At A Glance Author oji Contact oji@deepsky.com IAM oji When A month ago Artist Tanya Studio Ritualistics Location Edmonton, Alberta This isn't a disclaimer, but it is an explanation of sorts. The session and aftercare I will be describing is about my last Scarification session in February where I sat for both a branding and skin removal in the same session. Having multiple procedures done in the same session is one thing, and when they're physically beside each other on your body it creates a unique situation. I'm also not going to go into any depth of detail about hygiene procedures except to say here that Tanya is more thorough than anywhere I've ever seen.
Setting the Scene.
The New Year had come and gone. My pentacle branding from October had produced wonderfully even keloid tissue that continued to provide me with pleasure. It had become as sensitive as it was prominent, but this was February. I had quit my job at the bar, and been unable to find anything since. Nothing. Not even a retail job. I was depressed and my self-esteem was at an all time low. I'd sent out hundreds of resumes online, looking for IT work, but the economy was still sliding and work was harder to find than it had been in 2002. Sometime in the middle of the month I received a letter from my Grandfather.
Being broke is always hard, and opening a letter and finding 80 bucks in it is like Christmas. 80 bucks! Cool! The first thing I wanted to do was to go out and buy a beer, but that'd only make me more depressed. But there was something I had wanted to do for weeks, and that was to get Tanya another insert for the photography portfolio I'd bought for her to commemorate the first branding she'd done for me. Now I finally had the money to buy it. I was on top of the world. I put gas in the car and headed into town to buy the portfolio. Afterwards I stopped by Ritualistics to wish everyone a belated happy new year and give Tanya her new years' present. It was nice, and exactly what I needed. Tanya had just finished a piercing and had an hour to kill before her next appointment. We caught up, she mentioned that she'd stopped by the nightclub to say hi and they'd told her I didn't work there anymore. I launched into my bitter monologue about my experiences and why I ha d to walk out in the middle of a shift, and we poured over all of the pictures of the branding's she'd done since I'd last seen her.
During our conversation she mentioned that she was going to be leaving in just over a month, and wanted to know if I was still interested in getting more work done on the skar sleeve we'd talked about when we first met. My heart leapt into my throat. Yes! I absolutely wanted more work done, but I couldn't ask her to do it. After all, I was broke and even though touching base and seeing her again was exactly what I needed to pick up my spirits and help me out of my funk, I was still completely destroyed as a human being. "When do you want to come in?" she asked.
"but... I can't..." I started to stutter.
"Don't worry about anything, you just brought me a gift. Lets call it even. How about Monday?" she asked. I was floored. You could have blown me over with a breath. Today was Saturday. The day after tomorrow?
"Uh, sure. Wow...what..." It was pretty clear that speaking, for me, had become quite a challenge.
She reached her had out and held my upper arm, just above the elbow. "I was thinking about two brands around your arm. One here," she wrapped her thumb and forefinger around my arm, just above the crease of my elbow, "and one here." The second place she grasped my arm was about three inches above the first. "And I was thinking about doing some skin removal, dermal punching and cutting the punches out. A series of alternating large and small punches between the brands."
I was speechless. A few hours ago I was depressed. I had been in a huge funk and now here I was being offered not only a session of branding, but she was going to do skin removal as well. It was too much for me to understand, to much for me to comprehend. All I had wanted to do was drop in, say 'hi' and give her a present I'd wanted to give her for a few months but hadn't been able to afford, just to say thanks for the first branding. I had not even considered the possibility of getting more scarification work done. I was starting to feel a lot like Alice. Yes, we'd talked about all this before. We'd talked about my desire to get a scarification sleeve and talked about what it would look like when it was done, but that was months in the past, and now the second stage was about to become a reality.
"How does seven in the evening sound?"
"Holy smokes....sure. I mean, yes. I mean... wow, thank you."
"I know it's not a lot of time to prepare, but I know you wont have any problems."
I knew I wouldn't. I knew I had no idea. I gave Tanya a hug and told her that I'd see her on Monday.
