I originally went into Lasting Impressions to have my left conch pierced, long story short it wasnt going to happen so instead I decided to get my nape pierced. It was Daniel's (the LI piercer) first surface piercing. Hes been piercing on and off for 7 years but has never done a surface. He said "If you wouldn't mind me doing it, I would like the experience and learn more. I'd like to use you for my first time on you, since you're a regular, you and I know each other, would it be ok?" I shrugged and said "What the hell, lets do it." I was there to get pierced and even though the original plan didnt happen, I was there and in the mood, so why not, I was going to do it sometime anyway.
At A Glance Author liberated420 Contact balooskillz@hotmail.com IAM liberated420 When It just happened Artist Daniel Studio Lasting Impressions Location Ames, IA There was a little concern that my neck was too thick and it would be way more trouble and pain that it was worth, but we made it work. He got the appropriate bar and put the bends in it, felt my neck to see if he was going to use the clamp or have one of the artists hold it for him. He squeezed a couple times with his fingers then used the clamp on a test run to see how that would work. In my experience so far, the clamping has always been more painful then the piercing itself, this was the case here too. He drew a center line vertically on my neck, then centered the bar across it a marked 2 points. After checking and re-checking, and moving the points around he finally got it perfect. Now the fun part. He leaned over the counter to and yelled to Carrie, Izzy, and CJ "You wanna see this shit?!" Everyone came over, including a few customers, to watch.
He got the clamp, squeezed my neck together, got his needle ready, and there it was, I felt the needle puncture the skin on the right side of my neck, but felt nothing as it went through a couple inches under my skin, then I felt the sharp poke on the other side as the needle came through. Throughout the process he had to remind me to breath since I was more focused on the needle through my neck then breathing. All I could do was stare straight ahead at my ex, she looked back at me and I could see in her face she knew it was painful. He had a little trouble working the jewelry through, that took about half a minute but it seemed like forever. Once he got it through and removed the clamp it was instant relief, minus the bee sting feeling on 2 spots of my neck. He screwed the balls in on either side and I was done.
After my skin went back to pink as opposed to pale like green skin I had for the piercing. Carrie grabbed a cup of water for me while I sat in the chair recovering from a mildly stressful experience. Daniel, my ex, and I sat in the piercing booth for about 10 minutes bullshitting and talking, he was giving me care instructions, and what to look for incase of rejection and so forth. He had his nape pierced for about a year, so he was talking from personal experience, things I would adjust and get used to. I usually wear collared and button down shirts, since that will irritate the piercing I need to start going more casual with tee shirts and so on.
This is first of either 2 or 3 nape bars I've been planning to get, now I know what to expect I'll be more ready for the next couple. Typically I can imagine what something will feel like before it happens and therefore can prepare for it and be mentally ready. Since this time I got a wild hair up my ass and didnt think about it more then 2 minutes before I did it, I couldnt get a read on how it would feel, so I think it was worse then it should have been. I would say all and all it wasnt TOO bad of an experience, it was the most pain I've gone through in a while but it wasnt horrific by any means.
I love it and I had no trouble sleeping last night in any position, it doesnt hurt much today, it itches a little but thats about it. I have full range of motion in my neck with no problems yet. I think he did a great job especially for a first time. Its level and evenly deep, its awesome. As I was leaving he did he second ever surface on a girl who wanted an anti-eyebrow, that turned out well too from what I heard.