While I appreciate people who wait to write their piercing experiences until they see how it’s turned out, I find that I have to write it quickly so I don’t forget what happened. To that end, here is my nipple piercing story.

I had been planning for a month or two to pierce my nipples. I decided that I couldn’t afford to have them done professionally, so I would do them myself. I ordered slotted Pennington forceps and my jewelry from BMEshop.com; the jewelry I picked was titanium rings, 16g and 7/16″. I happen to think rings are prettier than barbells, so I was happy with my choice. I posted about this in my IAM blog, and I got replies from a couple of piercers, who told me the jewelry would be too small in terms of both gauge and diameter, and it would likely reject. I decided I was okay with this, and if they rejected, I would have at least had them for a little while.

I had originally planned for my wife to do the piercing. I had done the research - looking at pictures on BME, reading articles, etc. - but I was afraid I wouldn’t have the courage to put the needle through by myself. She was willing to do it, but she is a busy person and she didn’t know when she would be able to. So I worked on the idea of doing it myself, but getting up the nerve would be difficult. Then, last Sunday evening, I was feeling kind of cranky and decided this was as good a time as any.

I planned to do it in the bathroom, but my wife was worried I would pass out and suggested I do it on the bed. I got out an old sheet to use as a dropcloth, and assembled my tools. The forceps and jewelry were from BMEshop, the needles were from a previous order, and the gloves were bought at the supermarket. I used rubbing alcohol and cotton balls to wipe down my nipples and the clamp, which had not come in a single-use package; unfortunately the alcohol wiped off a lot of the ballpoint pen I’d used to mark entry and exit points with. (I had checked with a friend who is a former piercer to ask if pen was okay, and he said it was.) So I settled myself on the bed and tried to lock the clamps onto my right nipple. No good - too much pain. I decided it would be better to hold the clamps with one hand while piercing with the other; as awkward as this sounds it was definitely better than the profound pain of locking the clamp shut.

I unwrapped one of the needles and looked at it closely for the first time. I looked at my nipple, and back at the needle. I put the forceps on my nipple, and tried touching the needle to the pen mark I’d drawn on. I was surprised to see that even with just a touch, it was sharp enough to make me bleed. I caught my wife looking at me, and I insisted that she mustn’t watch, it was making me self-conscious! Then it was time to actually do the deed. I never do anything serious on the count of three, I always count to five; so far I have never backed down - I always do it on five. As I counted, I worried that this would be the first time I chickened out on five, but no…four, five (breathe in), (breathe out) PUSH!

What struck me was that although it hurt, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. I had psyched myself up way more than I needed to! Of course it still hurt like hell but it wasn’t what I expected. About three seconds into the first push, I stopped to breathe a little bit. I didn’t need to do another countdown, I just breathed in and then breathed out and PUSHED again! And then…it was through. There was a needle through my nipple. I shot a quick glance over at my wife, and she just raised her eyebrows.

Doing the jewelry was going to be difficult, as I had no idea how the famed “follow through” actually works. I tried to just follow the needle through the nipple, but I couldn’t get it. After a few tries, I gave up and figured I’d just take the needle out and go through that way. And…cue five minutes of fighting, poking, and bleeding. I decided that the gap in the ring was too small, so I prised it open just a bit and tried some more - still no good. I was getting blood all over my fingertips, so I backed off for a moment. Finally I figured I would try just pushing, and poof! It was halfway through. Another push and a little bit of wiggling, and it popped through the other side! I gasped in triumph and my wife smiled, and with shaking hands I picked up the bead and put it into place - sort of. Because I’d bent the ring a little to get it through, it would only hold the bead very loosely. I cleaned up and took a picture, and then immediately put a large bandaid over it to keep the bead from going anywhere. I decided that was enough adrenaline for one night, and I would do the second one soon - hopefully tomorrow.

I had Monday off work, and I had a couple of errands to run in the morning. Around 12:45, I found myself at the front door of Marlowe Ink, where I had gotten my helix pierced back in April. I was astonished to find the shop had undergone a massive transformation - I need to rewrite my Yelp review of them! There was a woman there who agreed to help me tighten the ring, but as soon as she saw the jewelry she said “oh no no…that’s much too small.” She struggled a bit to tighten the ring but finally got it back to where it belonged; she recommended that I come in at 3:30 when the piercer would be there so she could look at it.

So I knocked around Fairfax for a little bit, and came back around 2:30. It was too cold and boring to wait in my car, so I figured I’d go in and look at tattoo magazines while I waited. But no dice - they were doing construction and I couldn’t get to the magazine rack anymore! So I stood around for an entire hour, watching a guy build the new reception counter and chatting with a few people who wandered in and out. There were a couple of girls there for an impromptu tattoo - I think it was a “we just finished our first semester at Mason and we want to commemmorate it!!!” thing, and they got some rather plain nautical stars…straight off the wall and onto their feet.

When the piercer arrived, I got her attention as politely as I could, and she welcomed me into the back room. I asked her to take a look at my right nipple, and explained that the woman I saw earlier had some concerns about jewelry size. But Jacquie, the piercer said “no, actually it looks fine!” She gave her approval on the placement (”a little lower than I would have, but it’s fine”), the jewelry, the methods I used, everything. I was so thrilled that a real piercer said I did a good job on my little ol’ DIY! In fact, she said “you’re my hero, I could NEVER pierce my own nipple!” Although I could have gone home at that point and done the other one myself later, I decided I had gotten my fill of self-piercing and I asked if she would please do the other one.

Jacquie spent a long time comparing her placement to what I’d done on the other side. It was very obvious that she wanted me to look as symmetrical as possible while still acknowledging that I had placed it a little too low. I was quite happy with the Sharpie dots she drew, and she had me lay down on the table. She was very experienced, and as a result the piercing was very quick. Clamps on, needle through, jewelry in, bead in place. I was quite surprised to find that it hurt exactly as much as the one I did myself. Her piercing lasted about 5 seconds and mine was about 10-15 seconds, but the level of pain was exactly the same. Of course she got the jewelry in no problem; it’s 16g and 7/16″ like the other one, but this one is surgical steel rather than titanium. (I still have the other one, I may put it to use eventually somewhere.) Jacquie gave me a “free pastie” in the form of a cosmetic pad taped on my left nipple with medical tape, and I paid $50 for the piercing and $20 for her tip and was on my way.

Over the first day or two, the right one (DIY) was quite a bit more sore than the left one (pro). I think it’s because of all the wrenching and pulling I had to do to get the jewelry in - that made the tissue a little more grumpy than the smooth professional job. But I am really glad I got them done in two different ways, because now I can compare the healing process, the eventual result, the pain levels, and any other questions people might have about DIY vs. professional female nipple piercings. The right one definitely isn’t perfect, it’s kind of on an angle and a couple of millimeters too low, but you know what? It’s mine. I love it just the way it is, and I’m damn proud of it. I can’t wait for them to heal up so I can <ahem> do stuff with them!

If you would like to see pictures, I have two of them. There’s one of me and my boobies, and a closeup of the one I did. If you don’t want to see me naked, don’t click. Thanks!