done. One week before the piercing, I went into Vogue and chatted with Lori. This was our first time meeting face to face; as she was working the previous time I had come in. I told her what I wanted done and we discussed jewellery. I told her that I was allergic to Nickel and she suggested Titanium. And as they carry several colours of Titanium in stock, and she was partial to the Blackline, she showed me what they had in the display case.
As I know nothing about metals, she gave me a brief explanation. She explained that the Blackline jewellery is grade 23 titanium with a PVD (physical vapour deposition) coating. I was happy with her explanation, and happy with the look of the barbell we would be using for my nipple.
She then asked me to come into the studio, closed the door, and asked me to expose the breast I wanted pierced. I lifted up my blouse and my bra and exposed my left breast, leaving the right breast still inside the bra unseen. She then got what looked like a cross between a wrench and a ruler and measured me. The part I thought interesting, was she didn't touch my nipple nor my breast during this procedure and as the air conditioning was up a bit, and my bare breast was exposed to colder air, and I was excited about getting the piercing and nervous all at the same time, my nipple got 'perky', which was the desired effect for her taking measurements.
She made of note of the measurements so she could prepare the jewellery, order anything that she may not have in stock, and sterilize what she would be requiring in the autoclave. We then discussed tragus rings. She said that she recommends a ball closure ring (or BCR)/captive bead ring, also in the Blackline range. We talked about types of balls, whether I wanted a gemstone, or a bead and what colour. I said that I am partial to purple so she hunted around in her stock and found the cutest little purple titanium bead/ball and showed it to me with the ring itself. I was happy with the selection, and I left to go back to work.
Then I set the appointment for 21 May at 3:15pm. Right after I got off work. Trust me when I say that, that was the longest week of my life! I was so excited I was counting down the days, and screeching (EEEeeeeee!) and giggling the whole time! The night before, I had a chat with my husband, Glenn, and asked him how he would feel if I got both nipples pierced. He said that I already knew how he feels about body piercing, but he felt that if I needed to do this for myself, he was quite happy and would support whatever decision I made.
Finally the 21st came and the day was murder! I sent Lori an SMS when I was getting ready for work in the morning. I knew that she would not be awake at that time and that she would get back to me when she was awake and ready to talk. I asked in the SMS about getting both nipples pierced instead of just one, was it possible, did she have the jewellery, would there be time in my appointment and so forth. She phoned me later in the morning and said that would be fine and we would negotiate payment when I got to the studio for my appointment.
She called me again just after lunch time and said that there was a guy, Jim, in the studio that she was assessing to become a possible staff member and would I mind if he sat in on my piercings. I was not ok with him watching my nipple piercing but was comfortable with him watching my tragus piercing. She was ok with my requests and would ensure I was comfortable with my session, and that he would not be sitting in on my nipple piercing.
I was practically bouncing off the walls, watching the clock slowly tick by the minutes. I was alternately nervous and excited! And suddenly it was 3pm and time to go up to Vogue Body Piercing. I practically ran all the way there!
When I walked in the door, my husband Glenn was there chatting with Lori and she was ready for me. She brought me into the studio, and Glenn and Jim followed. Glenn and I sat in the two chairs and she started by explaining the whole procedure for me, including all sterilisation techniques they use, how all the needles are single-use only and then explained to Jim about her mark-up measures prior to piercing. She then washed her hands and put on sterile gloves.
While I was sitting in the chair, she had Jim watch while she marked up my tragus. She asked me to look at her markings and I was happy with the placement. She then asked Jim to leave and he did, closing the door behind him. It was good having him there as he took care of the many customers coming into the shop giving Lori the ability to devote full attention to my piercings and me.
She then said that we would be piercing my nipples first and asked me to expose them. I was happy I didn't have to completely take my top off, and I just dropped it below my breasts to expose them. She asked me to sit up on the table with my back straight and my hands on my lap relaxed. While I was getting up on the table, she removed her gloves and put on a new pair. She sat on a small chair with wheels in front of me and had a good look at the way my breasts sit or lay against me.
Now mind you, I am a large woman, and I don't have perky 18-year-old breasts anymore, so she was honest with me and suggested that we do the piercings at a slight angle so as to go with the curve of my breasts. We discussed the differences between bars and rings, and I already wanted bars, at least to get the piercings done with and during healing, she told me that would work the best. She also noted that with rings, I would need fairly large ones, as I do not have small nipples.
She then showed me the barbells, in their striped autoclaved/sterile packages and compared the first barbell with a slightly longer barbell. I told her that I like 'dangly' things and was thinking, in the future after my nipples are all healed, about possibly having stirrups or chains with charms hanging off the barbells. She suggested using the longer barbells, as they would suit those ideas just fine. Plus they would give me extra room to account for any swelling and allow better access for cleaning as they were healing.
