My labret experience begins 5 or 6 years ago, when I first saw a labret piercing. I thought it had to have been the coolest thing, and I had to have one. Flash forward 5 years or so. I have been around BME for about a year and a half or so, and I have been on IAM for almost the same amount of time.
At A Glance Author aijou Contact aij0u@hotmail.com When Six months ago Artist Tim Studio Sacred Heart Tattoo Location Vancouver, Canada One day, I needed a barbell autoclaved, and being on good terms with the counter girls at the shop I go to, I headed on down. I walked in, and was greeted by Jody and a new piercer, Tim. It was a quiet day, so Jody put my barbell in the autoclave, and I stood and chatted with Tim about getting my labret done. I originally wanted it done at 10 gauge, but being the major wuss that I am, I figured I should just go with 12 gauge, and stretch up to my desired size. So I make an appointment for the following Monday, and was told to come back in a half hour to pick up my barbell, and I was off for lunch.
One week later, I go to pick up my friend Rach, who is going to accompany me on my piercing voyage. So we head out of town, to go to the shop. We arrive 15 minutes early, even though it is middle November so it is completely dead. That will give me time to get completely shaky and nervous, like I get before every piercing, and allow me time to have a smoke or 4.
Time comes for the pierce, and Tim comes outside to get me. He had quite an alarmed look on his face. He explained to me that the shop had run out of 12 gauge needles, and tells me I can come back at a later date to pierce at 12 gauge, or we can pierce it at 14, and immediately stretch to 12. I had been waiting to get my labret piercing way too long to wait another day, so I said we would go with the 14 to 12. My choice for immediate jewelry was a 12 gauge circular barbell.
He calls me back, and gets me to sit up on the piercing table. He gets me to swish with antibacterial mouthwash, and spit back into the cup. He begins marking spots on my chin with sterile surgical skin marker. The first few marks were a bit off, and finally he gets the spot I want. I okay it, and he gets me to lie down on the table. He clamps my lip, which is completely bearable, and tells me to breathe 3 times in through my nose, and out through my mouth. He tells me he is going to pierce on the exhale of the third breath, and does just this. I closed my eyes while he pierced. The initial pierce was fine and dandy. Did not hurt much at all. Then he says he is about to insert the taper and I open my eyes. I watched the whole thing, which is strange for me. The stretch hurt really bad, and took forever to do. He fumbled a bit with the jewelry while he was inserting that. Finally it was done, and I sat up. I then lied right back down because the endorphins were rushing and I got light-headed.
I finally sat back up, and it looked great. It suited me quite well, which I was happy about, even though I was not doing it strictly for aesthetic purposes. I walk out of the piercing room, and I pay, and tip Tim, and Jody grabbed me a cup of water, because I was still a bit light-headed.
It has been about 6 or 7 months since I got it pierced, and the first few were nothing but trouble. Not because it wasn't pierced well, its because I am constantly outdoors at my job, so the outside of the hole got completely chapped, and it hurt quite badly. Kind of stung. So I began moisturizing, and it finally healed. I moisturized with Lubriderm unscented skin moisturizer, it was all I had at the time. The initial swelling was kind of rough, but I used, and will always recommend frozen chamomile tea cubes. They take the swelling down, and totally soothe the piercing. I cleaned it whenever I smoked or ate, with sea salt soaks. I dilute it to about, the taste of tears.
Last night I stretched it to 10 gauge finally, and that went well. It stung for about .4 milliseconds, and then there was nothing. I use to think I want to go too about 6 gauge, but I have re-thought that, and I might just stay at 10 gauge.
This piercing has made finding work quite tough. My current job does not let me wear a cbr or circ barbell in it, and if I wear a labret stud, it can not have a bead on it.
I hope everyone who is thinking about getting this done, keeps future employment in mind. It was a pleasant enough experience, but remember that in the future your employer might not want visible modifications.
I recommend this piercing to anyone, it is easy to heal (or at least was for me), and not too bad to pierce, even though I don't recommend immediately stretching. Have fun!