The Preparation
Being given a day to prepare isn't usually enough time. My previous branding had taken over two and a half hours and I'd sat through it without even the endorphin release that I'd become familiar with during my standard four-hour tattoo sessions. No flinching and I'd been so fascinated with the process that I'd chatted happily through the whole thing. I knew, I hoped, that the branding wouldn't be a problem.
As for the skin removal: I knew that I liked the sensation of metal cutting my skin open and the feeling of my skin parting, like the opening of a new mouth. Would skin removal feel the same? I didn't know, so it was time to look through the experiences on BME. Everyone mentioned that it was either painful, or that it was less painful than they expected. After the bit of exploratory surgery on my forearm without anaesthetic to celebrate New Year's, and having already been branded, pain had become just another word.
Well, that was that. The intellectual part of the preparation hadn't taken that long. I'd read a few experiences on BME and I also had my personal experience with a recently healed brand and a more recently healed deep cutting to draw on. I wasn't nervous; or rather, I kept telling myself that I wasn't. I wanted this more than anything I can even describe. I never talked about my dreams to anyone, but this was something way too powerfully synchronistic for me to ignore. I was about to get something I'd been dreaming about for months. I wasn't nervous I was way too excited.
The Day
Well, this was a gift. I had to bring something. I was broke, but living with my dad meant that I had a kitchen, all the spices I always travelled with and I knew that Tanya liked my curry. Vegan chick-pea curry, extra spicy and on my way out of the house my Dad decided to stop me to ask who I was taking the curry to ...and why.
Now one of the things about living with conservative parents who do not understand anything about the needs or desires for modification is that you really have to learn how to be discreet. I'd been getting my sleeve and the previous branding done and had kept the entire thing discreet to my family. Hell, hundreds of people saw the work on a weekly basis at the nightclub I'd been working at, but my dad had no idea. Well, at least not after the big fight when I told my family one Sunday afternoon that I was getting a tattoo sleeve done. And I mentioned not another word after the huge blowout when he caught a glimpse of the outline.
My own personal view, if people in my life are pursuing something they find important to them, that I'll educate myself first, even if it means sitting down with them and asking them questions to make certain that they, at least, have thought about what they want to do and the issues surrounding it. That view has never been shared by either of my parents; especially my father and I made the mistake of actually being honest. Well, not completely honest, thankfully I didn't go into any detail.
"Who are you taking that curry to?"
"My friend Tanya." I was trying to keep my answers as curt as possible, because I already knew this wasn't going to go well.
"So, how do you know her?" There was something in his tone that made me realize that he wasn't going to stop until he had the whole picture. If I was lucky I could be wrong.
"She works at Ritualistics." About as evasive an answer I could come up with without saying anything.
"So, what are you taking the curry to her for?" Oh shit. Clearly I wasn't wrong about where this was going to go.
"To thank her," don't say it, whatever you do don't say it, "for the Scarification work she's been doing on me." I said it. I couldn't believe my own ears. I could have said that she was a friend, that she liked my curry, that I was taking it to a curry-judging contest, anything but the truth.
All I'll say is that that went over about as well as a wooden barrel over Niagara Falls.
It was one of those moments when you also have to step back and realize that fate's probably telling you something. It was clear that there was a lot of tension in the air.
When I finally made it to Ritualistics, Sherri was already there and Tanya was running around. She looked stressed, but took a breather when I came in. She took the curry into the back, and hung out for a chat. She was still cleaning and organizing tools after a busy and annoying day. There was also the matter of planning out the alternating patterns of punches and figuring out how to draw three parallel lines on the curving flesh of my arm just above my elbow. That meant a small errand, running up to Save-On Foods with Tanya to get a geometry set with compass (the kind that draws circles) and the chance to chill and chat.
It was clear that this evening was going to be the learning curve for the type of work that was going to be done on me. It was also clear 1) that I was way too excited to get any work done, because my heart had been racing from the minute I walked into the studio and 2) Tanya was way too stressed out for entirely different reasons. The last thing you want if you're going to get any sort of work done is to be too stressed out. Whether it's you or the artist, chill, there are other days. And hell, if you're going to have something for the rest of your life, what's another day or two? We talked and practically stumbled over each other saying that tonight wasn't a good night. Everything was feeling too rushed, everyone was on edge, and my heart was racing like a puppy which had just discovered it's tail.
