Ever since watching 'Fight Club' I have wanted to re-enact the chemical burning scene with my very own 'Tyler Durden'. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, the movie itself had a very profound effect on me. I can't remember the last time I saw such a significant film. The second reason was that, as a sexually submissive female, I am always interested in exploring my pain threshold and trying new experiences. The third reason is simply a love of all forms of body art (I am heavily tattooed and pierced). The first thing I did was to have a look for pictures/experiences of chemical branding on BME. I didn't find any experiences, but I did find some pictures which heightened my desire to try it for myself. The next thing to do was to find my very own Tyler Durden! I approached a friend of mine who has a degree in chemistry and he agreed to be Tyler for me. He told me that the best chemical to use would be sodium hydroxide (more commonly known as caustic soda and available to buy in drug stores). This produces an incredible amount of heat when mixed with water and can be neutralised with vinegar (just like in the movie). Sodium hydroxide is usually sold in crystal form, so it was necessary to grind it down into a fine powder. This we did using a pestle and mortar (wearing rubber gloves and goggles, you don't want to get this stuff in your eyes). We decided to test the chemical on a piece of chicken first. Tyler spooned a small amount of the powder onto the chicken and then sprayed it with water (using a plant sprayer). We timed the process for one minute. Nothing appeared to be happening, but when we rinsed the chemical off the chicken there was a definite burn. We decided to half the time to 30 seconds for my branding as an anaesthetist friend of Tyler's had told him that the chemical would react much faster on living skin. I had chosen to have the letter 'S', for slave, branded onto my torso above the navel. I lay on a large towel in the middle of my living room with 'Fight Club' playing on the widescreen TV at my side to set the scene. Tyler then proceeded to cover my torso with a plastic sheet secured with surgical tape. This was done to ensure that none of the chemical dripped onto parts of my body where we didn't want it. A hole had previously been cut into the plastic sheet over the area where the brand was to be. I had already drawn the letter 'S' onto my skin and now Tyler traced the outline with a thick layer of vaseline, to act as a barrier so that the chemical would only burn in the shape of the 'S'. So, with both of us now wearing goggles (in case of splashes) and the vinegar close at hand Tyler carefully spooned the sodium hydroxide onto my body. I felt nothing, until he sprayed the chemical with water. The burning began instantly and was very intense, but not unbearable. I timed the burning for 30 seconds and then asked Tyler to wash it off. The first thing he did was to splash water over me to wash off most of the chemical, this intensified the burning. He then poured vinegar over the burn to neutralise the chemical reaction. This is important as, if not stopped, sodium hydroxide will carry on eating its way through the body. After removing the plastic sheeting, washing the burn thoroughly to remove any last traces of chemical and applying more vinegar, all I appeared to have was a red mark on my body. However, the anaesthetist had told Tyler that chemical burns take a few hours to 'come out'. This is exactly what happened. Later that night the burn was highly visible, with evidence of blistering. Unfortunately, for some reason it didn't come out in the shape of an 'S' but more like the number '1'. Maybe the sodium hydroxide started to eat its way through the vaseline? Tyler suggested that, if we were to do it again, perhaps we should make some kind of stencil out of plastic, secure it to my body with tape and pour the chemical over it. Nevertheless, I am not disappointed with the result. I didn't really go through with it for the end result, but for the physical sensation. I enjoy experiencing different kinds of pain, I am curious to see how much I can take. Previously I have experienced branding with hot metal and scarification with a scalpel. The chemical branding process was very painful but not unbearable, I've had tattoos that have hurt more. As the brand was only done last night I can't really comment on the healing process yet. I am keeping the burn clean, spraying it with an antiseptic powder and covering it with a light dressing. I'll let you know how it progresses. By the way, Tyler took several photographs of the whole process and he'll be sending them to you shortly.
All I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. As I said earlier, it's something that I've wanted to try for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. I was on a major high for the rest of the night...a little bit of pain makes you feel so alive!