Two weeks ago I moved to Bellingham, WA. It is not a huge town but large enough to support several tattoo and body piercing studios. As a freshman in college out on my own for the first time I felt I needed to do something which I had wanted for several months to declare my freedom. I decided to get my lip pierced.
At A Glance Author Adam Contact amon6984@hotmail.com When A week ago Artist Meg Studio Old School Tattoo Location Bellingham, WA After researching the two studios in Bellingham, Old School Tattoo and Body Piercing and Camden Chameleon Tattoo and Body Piercing, I decided to go to the studio which I felt had more experience. I chose Old School. When I got there I was surprised with how easy it was for me to get pierced. Back in my home town of Seattle, I had to make an appointment at least three days before getting pierced. Here I simply walked in, signed a waiver and paid. The next thing I knew I was in a chair waiting to get my lip done.
Something I found odd about this studio was that the piercing area was only separated by a jewelry case. People were able to walk through where I was getting pierced on their way to the bathroom or back to the tattoo studio. I felt that this was a health hazard because anyone could just walk in there. At the places I have been before, there is a closed room and only one other person can come in with you if you want. It just seemed weird to me and it should have been a clue to me as to what I was in for.
As I said before I "felt" that Old School was the place to go because of experience. They have been around several years and had a resident piercer. However I soon came to find out that the resident piercer was on vacation and a temp was subbing. I became worried only when she drew a dot on my chin to get my labret pierced when I had already told her I wanted my lip done. I had to tell her exactly what I wanted and how I wanted it done, again.
After the actual piercing, it was time to insert the jewelry, a 14g ball stud with a fish tail on the end. She got the stud part in fine but was having trouble with screwing the ball on. She took off her gloves to try and get a better grip on the ball. I'm not sure, but last I checked gloves were there for both of our protection. She completely disregarded any health safety rules by removing her gloves, very unprofessional. If that was not bad enough, she proceeded to drop the ball! I could not believe it. Now this woman was fumbling around on the ground, without gloves, completely contaminating my jewelry and her hands. She finally got the ball and screwed it on. I promptly got up and went to the sink to wash my almost certainly infected lip. After I cleaned my lip I grabbed my stuff and left. I did not leave a tip and told all my friends to avoid Old School Tattoo. At least until the resident piercer returned.
Another thing that bothered me was that they gave me no after care tips or instructions. I have my tongue pierced so I knew to swish with a salt water solution to clean my piercing on my mouth side. However I had to practically pry out of her how I was supposed to keep my piercing from getting infected. She told me to wash with hydrogen peroxide. Later that week my friend went in to get her nose pierced, against my warnings I might add. Fortunately she was done by the more experienced resident piercer. He told her that hydrogen peroxide was much to harsh of a cleanser to clean a piercing with and that she should use dial soap to clean it. I wish I had known this earlier because low and behold the hydrogen peroxide I was using was irritating my lip.
If I learned anything from this experience it was to only go through with a body modification if you are completely comfortable with who is doing the work. Research your piercer and look at scrapbooks of their work. Ask them about their experience and what kind of piercings they have done in the past. Look at the studio and make sure you're comfortable with the environment. If something jumps out at you as odd or unsafe, wait and find a better place. It is worth the wait if it means not having to deal with infection and scar tissue. Furthermore, do not rush into things. If I had slowed down I could have avoided dealing with an inexperienced person who endangered both herself and myself. In the future I will be more patient and educated before I get any body modification done.
Thanks, Adam.