Everyone parted ways and agreed to meet the next day at 7pm sharp.
The Day Take Two
In the morning, in preparation for the coming few weeks, I made sure that the bathroom was stocked with: 2 rolls of water-proof hypoallergenic surgical tape, 1 family size tub of Vaseline, 2 tubes of Polysporin, 1 large roll of paper towel, 1 roll of plastic cling-wrap, 1 two litre refill tub of liquid Anti-bacterial Soap, and a bottle of Zinc tablets 50mg. I had been so excited the previous evening that I hadn't been able to sleep at all. I wasn't excited anymore, I was now exhausted. I was so tired I needed a strong coffee to stay awake, and I knew that the caffeine would be really bad for me. Caffeine is a stimulant and tends to focus the amount of pain you experience. I knew that, but I was having a hard time just holding my head up and I had to drive into the city and be up for as long as the procedure would take. With the previous branding having taken just over 2 and a half hours, who knew how long having two procedures done in the same sitting would take? It w as new territory, at least for me.
I grabbed an extra large coffee on my way into the city, and had a couple of smokes in the car. The added focus and alertness they were providing for me, I knew would keep me up for the next 5 or 6 hours no problem. They would, and for those same reasons could possibly make sitting more painful and intense than I might be able to handle.
I showed up a little after 7pm. Tanya came out of the back, finishing off the last of the curry, and told me that she just had to finish making the last of the stencils and then we'd be ready. Shortly afterwards Sherri showed up to take pictures and we were set.
Tanya took us into the back and started prepping for the first session, taking out the transformer and a couple of cautery scalpels, and went to fetch the stencils. The placement of the stencils took some time. But on the second try they all appeared to be parallel and we were ready to start. She put a fan beside the table and turned it on full to clear the smoke and handed out masks to prevent us from inhaling the smoke of soon to be vaporized flesh and asked me to lay down on the surgical bed.
The First Deed – Cautery Branding
Sherri had never seen a branding before and she was interested in doing an article for Psychozine, the local zine she's been putting out for the last year. Having her there was a welcome relief. Tanya started, as she always does, with a small pass so I could get used to the level of sensation. She chose to begin on the uppermost band. I closed my eyes and started to concentrate on my breathing.
Although I love the process of branding, I don't know if I'll ever fully get used to the initial sensation. It's hard to describe the feeling. It's intense, very intense, and at the same time you can hear the sizzle of your flesh vaporizing. You can feel when the tip of the cautery knife passes through hair follicles, the hair itself vanishing in a brief flash of flame, and an increase in the sensation, like the stab of a long hot needle. I winced, and my body jerked once. I took an even breath in and released it slowly, forcing myself to relax. She pressed her hand against the tortured flesh and as quickly as the sensation had begun it ceased.
It was talking to Sherri about what I was going through and describing the aftercare to her that made her presence a welcome relief. The banter help me keep my breathing even, and, as I suspected, the session was more intense than my memories of the first branding. The outside of my arm was the easiest to deal with. Before long the sensation became familiar, if very intense. I kept up my part in the conversation the three of us were having, and then Tanya started on the soft flesh on the inside of my arm.
I have no way of describing what that was like. It was the worst amount of pain I have ever felt in my life. It was so intense a sensation that for the duration she was working on the inside of my arm I couldn't talk. Sherri asked me a question and it took the greatest effort to take a slow breath and tell her that I wouldn't mind talking but I really needed to focus at the moment. Slow breaths, even breaths. I wasn't going to pass out, but I could feel the pain with my whole body. I know branding is painful, but I never expected it to feel this intense.
It took almost 45 minutes to finish the first band. A brief smoke break and a chat about how the branding had gone so far. I was already saying that it was the most intense sensation I had ever experience. I had no idea.
