i have a tradition - whenever i go to england i go piercing. when i was 16 i went to england to get a course credit. we were on a field trip to canterbury one day. we all went into the cathedral. it was dank, dark and just generally unappealing - so i left. as i was wandering around i found a piercing studio, went in and had my helix done. it was my first piercing ever! i got back home to toronto and started piercing things bit by bit. i was still new to the whole shebang and did silly things like using guns to get my cartiledge done and going to places that in retrospect are a little sketchy. eventually i found a piercer (tom brazda at stainless studios) who knows what he's doing. eventually i convinced my mom to take me back to england. this time i got my right eyebrow done in the basement of the now defunct kensington market.
At A Glance Author abdicated Contact abdicated@bme.anon Artist er... Studio classix Location york, england so here i am again. freshly returned from another trip to england. i was in york and found this cool clothing and all around everything shop called classix. i'd asked some pierced locals on the street and it had come recommended. i went to the back of the store and talked to the piercer. he had me fill out a form giving my address, age, etc. i answered all the tick-box questions about allergies and when i had last eaten. i got to keep the bottom part of the form which gave the shop's address and aftercare intructions (this is still buried in my luggage). i asked for titanium jewelry (stainless steel just doesn't like me). i picked out the colour and he choose the size. he then went to autoclave it. i went with a friend to see york minster. it was, of all things, awe-inspiring.
i went back after about half an hour and was taken downstairs to the studio. it was very clean. the piercer told me about aftercare and things that could go wrong (like skin growing over the back of the jewelry) and what to do something did go wrong. he proceeded to set everything up (i even saw my jewelry being taken out of the autoclave).
he then cleaned my lip. he then marked right below the centre of my lip and took a few steps back to make sure it was lined up with the rest of my face. hee then made me smile and frown to see that it remained lined up when i moved. he got out xylocaine, which i know is an aenesthetic. i told him i'd never had anything done with aenesthetic before and he asked if i wanted to use it. i figure i should try everything once. he squirted some on some q-tips he'd placed on the inside of my lip. my lip quickly went numb. he clamped it and i started breathing in and out deeply. i timed it so when the needle went through i would be inhaling. sadly enough i pulled back from the needle. i think that because he'd used aenesthetic i wasn't expecting it to hurt at all so it came as a bit of a shock when it did. the jewelry went in smoothly.
i went back upstairs and he made me sit down to make sure that i was okay. i sat around talking to him and some of the other guys who worked in the shop about the trendiness of certain piercings and such. my lip got all swollen and it took me a couple of days to get used to the back of the jewelry. its been two weeks now and its healing up nicely. at first i thought it was crooked, but my lip had merely swelled unevenly. for the first few days it was sorta weepy. i think that this was due more to the fact that i was staying in another country with different water than what my body is accustomed to. i found that the water where i was staying in england is much harder than the water we have at home (we have a water softener so i'm spoiled). as soon as i got home it began healing. its actually pretty much healed already, which is nice.
its a nice piercing and definately looks amazing. i'd recommend it to anyone who can get away with having it at their school or job. i'm going to talk to my piercer to see if i can get a special retainer made to hide it better than the ones that i normally see (they are still very visible).
i'm a little concerned about the back of the jewelry in terms of it rubbing at my gums. i don't want to do any lasting damaged to them. at first it was pretty bad, but now the back has sunk into the back of lip a little bit so it doesn't hit my gums as often. i'm going to see if i can get a soft-ish plastic cover (like those odd, bright ones that can go over tongue barbells to 'enhance') made so that what's hitting my gums is at least softer and more giving.