February 2009
At A Glance Author Isabel Contact Isabel@bme.anon When Six months ago Studio Shades Of Grey Location Dawley, Telford, England
Vertical Labret // Isabel // Eighteen // Fine Art Student // UK
"Be yourself, above all, let who you are, what you belive, shine through every sentence you write and every piece you finish" ~ John Jakes
There are many reasons as to why I decided to poke a needle through the centre of my bottom lip. Part of me, desperately craves to be a teenage rebel and piss people off. This is the wrong reason for a piercing. Part of me has always hated my face, has never grown any acceptance to the shape and structure of it, I have never left the house without caking it in some form of makeup to mask what it looks like and have hidden under hoodies and hats for years. I realised eventually and over time that I am who I am, when I look in the mirror that is the only person I will ever be. Beauty is a fuck thanks to celebrity culture and vanity products. I do not want to cower and hide anymore, I want to mark myself with something beautiful. This is the right reason for a piercing.
I ripped apart the internet looking for the perfect thing to add to my face, I firstly looked at different make-up styles but realised that I would still be masking who I am, I contemplated surgery but I did not want to change and conform to anyone else's ideals. I have been a "Goth" or "Emo" or *insert stereotypical sub-culture here* since I was about nine years old and I threw out the pop albums and stole my dad's Papa Roach CD. I never looked back. I decided to invest some time into looking at a common art form amongst these sorts of people, piercing's.
None of the standard nose/ear/eyebrow piercing's had particularly interested me, and I began to loose faith, until one day I was browsing the Lip section. There imbedded into the bottom lip of a beautiful young girl glittered the perfect little piercing, exactly what I needed, a Vertical Labret.
I read about the piercing, the aftercare the procedure, and so forth. I re-visited a tattooists that I had been to previously to touch up part of it that had faded. I ask the lovely woman behind the desk, nervously, if I could book a piercing. "Sure" she said. The date was set for just after my eighteenth birthday, when I'd most likely have money. £25.
I walked to Dawley that afternoon, with £30 in my back pocket. I planned to get myself a bottle of coke after as I was sure I'd probably pass out. When I walked into the studio I was again greeted by their wonderful receptionist, though had to wait about an hour for the piercer -I belive she pierces as a side income and I was warned on arrival she'd be late- I've never felt more comfortable than I do in a tattooists, and I could happily sit there all day. Due to the fact it was a Thursday the shop was particularly quiet, infact I wondered if they'd opened just for me. Whilst waiting I had a wonderful conversation with her, she told me about the different types of people who come through their doors, and how each person, no matter if they're covered head to toe in tattoo's or are here for their first one are lovely. And she told me how society sneers at people who are like that, who are not afraid to break the mould and who are not ashamed of who they are. Who belive in themse lves and use body modification to help them overcome things or celebrate. I do belive that this kind of person, the person like you or I, that accepts body modification that understands the meaning behind it, we are far stronger mentally then those that think we are using a form of self harm, or are damaging and manipulating our body's. It takes a far stronger person to mark their skin with something that others will question and ridicule than someone who dresses to 'fit in'. It is not the pain of the procedure that makes us strong but infact the thought behind it, that we are brave enough to question ourselves and our beliefs than to just jump on the same old bandwagon and not think for ourselves. It is as I am typing this I think back to a comment that my tutor recently made while we were discussing my work. "Every year I get an influx of students into this studio, and I can teach every one of them how to be good at art, but I cannot teach any one of them how to be an arti st." I asked him what he meant by this and he said "You can teach anyone, anyone how to draw and it's not difficult to come by someone who is a very good drawer, but you cannot teach anyone how to think, you cannot give anyone an imagination you cannot show anyone how to open their mind or use creativity, those people are already artist's, they question the world around them and provoke you to think, they are few and far between, they are the best students because you do not teach them you simply discuss with another creative mind."
I was always aware, even when I was a young girl that it wasn't so much that I didn't want to be like everyone else, but infact I wanted to think for myself. While I was sat in the tattooist's I was extremely calm, I wasn't just piercing a hole in my face, I knew I would be leaving the studio with my head held high and confidence. I would not be hiding behind that glittering little bar in my lip but infact embracing it as part of my face, as part of my own, individual beauty.
