At A Glance Author Amanda Contact Amanda@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Paul Studio Needlewurks Location Saratoga Springs, NY It was the summer before my freshman year of high school, and in addition to getting rid of the braces and the glasses, I decided it was time to do something to my appearance that would make me standout and be long-lasting. Previous to my experience, I dyed my hair every color of the rainbow, though I was most well-known for having long, curly, bright pink hair. This time I wanted something a little more permanent that not many other kids could duplicate – a lip piercing. I knew I'd have better luck if I asked my more liberal, "be your own person" mother than my conservative father, and I was right. She agreed almost as soon as I asked, on the condition that I stop dying my hair wild colors for the rest of my life (or until I was 18, when my life no longer belonged to her). We were at the mall when I asked, and we went to the first place we could think of where there were piercings galore, Hot Topic. They told us about Needlewurks and gave us rave reviews of the people wh o worked there, and gave us the number.
We called and made an appointment for that weekend. It was about an hour drive from my home, and as we got closer, I got more nervous. Before this, the only thing I could imagine that would be as remotely painful would be my cartilage piercing (which, to this day, still is occasionally sore). I got more and more nervous, and by the time we were within 15 minutes of the place I was about ready to jump out of the car. We stopped at a red light, and I became very aware of everything that was around me. There was a woman who was walking particularly slow, and I imagined that I could get out, kick her like she were a horse, and then catch up to our moving car. Needless to say, I was really tense and nervous about the entire idea, but still wanted to go through with it very much.
When we got there, I started to get more relaxed, because the atmosphere was really calm and everybody was very friendly. There was a girl getting a tattoo and she looked up to say hi; I figured she must be a regular by the number she had over her body. Paul introduced himself and said he remembered talking to my mother, then asked me what I wanted. I picked out a silver ring with a pink rhinestone captive bead. My mother signed the release form, and followed Paul and I into the room where I would be pierced. He explained what would happen, and then put on his gloves and opened a new package of needles in front of us, to show us they were sterile. He kept a conversation with us, because I'm sure he could tell how nervous I was, and I couldn't really look at anything except the mirror ceiling.
As he was getting ready and clamping my lip, we talked about different bands we listened to, like Agnostic Front, whose shirt he was wearing. I was so excited but so nervous that I started to cry, which really isn't at all unusual for me, but he said there was no crying allowed. He was joking of course, because I think he felt kind of bad and was trying to keep things easy-going. My makeup started to run and he asked me why I was wearing so much of it in the first place. (Keep in mind, I was 14 years old and my sparkly burgundy eyeshadow smudged all around my eyes was the coolest thing in the world.) So he took the clamp off of my lip, wiped off the makeup, put on new gloves, and clamped me again, and teased my mother for allowing me to put on so much makeup. She teased him because she could fit her fingers through his lobes. All while they were doing this, he stuck the needle through my lip. I didn't even know it happened and I don't remember what it felt like, and I thi nk it was I was in shock and was expecting much, much more pain than I actually had. He stuck the ring over the needle, pulled it through, and fastened it. It was really heavy, because it had the silver balls on each end of the ring, plus the captive bead, but I was in love with it at first site. Paul gave me surgical soap to wash it with daily, and told me to rinse with Listerine after eating. I did wash religiously with the soap and used the Listerine, and my lip was healed in half the time he said it would take – about 3 and a half weeks. I think it was the surgical soap that did it, even though it tasted awful and I loathed putting it anywhere near my mouth. The ring still felt heavy, though, and always fell sideways when I was sleeping. After school began, I decided I wanted something smaller to a) stop falling over, and b) to hide from my gym teacher. So we went back to Needlewurks, and Paul said he was happy to change the ring, which he thought was too big, too.
That was over two years ago, and I still have my lip pierced, and love it. It's in perfect condition with little scar tissue or tearing, and is home to a plain, 12g black ring. I get complimented on it often, and even my dentist was impressed that Paul took the time to place it where it wouldn't touch my teeth (he intentionally did it that way). My mother says I look weird without it, and my father and my grandparents have all grown to like it as well, which is a relief, because I feel almost naked without it.