I woke up yesterday thinking it would be a good day to do it. I got some syrup (actually the dried syrup on the bottle was stickier) and a small ball bearing. I stuck the ball bearing just under the pink on my lip and checked myself out in the mirror. Then I got a regular old earring and stuck that on my lip. I walked around and loved the look so much that that clinched the decision. My friend and I drove up to the Haight where I knew of a place I wanted to get my piercing done. I had been there before to get my navel ring changed and the people we're really cool. I went in and asked about the wait, 20 minutes, not bad. Walking around the shop made me want more piercings and a tattoo too, maybe another day. Then Mic was ready for me, so my friend, she wanted to watch, and I went back. Mic described the procedure in detail. He put a dot under my lip and asked me to check it out. Looked good to me, I just wanted to be sure I could change this to a ring and that is was centered. He god a smalll caliper looking tool out and measured to verify the ring would be a possibility. All looked good so he got out the forceps. He positioned my lip and had me take a deep breath and then as I breathed out he pushed the needle through, i jumped a little bit but it really wasnt bad. Then he warned me about a little pressure and pushed the stud through, that was not really pleasant, but not more painful than a bee sting. He then put the ball i had pre-chosen on the front. My friend said it looked great. I looked at Mic's lip and on the upper lip there was a scar where it looked as if he had taken out his piercing, i asked and he confirmed that this was the size of scar I could expect if I took it out, a little bigger than an earring scar. As usual, like when I get blood taken I was a little lightheaded. I had warned Mic of this ahead of time and he got me a cold pack. I laid down and he put it under my neck, it was comforting to know I could lay here as long as I needed. Before he let me leave he briefed me on the cleansing process and asked me a few times if I had any questions. He told me not to hesitate to call if I had questions and that I could come back in 3 weeks for a shorter stud. (When I smile this one sticks out a bit, not ridiculously far, but mroe obvious than I would like it to be) It throbbed a little as we left the shop and went to Union Square. We arrived about 30 minutes later and I immediately noticed people looking at it. You couldn't tell it had just been done it wasnt red or anything, and it wasnt hurting at all. It was going numb. I saw mothers looking at me and then seeing their daughters seeing it, they clearly disapproved, as my mother would/will. We shopped around the rest of the day and I forgot about it totally. Such a surprising amount less pain than I had thought!
At A Glance Author Alicia Contact Alicia@bme.anon Artist Mic Rawles Studio Cold Steel America Location San Francisco, CA Here it is day 2 and I am following the directions they gave me. I got a new clean toothbrush and used the mouthwash they gave me. I bought Q-Tips and cotton balls for cleansing and grabbed some Advil in case it started to hurt. They had given me some cleanser for the outside of my lip too, it's very scent and sting free. I spent a lot of the morning shopping for sea salt as they recommended using it for a soak or compress for 10-15 minutes. I'll save you some and tell you to find (this is easy here in California) an Asian foods store as they have all sorts of varieties of sea salt. I have been cleaning it and rinsing and I have forgotten about it again! I also bought a multivitamin since I eat terribly and they menitioned that this may speed healing. This afternoon it gathered a little dried blood around it. This came off easily when I cleaned it with the solution they gave me and a Q-Tip. Then I soaked it in the lukewarm water with some sea salt, this was soothing. The only time I really know it is there is when I eat. My bottom teeth keep getting caught behind the disk on the back of the stud. Doesn't hurt, just quite bothersome as I have to physically pull it off with my hands, and that's in violation of the don't touch it rule... Not to mention if happens really randomly and scares me each time. I gave them a call last night about this (after making it through 3 bites) and they said it's doing this because it is swollen and I have the longer stud in since I just got it done. I am really surprised at how painless and awesome this piercing was, I would recommend Cold Steel America on Haight Street to anyone. People keep asking "Did it hurt?" Well, yeah but I did it for how it looks now, it was less than 2 seconds of discomfort and now my lip looks really neat. I read that in some cultures they pierce the lip to stress the importance of speaking in their culture. I figure this piercing is appropriate since I am a trumpet mouth!