My Dirty Little Secret
At A Glance Author Princess Alexia Contact alex_grierson@hotmail.com When It just happened Artist Kath Studio Chioko Location Camden
Ok, so, Nipple's are not the most attractive part of a body, be it male or female, but they are pretty gorgeous if they are ordained in some way, and I chose to ordain mine in the most common way, with a large needle and a lovely bit of titanium.
It had never been an ambition in life for me to have my nipple's pierced, to be honest I was quite content with what I had, and this was mainly piercings from the neck up and the neck up only! When I looked on BMEzine it was mainly for inspiration regarding tattoos rather than piercings, if I wanted one, I knew what I wanted.
Let's start with the fact that I have rather large breasts (38E), they tend to be stared at on regular occasions as I am not a modest girl and do quite often have them on display to the world, via low cut tops etc. The only time I was ever interested in my nipples was when I wanted that little bit more arousal during a solo or if a partner of mine got them in the right spot, it just wasn't something I wanted to change, at....all!
I had uhmmed and ahhed about this particular piercing though for a long time, 2 or 3 people I knew had it and said that the pain was minimal unless pulled with or caught on shower doors, which baffled me, how can you even do that? Anyway, I digress, my friend Araba had wanted her tragus done for a while now, around 3 months but she kept putting it off and off and off. As usual, I was bored on study leave from college and on MSN when I IM'ed her telling her to get round to my house, we were going to take a trip to Camden to get her pierced!
The train journey was filled with various doubts, which are normal when about to get pierced but she realised the pros outweighed the cons by a long stretch. When we reached Camden (the Northern Line was the slowest it had ever been....ever!) we were greeted by an array of various piercing shops, none of which looked particularly inviting, didn't even bother with Cold Steel because to be honest, the atmosphere in there is often much too snobby and never particularly friendly, even I feel under modified in there considering I have a few heavy mods on my face, by a few I mean one and that's my septum.
Araba had been pierced in Chioko before and to be honest I was quite dubious about even setting foot in there due to it's location, it's below a rather funky footwear shop and didn't look like the best advertised place of all time but I know now to never think like that. After venturing down the stairs, I was greeted by a clean, large space, with all the correct apparatus, clean rooms for both piercing and tattooing and autoclaves, which have to be a must.
Araba enquired about the tragus, how much, would she be O.K to have it pierced etc and she was given the all clear. She filled out the various forms and she was good to go, I've always loved watching other people getting pierced, their faces fill me up with glee, must be the sadomasochist inside of me, I'm not sure, but anyway, she was done, I mean literally within seconds, no bleeding, nothing. She was told about aftercare and then asked how much it would be for me to have my nipple pierced. I'm not financially stable at the moment, I have been unemployed since January and have to live on a meagre £50 a month from parents, which is supposed to fund my social life, heavy nicotine addiction and clothes.....suffice to say, it doesn't. I tried to argue as I had no money but she insisted she'd pay, and I felt guilty but I was filled with different feelings and I just thought to myself "why not?".
Kath, the piercer was clearing up after Araba and had me fill out consent forms and I went for the customary cigarette. I stated on the form I'd like my left nipple pierced since my right nipple is my favourite and I think I would cry if the horror stories are true and I was to lose some sensation in it.
When I went back down the stairs, it was chock full with people, maybe she won't have time to do me, maybe she won't have the right jewellery......she did, so it was time.
I wasn't expecting to be pierced today so my attire was hardly suitable, best cleavage push up bra, sweater and tight t-shirt but these were all ripped off, whether I'd want to put them back on afterwards would be a different story. Kath had me lay down on the dentist chair that was set up in the studio, put on some surgical gloves, and began measuring me, I was suitable to be pierced, despite me always thinking I've got really tiny nipples for the size of my breasts.
She then changed her gloves again, made me stand up against the wall so she could mark me up in a better position, my breasts tend to flop to either side of my body (18 and already fighting a losing battle with gravity!), I had a look at the marking to check that it was all level and even and I was good to go, again, gloves were changed, the 14g needle was taken out of it's packaging and the clamps were placed on my nipple....right....ouch. If that wasn't bad enough, the needle was next. I'm not a wuss, whatsoever, I giggled the whole way through my septum and my tattoos, I even giggled when my first tragus got ripped out but this was no giggling moment. It hurt, a lot. I felt the needle go through every layer of skin, apparently my face was a grimace, then the jewellery came. I was advised to get a barbell because of the size of my breasts and such like and it was pretty uneventful putting it in, it hurt a bit but I was over the initial pain. According to Kath, I'd be flying in a moment because of the various hormones rushing about. I looked in the mirror and everything seemed to be in order, no bleeding, no noticeable swelling yet and Kath put some dressing over it, to stop my nipple chafing. I was given my rather lengthy aftercare sheet and Araba paid (thankyou thankyou thankyou), then I was on my way. Kath told me to return in a month to have the barbell shortened.
The pain afterwards was minimal but God was I aware it was there, it throbbed and felt like when I get a nostril hair caught in my nose stud, it was a niggling pain that refused to go away. At home I had to keep my moany face off because the parents were oblivious to my dirty little secret as it is now called. I felt like I was grinning despite the pain because, hey, I have a piece of metal in me that noone knows is there unless I show it to them!
I slept as advised in my bra, with the dressing on and wearing a clean cotton shirt, the bra got whipped off half way through the night because it was so uncomfortable, I've never slept in a bra in my life and it is not comfortable at all!!
In the morning I woke up and took off the dressing as advised and gave it a quick once over with some warm salt water, got dressed, put some tissue in my bra and went off to my driving lesson.
The only problem I've felt with this piercing so far (bear in mind it's barely been in for 24 hours) is that I am strangely aware that it is there, and to be honest it's quite annoying, on my moped, every bump felt like torture as my nipple rubbed against my bra. I will say now that I normally do extensive research into what I am getting pierced, where and who by, but this experience showed me that spur of the moment piercings can be just as good, if anything the initial fears and dreads are eliminated because there isn't enough time to worry about it, obviously the real truth of my decision will come out during the healing process, but I found Kath at Chioko amazingly helpful, precise and relaxing and will definitely return there. My main worry was having my breast flopped out infront of someone with a needle but that soon disappeared as I was put at such ease from Kath.
Also being such a show off, I have told many people but it's not very easy to show off, I want to tell everyone because for some strange reason I feel liberated, weird huh?
I will follow the aftercare instructions as thoroughly as possible and hope to return to get my right nipple pierced soon if all goes well, as symmetry has never been important to me but I feel a bit wonky having my left nipple pierced and nothing else.
I have also decided that if my nipple was as painful as this, to not go and get my VCH pierced as I'd hoped, I honestly don't think I could handle that much pain in such a delicate part of my body.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions
Many thanks to Kath at Chioko and Araba, without either, none of this would have been possible.
Princess Alexia.