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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.
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I pierced my right nipple last night. Yes, by myself. I used proper tools and care and it came out fine. There was a problem with the jewelry so I went in to a piercer today and had her fix it, and rather than dealing with doing my left one myself, I had her do that. More information and/or pictures may or may not be forthcoming.
For the past - two? three? - days, I’ve been dealing with a bit of soreness from my helix piercing. I got it done back in April, and it healed up perfectly fine; I’ve changed the ring twice and had no problems with it.
Recently, I got some really cool skull earrings. My conch is still healing, so I can’t change that one yet, but I changed out my helix immediately. It was fine for three or four days, and then a couple of days ago it started to hurt.
I asked about this on a piercing forum on BME, suggesting that perhaps the skull weighed more than a plain bead, and I got a few different responses. The first person pointed out that the metal was 316L steel, which is a lower grade than the 316LVM reputable piercers will give you when you first get pierced; he suggested I was having a reaction to that. But I checked out the star ring I’d gotten from the same company, and it’s also 316L, and I had no problems with it. Someone else suggested the ring might have surface damage because “no quality jewelry makers have skull beads.” I asked if surface damage was visible to the eye, detectable by a finger, and could be gotten used to. The guy said you “might or might not” be able to see/feel it, and called me foolish for thinking I could just get used to a damaged ring.
So I’m left with a few ideas on what’s wrong, and only one person suggested a solution: have a piercer adjust a 316LVM ring to fit the skull bead. Not a bad idea, but I’m thinking I’ll just leave it alone for now and see if it gets better. My conch is doing nicely meanwhile; I’ve gotten used to it and I like it now, even if it’s not the industrial I had wanted.
This is the long-winded version of my piercing story, as submitted to BME.
This is the story of a piercing that wasn’t. I was visiting a friend in New York, and I decided to get the industrial I’ve wanted for years. Previously I couldn’t because of work, but I recently went back to school so my piercing opportunities expanded. I called a place with a good reputation but they were pretty expensive, so I decided to go to Ian’s down on St. Mark’s Place.
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 Side View, originally uploaded by woofiegrrl. |
Well, this is my new piercing. If I don’t look thrilled, it’s because I’m not. It’s not at all the piercing I wanted. See, I’ve wanted an industrial for years. Literally, for years. And the guy said my ear wasn’t suited for it.
I was hanging out with a couple of friends in New York and I decided I wanted to get the industrial I’ve been dreaming of for so long. (I used to only have lobe piercings, but ever since I went back to school, I’ve realized I can get anything that doesn’t show up much on a VRS screen.) I called New York Adorned and they wanted a lot for it, so I ended up at Ian’s which had gotten pretty favorable reviews on Yelp and only wanted $45 for piercing and jewelry combined. When we got to St. Mark’s Place, where Ian’s is located, I saw several jewelry vendors on the street. There are a ton of piercing shops on that corner, so I figured they were selling unique stuff that wasn’t in the shops. I knew I wanted a cool barbell, and I ended up getting a spiral one. We went into Ian’s, I bought the piercing jewelry, and sat to wait for a navel piercing and a nostril piercing to be done before it was my turn. When I got to go into the piercing room, I hopped up on the table. The guy immediately said “I can’t do this.” It turns out I don’t have the ear for it. I immediately knew what he meant. See, I have a sticky-outy part on my ear, and if he did the piercing, I would be in danger of ear collapse or having the sticky-outy part grow over the barbell. I knew I had that bit that stuck out, but I didn’t think it would prevent me from getting the piercing I’ve wanted for years. Unfortunately, according to the guy, it did. He pointed out that unscrupulous piercers would have said “oh sure” without a thought to the risks involved, and I knew he was right. He suggested an orbital instead, and I like those too, so I said that sounded good. Unfortunately, it turns out you can’t get an orbital all at once. According to this guy, you have to heal the first hole and then do the second. So I ended up walking out of the shop with nothing more than a 16g inner conch piercing. Again…not what I wanted. I’m hoping that someday I can turn it into an orbital or something else cool. I went back to the vendor I’d bought the barbell from and explained what happened, and he let me trade it for a pink ring with a silver ball. He even gave me back the $4 that resulted from the price being different, which was nice of him. So I did get a piercing today…which is nice…but not the one I wanted…which makes me sad. |