The barbells we used for my nipples are 14 gauge, 1.6mm thick by 16mm long with 5mm balls. All Blackline.
The ball closure ring (or BCR)/captive bead ring (CBR - they're the same thing with two different names) for my tragus is 16ga, 1.2mm thick with an 8mm internal diameter and a 4mm purple titanium ball.
She asked me to stand up in front of the full-length mirror and look at her markings to see if I liked the placement of where my new nipple bars would be. I did, and she asked me to lie down on the table.
Lori washed her hands again, gloved up, showed me the sealed autoclave packets of tools and jewellery and explained that the indicator tape was black, meaning it was autoclaved and sterilised, and that the three needles were brand-new, still sealed in the sterile manufacturer's packets. She then brought around to my right side a tray on wheels and opened her sterile field, laying everything out on it, setting up her tray, changed her gloves again and then we were ready to begin.
She settled the clamps gently into position on my right nipple, had me take a deep breath and pierced the first nipple. She then removed the needle and slipped the jewellery into the catheter, did up the barbell and placed sterile gauze soaked in cool saline over the piercing immediately to soothe it. She had caught me on the inhale and it hurt a fair bit, but it wasn't unbearable pain. I have felt worse, living with Lupus.
She asked me if I wanted to take a break or if I wanted her to hurry up and get it over with, and we laughed. I wanted her to hurry up and get it over with as we still had the other nipple and my tragus to go yet. She then I cleaned me up a bit, wheeled her tray around to the other side, and did the same thing with my left nipple, catching me on the exhale this time. There was a lot less pain and she even complemented me on my pain management techniques. She then let me catch my breath a bit, and cleaned me up while she briefly explained aftercare concerns.
She then asked me to get up and have a look at my newly pierced nipples while she was cleaning up her tray up a bit, removed her gloves and disposed of them. I asked my husband Glenn what he thought and he just smiled. Yeah, I knew what he was thinking, that I was crazy, but he was very happy that I was happy with them. I then pulled my shirt back up, covering up my newly pierced breasts. I had made sure to not wear a lacy bra that day, so Lori didn't see the need to cover the new piercings with gauze, although she said she would be happy to do so, if I wanted it. I told her that I was fine without the gauze, as there was very little blood.
Lori then adjusted the bench so my head was elevated, re-gloved, and asked me to get back on the bench so she could pierce my tragus. The procedure was basically the same. As we were piercing my left tragus, she asked me to turn my head to the right. She then gently placed the clamps, the needle went in and out, while leaving the catheter tube in. She then slid the jewellery in tube and she placed a gauze pad soaked with cold saline on the piercing to take the heat and sting away. The funny thing about the tragus piercing was after the needle came out and the catheter was in, she clipped the catheter a bit so it would be easier to insert the jewellery, and a piece of it went flying in front of my face. We had a bit of a laugh about that. She cleaned me up, fixed the purple titanium bead in place, and we chatted aftercare again, making sure I had it all down in my head. I didn't notice any popping or crunching noise during my tragus piercing, just the sound of the jew ellery going through the catheter and the soft whisper of her gloved hands. There was next to no pain at all and very little blood.
I sat up and then stood up in front of the mirror and looked at my newly pierced tragus. Lori asked me if I was happy, and I sure was! I felt the endorphins kick in and got a bit light headed. Glenn stood next to me and took my hand and I noticed, almost as an out of body experience that I suddenly got very giddy. We went to the front of the shop, Glenn handed Lori his bankcard to pay for the piercings, and while she was dealing with payment, Jim handed her the aftercare instructions with three little bags of cotton buds stapled to the pamphlet. She then handed Glenn back his card, and handed me two little bottles of After Care solution and told me that I was to use that after the sea salt soak.
I was to soak all three piercings in sea salt solution, then rinse thoroughly. I was to then put a couple of drops of After Care in my hand, work in into a later and gently massage the new piercings, working them into a lather to get any dried blood or crusties off. Then another thorough rinse and done. I was then to use one of the cotton buds and gently dry off the piercing and jewellery, taking gentle care to use a clean one for each piercing, and not damage the surrounding tissue/skin.
I thanked Lori and Glenn and I left.
It has been several weeks since my piercing and I am still very happy with them. I am keeping up with my aftercare and they are healing nicely. I would definitely recommend any or all of these piercings, and if you're in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, be sure to stop in and make an appointment with Lori St. Leone at Vogue Body Piercing. Blackline Rocks! And so does Lori!