The second band was right above the crease in my elbow. Almost all of the tissue is thin and soft and full of nerve endings. After the previous experience I asked Tanya if she could start with the inner part of my arm so we could end that session on the thicker, less sensitive part on the outside of my arm. She started with the skin right above the crease on the inside of my elbow. Oh ... wow.
You can talk about pain all you want, and you can build up your tolerance to an incredible degree, but there is nothing I've ever been through that could prepare me for something that was not only more intense that the branding she had only just finished, it wasn't even in the same category. I was now genuinely regretting being overtired and wired on coffee. My senses were more heightened than they've ever been. Each second seemed to take forever to pass. Already I was thinking ahead to the skin removal, and fearing that I would be too exhausted to make it through. It was the type of intense that people refer to when they say they looked into the face of 'god' and survived. I'm not being over dramatic.
Thankfully the second brand didn't take nearly as long, the circumference being inches shorter than the first right over my bicep. By the time she was finished I was shivering. I couldn't control myself, but then it was the middle of winter in the back of the shop, which was already cold, and I'd had a fan blowing on me for almost an hour and a half. The branding had left me, well, altered, and I couldn't control the shivering racking my whole body. Sherri and I went into the back room for a cigarette and Tanya prepped for the skin removal.
The Second Deed – Skin Removal
During the break my shivering continued, as did my awareness that I was clearly confused. Neither is a good sign and I should have called it quits then and there. We finished our smokes and went back into the piercing room. The Dermal Punches, scalpels, blades, gauze wadding and a stack of sterile absorbent sheets were laid out on a stainless tray, draped in the same sheets. Tanya laid out a number on the floor to catch any potential blood, more on the table I would be lying on, and, once I'd lain down, covered my arm more. My body was racked with a powerful shiver, which surprised both of us. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Tanya asked.
We both looked at the small prep table where all the toolz lay, already taken out of their sterile packaging and waiting for my flesh. "Do the first one and then I'll let you know."
She placed the 0 gauge punch above my flesh and told me to take a deep breath in.
"I'll punch when you breathe out." I started to breath out and she twisted the punch into my flesh.
How can I describe it? I'm used to the sensation of a straight razor sharp piece of metal slicing through my flesh. An erotic sensation that touches some core part of me, that makes my body vibrate with pleasure. This was different. I could actually feel the circle of metal, in its totality as it entered the flesh of my arm. I could feel the way the metal was shaped in a wedge, when the finely polished razors edged gave way to the rough metal closer to the plastic handle as it passed through the layers of my dermis. I felt the tingle up my spine, it went down to my toes, and centred itself. It was the most erotic sensation I have ever felt.
"Oh my god."
"Are you ok?"
"I'm more than ok, that was fantastic." I'll be perfectly honest, by the time she was on the sixth or seventh punch, out of the fifteen she'd planned on doing, I couldn't restrain myself any longer. I had to put my hand down my pants and start rubbing myself. It was amazing to watch as well. The way she would twist the punch in until it had completely punched through the dermis. The small plug of flesh that would rise up following the path the punch had taken when she removed it. There was no sensation at all when she cut away the skin, aside from the dull sensation of a tugging. Seeing small lumps of fat bubble out of a few of the holes was a little disturbing to see and there was remarkable little blood.
I wish I could describe it better than that, but it was like being in heaven being fed ambrosia. It truly felt like each time the punch went through my skin I was reaching a new level of erotic sensation, a new height of pleasure I didn't know existed. I can only thank Tanya for being so understanding and putting up with my moans of pleasure and the arching of my back as it felt like I was being racked with the most powerful orgasms I've ever had.
When she finished all I could say at first was, "wow, I had no idea anything could feel so good."
Afterwards & Aftercare
Going through both procedures had affected me in ways I'm sure I'll never fully understand. The depth of emotion I felt at the end of the skin-removal was something I hadn't felt in ages. I wasn't exhausted, or I was it was hard to tell. My mind felt more clear and lucid than I had ever experienced. Tanya carefully wrapped the skin-removal in the gauze she had laid out for the purpose and wrapped my arm in plastic-wrap. The session in its entirety had taken about 3 hours and in the immediate aftermath I was beyond feeling any pain.
