I 'discovered' facial piercing about 3 to 6 months ago and had been fascinated since I loved having my ears pierced and wanted to be a little more adventurous.
At A Glance Author VampyreChild Contact cornflower85@yahoo.com When A week ago Artist Brad Studio Inkwell Location Illinois I decided on my eyebrow about two months ago and started saving about a month before my 18th birthday. I looked up as much info about it that I could, pros and cons, and what could go wrong. This site really helped with prepping me for getting pierced.
I wanted to know about a good tattoo/piercing parlor so I asked around and got several recommendations for Inkwell, a smaller place about a half an hour from my house.
I went there and checked them out and was very impressed by the piercers and the clean environment. The place was spotless and all the equipment was in sterile packages and the like.
After work on my birthday I went in and since there wasn't a line I started filling out the paperwork. They photocopied my ID on the back of the slip that had my information on it. I also had to fill out my information in a logbook.
I was told by piercer, a guy named Brad, to sit in the chair and he started chit-chatting with me as he got everything ready. He put on sterile surgical-type gloves that dentists use and set everything on a small tray.
I had decided to get my right eyebrow pierced and he marked it and asked if I liked where it was. I wanted it higher up and told him so. He changed the location and asked again. I still wanted it higher up and he changed it again. I liked the angle and he double and triple checked with me. He looked at it from all angles and made me feel very secure. Then he thoroughly swabbed the whole area with alcohol.
He had me lay back and kept talking to me as he set up my eyebrow. He used the clamp but I barely felt it, which was a relief to me. I'd been expecting it to be very tight and uncomfortable.
He told me to keep up breathing calmly and not move. I felt him put the needle in and I know I sucked in my breath because it felt very weird. I'd tried piercing my eyebrow by myself so I was prepared for how this part felt. (WARNING: don't try and pierce yourself, get a professional!)
He kept the needle in as he got the barbell out of the sterile packaging and then switched it through which hurt a little. It was bleeding a lot and he put a petroleum jelly-like substance on it and when I asked what it was for he told me it helped stop the bleeding.
He alternated putting the stuff on the piercing and pressing a bandage on it. It hurt when he pressed the bandage down and when I said ow, he distracted me by talking about how he wanted me to look when I next came in. I remember tearing up at this part.
It stopped bleeding and he gave me thorough cleaning instructions and told me when it would be safe to come in and he could help me change it. (6 to 8 weeks) He told me to keep a bandage pressed to it because this piercing tended to bleed out a lot. He also said that I could get a black eye from it which amused me. A black eye from a piercing?
It bled off and on for the rest of the day and I had to wash it off a couple of times when it got really gory looking. I had a headache on the right side of my head only and I took liquid advil which helped a lot.
I went to a concert later that night and my piercing didn't hurt a lot and the bleeding was almost completely stopped. I was worried about sleeping on it that night but I didn't hit it and it didn't hurt at all the next morning. Cleaning it was a breeze as well.
A couple of days later I noticed red and purple around my eye and sure enough I got a black eye from it that got worse. People noticed the eye more then they noticed the ring.
It's been a week and a half and the black eye is almost completely faded. There is only a little red right above the crease. I have to wear a band-aide over it at my work which is a bother and I'm going to get a retainer to wear as soon as I can change it.
My family was a little sceptical and I was worried about their reactions to actually seeing my ring. (They had all known I was going to get it) They actually liked it and even my Dad grudgingly admitted it looks good on me.
I really love how this piercing looks and in about a month and a half I'm going back to Inkwell to get my tongue done....