It began some time in 1998 or 1999. I saw a photograph of a girl with a few nape piercings and thought they looked pretty spunky. I thought about them on and off for about a year and in late 1999, just having moved back to Australia I went to find a piercer who'd done them. Jake was the first piercer I went to see. I didn't know him at that time and after I'd explained what I wanted he said, "Like this?" turned around and revealed his five nape piercings. I was pretty keen after seeing those. They were the first nape piercings I'd seen in the flesh and they looked at least as fancy as the ones in the photograph. I wasn't up for it that day but I decided I'd go and see Jake for three nape piercings, one at a time, when I was.
At A Glance Author Stigmatophilia Contact Stigmatophilia@bme.anon IAM Asphyxiaphilia When Six months ago Artist Jake Studio Body Piercing Location Newcastle, NSW, Australia It turned out that I went back for a second septum piercing before I got around to the nape but in January 2000, with a freshly shaved head I showed up with a band of spectators and photographers looking for a nape piercing. Myself, my camera boy Mat and another friend bundled into the chill piercing room and watched Jake set up. I sat on a chair in the middle of the room so that Jake could reach my nape easily. We decided to use a 14G 30mm PTFE bar and Jake marked it just above the spiney bump at the base of my neck.
Betadine swab, alcohol swab, forceps on, 16G needle in, 16G needle out, jewelry into cannula, cannula out, endorphin rush, ta da who's a pretty girl then? It was a pleasant piercing. Not inordinately uncomfortable or unusual in any way. Mat got a couple of photos of the process and one of the finished product (which I will get around to submitting one of these days). I gave Jake a squeeze and an endorphin soaked "Thank you thank you oh thank you so much." and we split.
The first night was a bit of a misery. So was the second night, actually. I couldn't find a way to sleep comfortably and when I did doze off I quickly managed to wake myself back up with sleep bitching and moaning. Back then my aftercare involved saline and Dettol Antibacterial Liquid Wash (since amended to Lavender tea and Dettol Antibacterial Liquid Wash) and I was pretty religious about the twice a day soaks and the cleaning, though I didn't turn the antibacterial through the piercing. That just seemed a bit creepy.
I realized soon after that half of my shirts and jackets were useless to me now because the collars irritated my nape. Wearing my steel spiked collar was totally out of the question, though I found I could get away with wearing shirts with collars if I wanted to feel like someone was jamming their finger into my piercing every few seconds. Hugs from people who didn't know I had a nape piercing were also accepted very hesitantly after a few people slapped dirty hands on it or did other uncomfortable things to it. I nearly had a seizure when I went home with someone who first licked it and then bit it. As if you have to be modded to know not to stick your mouth on an open wound.
Well the damn thing never really healed it just had good patches and bad patches. I did what I could for it with soaks and antibacterial but it got irritated and red and spat out lymph and eventually, about five months after I had it pierced it began to raise slightly on one side. I coddled it and nursed it for weeks but to no avail. If I happened to stay at someone else's house I would always wake up with an angry, lymph spitting, occasionally bleeding nape piercing.
One night about six months into the nape piercing fiasco, I was at my friend Doug's house and he was helping me clean it when I finally snapped and shrieked, "That's it! It's not worth it!" I stalked off into the bathroom and took it out, hopped in the shower and gave it a good clean. I've only had to take out a couple of piercings and it's usually pretty sad when you have to admit that it's not working anymore and let it go. In this case I had tolerated the imposition of a nape piercing for so long that I was only relieved when I took it out.
As a side note, when Jake had to take all of his nape piercings out recently (I won't tell you that story, but I will say that it involves day surgery and Pethidine.) he said exactly what I said after I took mine out, "It's nice to have my neck back."