I drove home and immediately logged in to IAM to write down my first thoughts. I hadn't realized how hungry and thirsty I made a late supper for myself after recording my first thoughts and popped 2 Zinc tablets and downed them with a glass of OJ. Then came a few IM's from friends asking how the session had gone and I found myself writing with more clarity after each response. I posted a few as my diary entry for that day and went to sleep with my arm propped up on a pillow.
When I woke the next morning, the plastic wrap had slipped down my arm and the gauze was soaked in dried blood. I tried to take one of the pads off but it became painfully clear that it would be a lot easier if I hopped in the shower and let the water loosen the gauze. I had the feeling that there might be a fair amount of blood just from what had congealed on my arm and hung a plastic bag from the shower to put the gauze and paper towel in. For the most part the brandings were still fairly numb, at least compared to the sharp pain that running the water over the holes left from the skin removal. By the time I had eased all the gauze from my arm the bath, tiled walls and shower curtain were covered in blood. All very proudly horror show.
I tossed the gauze into the plastic bag and carefully cleaned my arm with liquid antiseptic soap. The fat bubbles, lipid sacs that had poked through about a quarter of the punches, were incredibly tender and looked frightful. I resolved to wait a few days until scabs formed over the lipid sacs and they'd started to harden before I went through the regime of aftercare that had resulted in the wonderfully raised keloid scars from my previous brand. I also discovered something else: the combination of the look, texture, and quantity of pain from where the lipid sacs were poking through left me genuinely horrified, and afraid of even touching them.
The first time I was scarred I found myself in a state of genuine fascination regarding the large pentacle brand on my shoulder. Cleaning it had been no problem at all. Brandings, if done deep enough, tend to be numb: irritation and scab removal in the shower is largely painless. These were different. They were alive, little living pieces of me, of my fat, poking out of the portholes in my arm and waving hello to the world. They felt very soft to the touch and you could feel fluid moving beneath them, but they clearly didn't like being touched and even the slightest caress sent bolts of sharp pain through me.
That also created an added difficulty, I discovered, after I'd removed the gauze, that the only way I could feel comfortable enough to rest was if my upper arm was suspended in the air. The first night I had thought that I would moisturize with a liberal amount of Vaseline, wrap a pillow in plastic cling-film and rest my arm on it. A few hours later the Vaseline had melted away from my arm and I was partially stuck to the plastic. My arm was hot to the touch and there was noticeable swelling. I was also in excruciating pain after peeling myself off the plastic, cleaning off my wounds with liquid soap smothering in Vaseline and wrapping in plastic. A small rig of pillows and blankets and I managed to have the upper portion of my arm raised and not in contact with anything.
Sleep wasn't much of a problem, although getting the wrapping secure so that it wouldn't slip down during the night and dry out the wounds took some practice. By the third day the brands had exploded partially and already it looked as if some parts of the brands were trying to heal back together. I decided it was time to start the scrubbing and irritation of the brands, although for the moment I was still being gentle to the delicate bits of me still marvelling at the world and preferred to appease them with stories about what I would be doing to them as soon as they finally pulled their little heads in so I could get started on irritating the skin-removal.
I got myself all prepped for the first scrubbing. I'd sterilized the nail-brush overnight in a 1:20 solution of bleach, and thoroughly rinsed it before hanging it to dry. I'd filled up the pump bottle with a fresh load of liquid soap, paper towel, plastic wrap, Vaseline and surgical tape all accounted for. I ran the water luke warm and stepped under the hail of water for my first scrubbing session. I already knew how painful it was to let the shower hit the skin removal, and three days later it was still a sharp and uncomfortable sensation. I lathered up, scrubbed my nails and hands with the nail brush, lathered up some more and rubbed the suds into the brands, pumped more liquid soap into my hands and rubbed it into the suds. Ouch.
