First I would like to say that I have terrible experiences with piercings... or luck if you would like to call it that. When I was in grade 8 I pierced my nose myself and my father kicked me out of the house until I took it out and after a week of living on my friends couch I had to go home. My belly ring got caught in a pair of my button fly jeans when I was at work one day and that got ripped out when I stood up (really hurt). So, for obvious reasons, I was a little anxious about getting my lip pierced.
At A Glance Author adri Contact twilightlust@cutey.com Artist forget his name Studio hanger 18 Location london A friend strongly recommended Hanger 18 because they weren't over priced and were extremly clean and explained everything very well, and they do a good job. So he took me in and I talked to the guy who did the piercing for a bit before hand and finally decided that I would for sure get it done, he explained everything to me in detail.
All I could hear was the tattoo guns in other rooms. He asked me rinse out my mouth with some listerin, which tastes like crap! I hate it and wish that I didn't have to use it twice a day everyday... I didn't really think about that when I got it done. So he put the clamp on and I started thinking, "oh shit this is going to hurt!". Then he put the needle through and I was thinking "this isn't bad at all". He then pause to ask me if I was feeling light headed at all or if I needed him to stop for a second and I said no. He put the lip ring through, which felt a little odd but didn't hurt at all... and no blood! Then he got out the pliers. I took one look at those things and just thought "oh god its going to slip and pinch my lip" no sooner had that thought come to mind than the exact thing happened, and I jumped back in the chair and then everything went numb. He carefully put the ball in place while all the time saying "Im so sorry".
Well let me tell you, I had thought having my belly ring ripped out hurt but that was nothing compared to this! So my lip started to bleed and swell up and the guy kept appologizing. And by appologizing I mean that he kept going on and on and on and saying im sorry every two seconds, even though I said it was ok and practically screamed at him to shut the hell up. He then told me that I would only be paying $20 (canadian) for it instead of $60 and he told me that if it got infected he would do it again for free, if I would trust him. I can barely find a RING that cheap now! I think that my forgiveness was helped along a lot by the fact that the guy who did it was extremely cute... he gave me his phone number if I had any problems as well as a bazillion business cards, along with the sheets on after-care and the parlor's phone number... stupid me never thought to use the number for any other reason!
It healed faster than any piercing I have ever had, faster than it should have and the swelling went down immediately with ibuprofin. I hated the listerine and choked on it a couple times, and every time I ate or drank I would choke again so I actually stopped eating some just to avoid it. The sea salt was worse though, I hope that I never EVER have to touch that stuff again, I don't like salty foods let alone warm salt water being rinsed in my mouth for 3 to 5 minutes three times a day, and it burned the cut like hell. But everything healed up fine, and quickly. It was sore for a couple days, especially when I got out of the parlor and the warm air hit it... I sat in the car with a freezie (still in the package) against it for half an hour and the thought that I couldn't eat it kind of pissed me off (like freezies)
so overall it was worth it, but mostly because I love my lip ring. I think the only thing I ever did that I wasn't supposed to was figit with it all the time... I like twisting it to the side and holding it there with my upper tooth (its in the center) and when I put a labret in I like to suck on the end of it for some reason... and being able to blow water through the hole is kind of fun sometimes as well : )