Just a little background on me... I'm 18 almost 19 now; I was 17 when I did this. I'm from Philly (aka Philadelphia) and now go to Temple University. This is my experience with rejection.... Nipple rejection that is.
At A Glance Author Nikki Contact Nikki@bme.anon Artist Mike (???) Studio Nate's basement Location King of Prussia Area It was last June and I had been thinking bout getting my nipples pierced for a couple years now but had wanted to wait. The only piercings I had were six gunned (yes I know now but I didn't know then) lobes and one gunned cartilage (thankful no problems came from that). I had asked a few of my friends what they thought of me getting my nipples pierced and every single one of them thought I was crazy, so I put it to the back of my head... but the thought became overwhelming and I KNEW I had to have it.
August came by and I talked to my friend Nate because he was the only pierced person I really knew. He told me we could go to his guy out in King of Prussia... so the day came and Nate asked me if I was sure about doing it, I was. I was picked up and his friends and me drove to his house.
This is the part I DO NOT recommend... the person who did the piercings did not work out of a shop, he came to the basement of my friend Nate's house. He had a Tupperware container of supplies, the ones with all the dividers. I thought everything was ok because everything was in the sealed autoclaving bags. I didn't know any better at the time. They guy had numerous piercings himself that he said were self performed. They all looked healed correctly and great placement. At the time I didn't know that they were called surface piercings, but he had bars alongside his forehead.
To ease my nervousness, I really wasn't nervous but oh well, he let me watch my friend Nate go first. Nate had decided to get his hand webbing's done, he already had the one between his ring finger and pinky done, this time he was getting between his thumb and index. I watched him almost pass out and I still was not nervous... weird huh? Well anyway after Nate was done it was my turn.
I sat down took opened my shirt and flipped my bra up. There was Nate and about 5 of his friends watching me go through this. The piercer cleaned off my left nipple and took out this thing that looked like a wrench and measured my nipple. He did the same with my right nipple at the time as well. He marked each of them with a BIC pen and had his "assistant" girlfriend look at them as well to tell if they were even. He didn't have a mirror for me to even look at them. He clamped them and was taking a long time to get things ready. The clamps didn't hurt at all so that's a good thing. He told me to breathe in and breathe out. I repeated that a few times and he pushed the needle through as I breathed out. It was exhilarating!! It didn't hurt... my mind just went to another place as the needle went through. He slid the jewelry in following the needle. Placed the ball on and tightened the ring. I went through all of this again for the right nipple.
Now when I had this done I knew nearly nothing about piercing... bad way to go into getting a piercing. The rings that he put in were 12g 3/8th inch diameter. I know now that they were extremely way too small especially for someone who is as well endowed as I am up top.
That was the beginning of my problems. I noticed in September when I first moved into my dorm at college that something wasn't right with my right nipple. The ring was not turning as easily as it did before while cleaning and began to sting a little. The weirdest part was that I could see through my skin to the ring itself... NOT GOOD! I tried calling Nate to get him to call the guy who pierced me because I did not have the piercer's number. Nate was never at the house when I called and never returned my calls. I had decided that I would go to a piercing shop in Philly within the next couple days after my last attempt to contact Nate. After one night of drinking which wound me up with alcohol poisoning (sorry mom and dad), which sent me to the hospital overnight. When I came home and took a shower later that day I noticed that my right nipple ring was no longer there. I was mad and confused at the same time, but oh well.
I now know a tremendous amount more than I had before. I had my right nipple re-pierced vertically at 10g 5/8th inch with a straight barbell in November after the hole had healed over by Luis Garcia at Infinite. I could tell the differences in methods and aftercare instructions how much of a fool I was to go to the other guy. But that's ANOTHER experience to write about.
My word of advice is to not "shop around" for the cheapest prices around to get a piercing. It's not worth it - trust me.... You need to go to a professional and if you're in the Philly are I recommend any of the piercers at Infinite, they are all wonderful as well as the counterstaff. Happy piercing!