You learn from experience, as they say. I'm no exception.
At A Glance Author Kelly Contact Kelly@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Tim! Studio A Million Tattoo Studio Location Austin Tx Around the end of january, My friend and I both got our vertical hood piercings. You can read all about that experience in the february list. I believe it's under "Whoa, that feels weird!" Or something like that. Or, if you're a lazy bum like I am, here's the sum up: My buddy Megan and I, who always get our body mods together, decided it was about time to get another, and we decided to go for the hood piercing. We'd been eyeing it for about a year, and never felt we had the balls to do it. It was a "now or never" situation, I was only in town for a weekend for my cousins wedding. She went first, and was pierced with a 14g for 55 bucks. I was pierced with a 16g for 75 frickin bucks, because, as the piercer put it "Your anatomy is less defined, and will therefore me a more difficult piercing." He had already told us the price would vary depending on that factor, so I wasn't all that surprised. The wuss in me was actually relieved that it wouldn't be a bigger gauge. Anyhow, I was pierced, went home, and a week later posted my story here.
Well now, 6 months after the fact, there is a bit more to the story...
3 weeks after I was pierced, the area around the piercing was still rather sore to the touch, red and irritated. I was a bit worried, because my friend never had any such problem and was fine after 2 weeks, but I didn't think much on it. 4 1/2 weeks in, it wasn't any better and actually seemed to be getting worse. I was terrified that I would have to remove the piercing, lest it reject on its own, and I knew that would probably scare me out of ever getting it done again. It took me a year to get the nerve to do it the first time, and I wasn't about to let it go without a fight! I was constantly running through my mind everything that I could have possibly done to irritate my piercing, and had no idea where to start in order to fix it.
One evening I was chatting it up in the BME community when someone asked me how my hood piercing was doing. I said not so good, and regailed them with my oh-so-tragic tail ;). He seemed rather shocked that I was pierced with a 16g. He told me he was Tim, a piercer at A Million Tattoo Studio here in Austin, and told me all sorts of bad stuff that can happen when piercing with a size too small. That wasn't exactly making me feel any better, until he suggested I come by the studio and he could up my jewelry to a 14g for me.
I was ecstatic at the idea that I just might be able to save my piercing! That thursday (Why in the world do I remember that!) My fiance and I went to the studio. Tim was the first guy I spotted. I hadn't ever seen him before, but he'd seen my pics on my bme page so I assume he recognized me from that. I was immediately put at ease about everything; you can imagine how the idea of someone messing with an already irritated piercing could bother you just a teensy bit. He was very professional and I felt completely comfortable in his presence.
Well first things first, I was led back to the piercing room. I stripped from the waist down and layed back in a dentist chair thingy. I was relieved when he told me that it indeed was swollen and irritated (not all in my mind, woo!). I told him about the anatomy comment my previous piercer made, and he told me that he was probably just trying to get more money out of me. Tim said that he'd seen girls less defined than I was who could handle 14g just fine. I felt pretty crappy that I hadn't known enough about my piercing to not get screwed like that! Anyway, I was told it would take about half an hour for my new jewelry to autoclave, so my fiance and I spent the next 45 minutes inspecting the flash on the walls and smoking cigarettes outside.
(DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUM) Time finally came to remove my 16g curved bar. I went back inside the piercing room, dropped my drawers (again), and let Tim do his job. It wasn't very painful at all having it removed. The jewelry itself was too short and was a contributing factor to the pain by pinching the skin, so having it taken out was kind of nice. I was just starting to enjoy the feeling of having it out when Tim said something about my new jewelry still being hot. That jerked me back to reality. Thoughts of scalding my naughty bits raced through my head. Thankfully though my idea of hot and his differed greatly, it was pleasantly warm. That was a nice distraction from the pain, which was much milder than having it pierced, but obviously the same kind of sensations. I distracted myself by teasing my fiance. He's the sort of person who will never have any tattoos or piercings. Though he surprised my last march in Vegas by getting his ear pierced *gasp*. But I digress...
Tim had no trouble fitting the 14g straight bar through, although screwing the balls on took a bit of time and was a bit more painful, but nothing remotely as bad as getting it done the first time. And Ta-da, I was done. He gave me my original jewelry back in a little baggy. It looked so rediculously tiny I almost laughed. The straight bar was longer and much, much more comfortable, even 10 minutes later.
I bought a new tongue ring from Tim and the medicated lotion soap for my hood piercing, tipped him all the change I had on me (8 bucks I think) and left a rather happy woman. I cared for my piercing religiously with my new soap. 3 days later, the irritation was completely gone, and now 6 months later, I can say that i've not had a single problem with my piercing since I visited Tim!
I know this isn't exactly a story about GETTING a piercing, but I think its worth the reading. The experience taught me to make sure I know all there is to know about a piercing before I get it, not to mention to be a little more selective about who you go to to handle such delicate matters hehe. you don't want to pull a Kelly and have to suffer for a month, then have to pay even more to get an already expensive piercing fixed. Do it right the first time!