First off, let me tell you guys that DIY piercings are not the way to go if you're inexperienced, and have no clue what you're doing. You can injure yourself, and end up having to remove the piercing. With that said I have to admit that I'm being a hypocrite, because I had my brother do my center labret for me. I also have to say that my parents are remarkably strict, (though that doesn't excuse me!) and upon seeing my labret they flipped out.
At A Glance Author Imogene When It just happened Artist My older brother Location my room I'm not going to lie, I wasn't one of those people who'd always "loved body mod's", I became interested in them when I was, say, 13 or 14. But having the incredibly anal retentive parents I have, I wasn't even allowed to look at people with mods. I used all the tricks in the book to get them to let me stretch my ears - straight B's in school, doing chores without being asked (or reimbursed for that matter), writing essays, cooking breakfast- but they still said no. Then I moved on to getting a septum piercing, again I was told no. Then I went for an innocent nostril piercing, and was greeted with another no. Time passed and my raging need for a piercing ceased momentarily, until I turned sixteen. I figured that I could bargain with my parents, in place of a car I could get a lip piercing. Can you guess what their response was? Yes, another no. They'd rather spend thousands of dollars on a car than spend 20 bucks for a lip piercing. What kind of sense does that make?!?
So, I went to plan Z. I'd seen my brother do piercings on his friends using sewing needles from my mom's sewing machine, and he'd even done his own septum. Plus, he comes home on the weekends, so all I had to do was wait. I called him on his cell and told him about my brilliant idea. There was a moment of hesitation, but I persuaded him by telling him he could have my leftovers from dinner whenever he asked (my brother is a fat ass).
I was an eager beaver all week. And the waiting made me slightly insane. I told my friend about my soon to be center labret, getting myself more and more amped up. Honestly I hadn't even thought about how I was going to hide it from my parents, I just had to hope for the best. Perhaps I could create some lie about how taking out a fresh piercing could lead to a fatal infection. Finally Saturday came, and my brother arrived. He said 'yo to our parents then we went to my room. It made me wanna laugh, because he brought a little kit with him in his backpack. There was a sewing needle, alcohol swabs, yellow gloves that you used to clean stuff with, a 14g labret stud, and a tongue depressor. He arranged it on my desk, and I sat on my bed.
"You know mom and dad are gonna freak the fuck out." He commented.
"I'm aware of that." I replied.
"Alrighty then." He said.
I washed my face, while he told me about how one of his friends barfed on his girlfriends face when he tried to kiss her. Which you have to admit is pretty hilarious. I sat back down on my bed and my brother got to work. He put on the yellow gloves and pulled my lip out. He then stuck the tongue depressor against the inside of my lip aligning it. The entire time I was freaking out because I was sure that at some point my mom would open my door and see what we were doing.
"Don't move a muscle." He said.
"Gotcha'" I mumbled.
I held the tongue depressor to my lip while my brother grabbed the needle of my desk. He got closer to me and that's when the nerves started to kick in. I needed to calm down, so I put on the Bad Brains in the background. It was the time of reckoning.
"Take a breath in." he mumbled.
"Release." He mumbled again.
I felt the needle go into my lip, and it was stinging pain for a millisecond. Then it was over, there was virtually no pain at all. I looked down and could see the needle still in my lip. I wanted to smile but was scared that I'd stab my gums with the needle. My brother turned around fumbling with the labret stud. He managed to put it in without that much of a hassle, though I think it was a bit loose, but oh well. He told me to gargle with warm saltwater, and to do that two times a day, and to gargle with alcohol free mouthwash. So right now, I'm freaking out, because I don't know what my parents are going to do when they see it. But, I might as well live in the moment! I absolutely love my labret, and I think it suits my face perfectly. There's major swelling going on right now, but I just took a Tylenol and put a warm washcloth to my lip. Again, I don't recommend DIY piercings, but if push comes to shove, do what you got to do.