Stick a Needle in My Eye...

At A Glance Author jeNn b Contact jenn_ntz@yahoo.com Artist Several are written about in article Studio Several are written about in article Location all within California

Hey hey back again with a look a basic body modifications. Last issue we explored my penchant for ink slinging (tattoos for those of you who haven't read the article yet) and I promised to wander the road of needles again this issue. As with tattoos, piercings bring about one of three basic reactions, 1) yeah cool! Sign me up! Now!; 2) my ears can be pierced, maybe twice tops; or 3) keep those freaking needles away from my body! YOU FREAK! And just like the tattooing I am a #1 to the max.

To date I have 14 piercings and I do plan on getting more. Like with tattoos I tend to get "stuck" when I am feeling a lack of control in my life...I look at it like dying my hair...it is something I have control over and something I choose to do to myself. Oh yeah, the answer to that omnipresent question of "does it hurt?"

is...(in Dawn's words) "anytime you shove a piece of metal through a body part there is going to be some pain!" For most people into piercing the pain comes the day after the piercing since the adrenaline rush kills any pain incurred at the time of sticking.

I got my first piercing during lunch in 10th grade at Volcano Burgers just off school campus. My friend Andi took a needle and after icing my earlobe down she just stuck it in and then put an earring there. Done. Painful. but I was punk and it was punk so I dug it. Over the next several years I got several more ear piercings done the same way but the most memorable was having my upper cartilage on my right ear done. Today this is a very common piercing and I have often contemplated removing it simply because so many people have it I find it passe. However, once I remind myself of the ordeal it was to get and keep this piercing I just can't bring myself to give it up. I was at a party, very drunk on tequila and I decided I wanted to get a new piercing. I chose the upper cartilage because NOBODY had it at that time so I really would be different. I iced the ear down and had someone pierce me with a safety pin I found. For those of you hell bent on doing home piercing, for God's sake at least sterilize the needle you'll be using! There was no real pain then just a lot of heat in the ear but damn the next day it hurt. I was stubborn and not about to let a little pain drive me to removing that safety pin. At that time of my life I was living on the streets so I didn't have easy access to a doctor and of course the piercing got infected - my ear turned dark red and puffed straight out from my head and I had a large lump in the side of my neck where all the germs were trying to pass into my system!! I still refused to give in to my body's cry for release and eventually (I mean months) later the ear healed. After that experience I've mellowed some and when two different relatively fresh piercings became infected I allowed them to close instead of dealing with the infections. Currently I have 9 holes in my ears, all adorned with small gold and beaded hoops. Those I consider my "common" piercings...so now for my "uncommon" piercings. My most uncommon piercing came during a manic. After doing plenty of research I went to The Gauntlet in San Francisco to get my clit hood pierced. Yes you read it right. Rather personal I'd say but since I'm sharing with you.... I did a lot of investigating on "below-the-belt" piercings before deciding on which one I would get and I did a lot of research on piercing galleries before choosing The Gauntlet. The Gauntlet has probably the most experience in piercings of all sorts especially uncommon piercings, after all they are located off Castro in San Francisco. I must admit there was no pain to the actual piercing and of course I had a woman do it...I just couldn't trust that part of my body to some guy (hell I don't even have a male ob/gyn)! There was no swelling or tenderness and I was told quite thoroughly how to clean the piercing. The Gauntlet piercing rooms looked like doctor's offices, they were clean and the piercer even gave me the pen she had used to mark me with since they never re-use anything. To my surprise I was told that I could havesex that very day (though I couldn't because my husband was 4 hours away) but driving home I did think long and hard about becoming a long distance truck driver.