Ouch? The last time I had a brand I scrubbed the hell out of it the day it exploded and didn't even notice. This time I could feel pain coming from the brand, strange. Still, I was on a mission to scrub. I pumped some soap onto the nail brush, lathered it up a bit, and started to scrub. I couldn't breathe. Holy shit did this ever hurt. I calmed myself down and took a few breaths. This clearly wasn't going the way I'd expected. I took a deep breath and began to do regular breathing while I endured a level of pain I didn't think could be greater than getting the branding done. It was. It also bled out the first time I scrubbed it, so at least I was able to amuse myself splattering blood on the shower tiles and doing an impromptu Hitchcock scene.
Around day 5 the skin-removal finally started to scab over. For the first few days after that, I would soak the scabs in the shower and merely remove them, while keeping up the scrubbing regime on the brands. I was forced to admit that this time the aftercare was at least as intense as the actual session had been. Thankfully the scrubbing would only last a few minutes until I'd worked the wounds up enough to get a healthy flow of fresh blood. I also discovered that lathering up the antiseptic soap and rubbing it into the bleeding wounds would also help stop the bleeding.
By the beginning of the second week I began to notice something else. Even though the skin-removal had been much slower to scab, it was healing far faster than the branding. I stopped by Ritualistics to show Tanya and talk to her about my aftercare. She told me that I needed to irritate it a lot more and suggested reopening the parts of the brands that hadn't fully exploded and were threatening to close up with very little scarring. My friend Silver had just returned from the coast and had given me a dozen needles still in their sterile packaging. Well, I figured that scratching the brands open would leave a jagged edge that would promote scar tissue better than the razor lines of a scalpel.
That evening I worked up my courage and prepped a clean area in the bathroom, using paper towel to create a 'relatively' clean area on the counter-top. I took a few needles out of their sterile packages, leaving their shields on. I scrubbed my arm and patted it dry, picked up a needle and started to scratch the upper brand on the inside of my arm where the brand was only a couple of millimetres thick. It didn't hurt much, and far less than the scrubbing did. Fairly soon I had blood running freely down my arm. I'd been so intent on scratching the brands that I hadn't really paid much attention to the blood, or where it was going. By the time I'd come out of my reverie, once again I'd pretty much covered everything in blood. I lathered up my arm to clean off the blood and staunch the flow, patted it dry, slathered it with Vaseline, wrapped it in plastic wrap, and decided I was going to ferment it for an entire day. Hoping that the scratching, fresh blood, Vaseline, hea t and relatively airless packaging would help the skin separate.
A day later I was rewarded. The brands had opened up and were, on the whole wider than they had been. It definitely worked better on the upper brand than the lower one. It didn't seem to matter how much I scratched into the brand right above my elbow it just wasn't going to open up anymore than it already had. I also resolved to start scrubbing the hell out of the skin removal. I was back to the regime of lather, scrub, blood, lather, dry, pack, wrap.
It's now about 5 weeks since Tanya fried and sliced me. About a week ago the blisters I've come to expect began to appear under the fresh scar tissue of the brand. I pulled the tissue off where the blisters appeared and started the delightful process of scrubbing the hell out of them. I haven't packed and wrapped for a few weeks now, but they're starting to keloid. I learned from the previous brand that continuing the irritation after they've 'healed' will promote further keloid tissue growth, so I'm still scrubbing the hell out of my arm every morning.
Personal Instructions for Nice Skars
Personally, before i scrub the scar/scab out, I'm anal about washing my hands first, then picking up the stiff nail-brush (which i keep hung and don't ever place the bristles in contact with any surface). Pump more anti-bacterial soap onto brush. Scrub nails and hand front and back, rinse brush and hand, repeat on other hand. Then i put one pump of soap in my hands, work up a good lather, another pump of the liquid into my hands to work up a really thick lather, rub into scar really well. Two more pumps of liquid soap into palm, rub really well into scar so the lather is super thick. Spread one or two pumps of soap onto the nail-brush, and work up a lather on the brush. Scrub scar until it bleeds. This part usually hurts more than it did getting it done, but the whole bleeding thing is important. Once one area starts to bleed you can move onto the next area. You want to loosen the tissue and get it bleeding, but you don't want to scrub it so much you remove otherwis e necessary healthy scar tissue.