Eventually the piercer arrived -alas I cannot remember her name although it is now July a full five months later- and she handed me the usual piercing form with all the terms and conditions on it. She showed me the bar that she was going to use to pierce my lip -I did have to draw a diagram to show her what piercing I wanted- she said it was about a CM long though didn't give me the size of the needle she was using. Probably because I didn't ask. She marked the first dot in the centre of my mouth just under my lip and then handed me the pen, she told me to mark where about's I'd like the top ball to be so she knew how far back to pierce it and to check the placement to the bottom. I marked my lip so that the second ball would sit comfortably in the crease of my lips, I was happy with the placement of the first dot she made as it didn't sit to far forward and just in the little shadow my bottom lip makes (I have fairly pouted lips, I had been toying with the idea of snakebites but was afraid it would overcrowd my mouth as it's not particularly wide, if that sounds like the description of your lips -fairly pouted and not to wide- and your considering it then this piercing will really suit you) she then asked my if I'd like some numbing spray on my lip and I nodded in agreement. I'm not brave enough to go without. She had already cleaned my mouth before the marking and changed her gloves, she picked up the needle that was tightly packaged, she informed me that I needed to look as she opened it as proof that the needle was completely sterile and brand new. She clamped my lip -I've heard a lot of complaints that clamps hurt, they didn't bother me at all, infact I barley noticed them- she then moved herself to carry through the actual piercing. I could see her contemplate between piercing up or down, she chose to pierce up, again I didn't ask why. Now most people had informed me that lip piercing's don't hurt. And I had been given some numbing spray, I could feel the very tip of the needle scratch agenised the underneath of my lip my naivety disappeared as I suddenly realised "Oh shit...this is gonna hurt" however sheer pride left me rooted in that chair. "Are you ready" she asked, and I kind of grunted in agreement, and along came the first push. The pain came so sharp and severe that I had tears pouring down my eyes, she had to re-adjust herself to keep the piercing in a straight line, and push through the final part of my lip. The second half wasn't as painful as first. The part I really wasn't prepared for was that you can actually hear the needle tear through the gristle and tissue, there was also a slight crunching sound at one point, like someone had just chomped a massive cube of ice, and there was a 'pop' sound as it came through the top. I did bleed after this piercing was finished, and there was blood trickli ng down my chin which was promptly wiped up, and then came the dizzy spell. I've never felt faint before in my life but suddenly my eyes went cloudy and my vision blurred, my head span and I asked to be led down, which she agreed to instantly. And then got a fan to cool me down. When I eventually recovered -about five minuets later- I paid her and she gave me my five pounds change and told me to pop to the shop and get myself a drink and something to eat to make myself feel better, which I did. She gave me a little orange sheet of aftercare instructions.
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The Upper Or Lower Lip
Your piercing has been carried out to be highest possible professional standard
If you follow these simple rules healing will be swift, safe and painless
On the morning after the piercing. WASH HANDS THOROUGHLY. Apply saline (sterile salt water) to the piercing, using a cotton wool bud. Spin the jewellery TWICE ONLY to carry the saline solution through the piercing. Wipe of any excess lotion. Repeat every morning for 2-3 weeks.
Golden Rule 1 NEVER FIDDLE WITH THE PIERCING DURING THE HEALING PROCESS, or allow anyone else to do so. This will invariably lead to infection.
Golden Rule 2 SOAP OR SHAMPOO IS THE MOST COMMON CAUSE OF PROBLEMS WITH HEALING! Never spin the ring in the bath or shower, or immerse the piercing longer than necessary in hot, soapy water, which will prevent the piercing from drying out and healing.
IF IN ANY DOUBT PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US
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After my little fainting incident I didn't want to look at it for the hour long bus journey home. I vowed in my mind that I never wanted another piercing again, the pain had been to much for me. My bottom lip letting out sharp pains in-between the constant throbbing. Every now and then when I attempted to lick my lip -an ongoing habit- I would hit the exit of the piercing and yelp in pain, I was convinced there was dry blood on my now very swollen lip which was causing a lot of staring. I wanted to scream out at the disapproving on lookers' "it's just been pierced all right?"
It didn't take long for my lip to occupy the length of the bar. I could see a shiny bit of metal in the hazy reflection of the bus window, I turned away from it. I hated it already, I wanted to tear the thing out of my face and cry to my mum. This was a stupid, stupid idea. The tattoo had hurt so much less.
When I got home I allowed myself into the empty house, boiled the kettle and use one of my sister's bottles (my sister was 2 at the time and my mum still used that steriliser thing for her bottles) and filled it with salty warm water.
I went upstairs feeling very sorry for myself. I walked into the bathroom and avoided all contact with the mirror. I washed my hands thoroughly and planned to take it out in the next few days, for now I just wanted to get rid of the blood. I looked up straight in front of me and stared at the reflection in the mirror, still half teary eyed. I blinked a few times as I stared at the swollen, bloody lip that now occupied a curved barbell. I gaped at it, open mouthed, and as cliché as it sounds it was love at first sight. Because swollen bloodiness aside it sat so perfectly in my face glittering in the light, I had fantasised about it for so long and even though my lip resembled the size of a small orange, it fitted so well with my features it was as though it had always been there, as if it was designed to be sat in my lip.
They told me in the shop that it shouldn't take more than four weeks to heal, it actually took seven to heal completely. But from having my ears pierced forty thousand times as a kid I had already realised that. I've always been given time limits when I've had ear piercing's before, and I know that they're going to take longer on me, my body doesn't reject all metals I just piss it off abit when I push them through. I followed the instructions given to me, though after the second week it was a little less religious. I'd say it took between nine and ten days for the swelling to go completely, it was a little pussy but that's just your body repairing itself, it didn't bleed after the initial piercing. The pain went before the swelling did, on the third day I was itching to take it out because it was irritating me but I resisted the urge to touch or play with it. Some people didn't know I'd even had it done, which is a pretty strong sign to me it was meant to be there, either th at or some of my friends are addicted to blonde pills.
It's been in my face for five months now, I look severely odd when I take it out. My grandparents hated it and told me I'd regret it when I'm older, but they eventually came round to it. My mum wasn't overly impressed but though she wont admit it I think she actually likes it now, when I switched it for a smaller bar she looked very disappointed at the much tinier balls. I think bigger balls make it look like your lips being dragged down. It doesn't get in the way talking or kissing or any other activities. It does feel strange at first when you take a drink out of a mug and you can feel it press into your mouth, though eventually you get used to the little tink sound it makes.
I very much adore my lovely vertical labret. The only thing that slightly annoys me is when people just stare at it, I don't mind randomer's coming up and asking me about it, infact I'd much prefer that to the random staring. People will look at you disapprovingly but that's just life and people are narrow minded. It's not in their face so I'm not really that bothered. It's a wonderful piercing, don't let my pain put you off it!
Bella
xoxo