The rest of my uncommon piercings are actually pretty common but I like them anyway. I have my nose pierced and while this is the third time it's been done this is the first time it was done professionally. The first time I pierced my nose on a bus trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco by working a piece of sharp metal through my nose and using a needle to help puncture the final membranes. That one closed up in juvenile hall. I then had the same side pierced by a street vendor in Berkeley who used a piercing gun - do not EVER use a piercing gun on cartilage!! It causes it to shatter and leave you with a lot of scarring. Plus this guy left the backing on the earring so I had one hell of a time getting that off! Jeez! I finally left that one close up when I was around 18 or so because no one had one and I was tired of taking it out for work. I just had this piercing done (on the opposite nostril than the other two were done on) about 2 years ago at a shop in Pismo Beach called Body Adornments. The piercer, Karrie Myers was giving discounts if you allowed a class of soon-to-be piercers to watch so being the money conscious adult I am of course I agreed. The piercing turned out to take a little longer than normal because the size of the piercing needle was just a bit smaller than the size of the hoop, an uncommon occurrence. The class was thrilled to see this unusual situation and as always I was happy to help in the training of young minds. I was so pleased with Body Adornments I decided to go back there for my next piercing.

My next piercing was my right nipple. Youch you cry out as you read this! Well, yes. That about sums it up. The whole experience was odd, from standing there with three women in a room (I took Dawn) talking bullshit while the piercer twists my exposed nipple to she can get an accurate pierce to walking out through the crowd having some guy call out, "did it hurt????" It was odd but worth it. This was the most painful piercing and I still have occasional problems with it today but overall I like it. I do not however plan on getting my left nipple done.

I then had Karrie Myers, who was now at Pandora's Box in Atascadero (see my Ink Slinging article for more about Pandora's Box), do my navel. My friend Karen and I were feeling up for some excitement so we just went on in, plunked down our cash and got "done." It was an easy piercing and a relatively easy healing. The most I had to deal with was the psychological pre-piercing of "should I do it or not, it's not like I have a flat stomach to show it off." In the end I decided that my piercings are for my enjoyment only and it didn't matter if anyone else even knew if I had them.

Finally, my latest piercing was my tongue. Why get my tongue done? I don't know...because it is there I suppose. This piercing was done by Barbara Pipkin, Kenny Nealey's fiancée at their shop Pandora's Box. Barbara and Kenny are the sweetest couple you could get to do business with and they are both conciencious about their work and your satisfaction. Barbara changed gloves several times during the procedure and made sure I had a complete understanding of follow up care, even though she knew I'd been through previous piercings she made she still went over the directions. That impressed me. She took great care to line up the piercing and did it quickly and professionally. I was very satisfied with the results. I recently had a neck and head x-ray done and after the tech regained his composure (first tongue piercing he'd seen) he remarked that it was lined up absolutely perfectly with my 7th vertebrae. He complimented Barbara and suggested I continue using her for my piercing needs. The down side to a tongue piercing is the incredible swelling that occurs the day following the piercing and lasting for about a week. You get to eat a lot of soup and spit when you talk. Okay I guess it's kind of cool. And of course it is fun to freak people out by pulling the piercing between your lips and rolling it around.

So now you know where all my piercings are, basically why I've gotten them so the last thing to share with you is where the next ones will be. I would love to get several in my eyebrow unfortunately with my job I can barely get away with the nose piercing. If the time comes I can get my eyebrow done I'll only keep the hoop in long enough to heal then I'd put a barbell in. I like that look a lot. I plan on getting a second row of earrings in my ears, just above where the first "regular" holes are. That will be unique. I may also get some more cartilage piercing in my ear done, only time and my moods will tell. There are plenty more places in my body I can get pierced, right now it's just a matter of money quite frankly. I am too broke for more body modifications so for now I'll just be happy with what I have.

**Post script: Since I wrote this story I've gotten my eyebrow done (a "simple", almost mundane piercing to have done), another lobe piercing, and an Industrial put in my left ear. What is an Industrial? There are several styles but mine was done with the top hole up top of my ear in the cartilidge with calipers used to measure the distance a second cartildge piercing put lower down so that once healed a long barbell will connect the two. Some piercers put the barbell in when they do the original Industrial piercing but Barb and Kenny (yes I still only go to Pandora's Box) don't because they believe it inhibits healing and I agree since it would be difficult to clean with the barbell in plus the chance of catching it on something is greater. An exciting development in my life partially as a result of being friend and client to Barb and Kenny is that I am now looking at piercing and maybe even tattooing as career choice. There are a lot of aspects to the business that most people don't see so while I am examining all of the ramifications, I am taking art classes and talking with other piercers/tattooists. I just may be able to parlay a love of mine into my career...