After I've worked the scar up into a decent bleeding frenzy I do two things: enjoy creating a slaughter scene in the shower and spray my blood everywhere; and, if you use more anti-bacterial soap and work up a good lather rubbing it into the skar it should irritate your skin enough that the tissue will swell and slow or stem the flow of blood.
Get on with the rest of the shower... for me that means decided which hand I can wash with and which hand is going to be 'clean' so i can't touch anything with it. Washing with one hand is annoying but manageable. When I'm taking care of a branding/whatever I always keep single use paper towel within reach of the shower on a relatively clean surface that otherwise doesn't get splashed. Unwrap a few sheets and pat dry my hands. Unwrap a few more, wrap around the skar and pat it down using the clean hand. With the other hand dry hair, dry off other parts as much as possible, and then grab the tub of Vaseline. Open it with your dirty hand and only scoop out Vaseline with a 'clean' hand. Pack the brand with Vaseline and don't skimp, coating the whole area with a liberal amount. You shouldn't skimp because just the heat from your body will melt it over time, wrap with Plastic wrap (i usually leave an extra 6-10 inches below the brand to allow for leakage), tape up with wat erproof surgical tape.
For best results I keep the skar wrapped at least 8-10 hours a day. When I remove the wrap I wash out the skar thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap and use a smaller amount of Vaseline to lubricate the brand, wiping off any excess with single use paper towel. I repeat this every 3-4 hours while the skar is uncovered. This actually prevents the formation of scabs and forces your body to build up a bridge of tissue.
You do have to be careful because it is still quite possible for infections to set in rapidly. On the first branding I had an area of new scar tissue start to necratize on me: it turned black and the area started to smell funny. Believe me; if you get yourself branded you really learn about the smells that your body gives off. For the first few days you smell horrible, the smell of carbonized flesh lingers for a few days before it's replaced by a sort of sweet musky odor that healthy lymph and exposed flesh give off. When my skin started to turn black the smell went from sweet, with a musky rich undertone, to something slightly sour without the musky scent underneath. It was the smell that made me examine my arm. That and I'd also noticed that the sensation had also changed. I'd spent the night with part of my brand being beyond itchy all night. When I examined my arm I saw a quarter sized piece of scar tissue that looked pretty black and pulled it off with my finge rnails, also using my nails to trim back the edges to tissue that looked like it was still healthy. Personally I'd recommend using surgical scissors or a scalpel. When you see part of you turn black and you know that you've already gotten rid of the original branding char, it's NOT a good thing. You either take care of it yourself or check yourself into hospital and let the docs do it.
That didn't happen with my second brand. This time I really tried the LITHA method, at least for the first week.
There you have it. Wash the shit out of your skars, keep them packed with Vaseline, and keep them wrapped. It is important that you don't keep it covered for more than 12 hours at a time, so your body can heal. When you keep your skar uncovered, wash it out regularly and moisturize with Vaseline. Don't think that once your skar has healed that you can stop: you should still scrub the hell out of when you're in the shower. You'll also notice that blisters will form under the surface of the fresh skar tissue when it first heals. Feel free to rip them open and start the lather, scrub, bleed, lather, pat, pack and wrap thing all over again. Remember, the longer you keep your flesh open and the slower you allow your body to heal the more skar tissue your body will develop. At least that's my opinion... I've also discovered to avoid vitamin E and Aloe Vera like the plague. If you use either or both, you risk the chance of not scarring at all, the same risk you run with th e LITHA method.
Epilogue
Peoples bodies are all different, and even if you're familiar with how fast your body heals it might not always heal the same way or at the same rate all the time. Everything from diet to health can affect the way your body deals with healing. It was my experience that to create nice keloid tissue I had to keep the wound open, preventing scabbing by always keeping the tissue moist.
I also found that keeping up all your normal range of movements regardless of how much pain you're in, and keeping all your normal work and play habits is also important. If you're whimping out because you don't want to move a part of your body because it hurts when it's healing, then scarification isn't for you. Why? If it keloids, then you're going to be blessed with an incredibly sensitive skar and you might as well get used to the sensation, because it'll be with you for years.
(c)2003 oji