The truth is, I had wanted a labret done before I even knew you could get one. I had always liked the idea of having something on my face pierced, and it wasn't until I met a girl named Tanya about 4 years ago with her own labret that I realised what my body was missing. I wanted one, and in December 2002 I went out and got my very own shiny central lip piercing.
At A Glance Author Alyss Contact astro_alice_uk@hotmail.com When N/A Studio Attitudes Location Darlington, UK I spent the beginning of December worrying and asking opinions, and of course reading up everything I could find on BME. I was particularly worried about it getting infected, as it was right where everyone could see it, but then I decided to get over myself and get it done anyway. I asked at work, I even mentioned it to my parents, so on the last day of my college term in my free period I practically ran to Attitudes and booked an appointment for when my day had finished. I went back to college and spent the time until my appointment alternately leaping around and worrying myself silly.
When the time came, I took my boyfriend to Attitudes for moral support. We climbed the stairs and I told the woman behind the counter that I was here to get my lip pierced. She asked me if I wanted a ring or a labret and I asked for a central labret. My boyfriend wanted to come into the piercing room with me, but the woman gave him a look like death and said that nobody else was allowed in. She set up all her things and then asked me to come through. I didn't feel particularly nervous at this time, but the piercer wasn't exactly attempting to put me at ease as she barely said two words to me the whole time.
I sat on the bed thing in the room and she marked my lip and asked me to take a look. It looked OK, so I went and sat down again. I asked her if she would freeze my lip and she said no. She clamped my lip and lined up the needle, and then without a word, pushed it up and through. Now, I hear quite a lot on BME that a piercer asks you to breathe rhythmically or something before they do the actual procedure, but the she caught me off guard so thankfully I didn't flinch. I was surprised to find that it didn't hurt, even when she left the needle in to go and get the jewellery – in fact, the thing that hurt the most was when she just caught my lip slightly with the tip of the needle when she was lining up, and that was only a scratch. When she put the labret through, there was a really weird feeling that felt like the end was sort of popping through my lip, but even that was more uncomfortable than painful. When she had screwed the ball on nice and tight and given me my aftercar e instructions and pack, I took a look in the mirror. I loved it, it was perfect! The piercer took a look at me and said, "You suit it, actually" almost as though she hadn't expected me to, but even these words made my day.
I walked out of the room and tried to smile at my boyfriend, but it felt as though I was really stretching the new hole in me so I stopped. I just half grinned at him. I paid the woman and then walked out into the street. It turned out about 10 of my friends had turned up and waited outside to see how it looked. If I have one word of advice to anybody getting a labret, it is to not go anywhere near anybody even vaguely amusing for at least 24 hours, as laughing and smiling HURTS!
Kissing turned out to be only a small problem, as my lip swelled up slightly and was a bit painful, but all you have to do is ask your other half to be gentle. It was only really a problem for about a day or so, and after that we could kiss fine, if gently. Just don't go for any serious making out though, as I'm sure it's not sensible to have somebody else's mouth wrapped around a new piercing...
Anyway, the day after I noticed that the back of the labret was touching my teeth and gums quite a lot, so I went into Attitudes to ask if this was normal. Another woman who works there said it was, as the flat back takes time to settle into the inside of your lip, and I did know whet she meant, because I went around for a few days wondering what the hell was in my mouth before I remembered. I did my mouthwashes after every meal and applied my saline solution twice a day, so the swelling went down properly after about 2 weeks, but wasn't really troubling me past few days, so that was OK. It healed in about three weeks too, which is a record for me.
There was only really a problem when I wanted to get my labret changed for a shorter one. The bar had begun to feel ridiculously long after 3 weeks, so I went back repeatedly to Attitudes over the space of about a week to try to get it changed. Every single time I went in, they told me they didn't have any stock, and it was only after about two weeks of asking and waiting so long that the bar was actually starting to hurt me that they finally changed it for me. The labret they replaced it with was only 2mm shorter, so after about a fortnight more my new bar started to get uncomfortable. I asked again once in Attitudes, and they yet again told me they didn't have any stock, so I got pissed off and decided to never go there ever again. I went to instead to 'Lord of the Rings' which is on the other side of town. The guy there was extremely helpful, so I got a labret which was exactly the right size, and a slightly thicker gauge too, which I think looks nicer.
Overall, I had no problems with healing or aftercare, just with badly organised piercers. It didn't hurt either, so I suggest that anybody thinking about getting their lip pierced should do it! Just make sure that your piercer will always have stock in, because nobody should need to experience any unnecessary problems.