I was never the type of girl who was into body piercing. Sure, other people I knew were, but it never appealed to me in a real fashion. Of course, like every young girl I had thought about piercing my navel...you know, that 'cool' thing that everyone seems to be doing, but it just wasn't for me. Maybe it was the mainstream nature of that particular piercing or maybe it was just simply that I was not the type of person to be pierced. Besides, I always thought they looked stupid.
At A Glance Author kay Contact kay@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Bear Studio First on Granville Location Vancouver I can't remember when my perspective changed about piercing, but I can remember how. I was getting tattooed (how piercing freaked me out and tattooing didn't, I'll never know) and noticed the bevy of piercings on my tattoo arist. He had so many in his ears, several of them stretched. His tongue was done and so was that little piece of skin underneath your top lip connecting it to you gums. His eyebrow had two rings in it. Even though a spectacle like that would normally cause me to cringe, I thought his face looked beautiful. I'm not sure what caused the change, but I'm glad whatever happened at that moment happened.
Now I was in the process of wanting to get pierced. I did the second holes in my ear thing, but that did not quench my desire. I wanted something more extreme, something that none of my friends had. I discussed this with my boyfriend and he suggested getting my nipple pierced. My first thought was 'ew, I'm not letting a stranger see my boobs'. Plus, I would be worried about how it would effect me in the future for things like breastfeeding. he just told me that it was what I was looking for and I shouldn't be such a wimp. Besides, it wasn't permanent.
Well, after some thinking, I decided nipple piercing was something I wanted to look into. It turned out that all of my fears were groundless. There would be no problems with breastfeeding later in life. The shape of a ring wasn't going to be visable through my bra and my shirt and my coat. But I still wanted to dwell upon it for a little while longer.
Then, out of the blue, while shopping downtown with my boyfriend, I blurted out that I wanted my nipple pierced. He just said cool and asked me when I wanted to do it. I said now, even though in the pit of my stomach I was terrified. He said fine and took me to the piercing studio.
While I was filling out the appropriate forms and filling my lungs with cigarette smoke, I was trembling. I could still turn back, I thought. It's gonna hurt so much! is all that was going through my mind. In short, I was a wreck.
Bear, my piercer, took my forms, quizzed me about the aftercare procedures and then led me into his little white room (which was frezing, by the way, and all I could think about was how hard my nipples were and I was about to take off my shirt). He then told me to remove my clothes. I was nervous, but his calming voice and gentle nature began to relax me. He made it seem like nothing, as though taking my shirt off in front of a stanger was the most commom thing in the world to do. he then drew lines on my nipple, telling me it would help him make it perfectly centred. 'Propellers' he joked after he had finished.
He then advised me to lie down and stare directly at the ceiling. He then began to help me control my breathing and said to close my eyes. While my eyes were closed, he chanted and did all sorts of movements over my head with his hands (as my boyfriend informed me later). The soothing sound of the chants completely relaxed me, and I think he knew that because he didn't stop chanting until my breathing was completely normal. Then he clamped my nipple and positioned the clamp until it was in just the right spot. (People usually complain about this part, but it's really not that bad). Then, as he began chanting again, he pierced my nipple. I felt nothing. I felt so calm and relaxed because of his ritual. Then I did the worse thing possible, I looked down at my nipple and saw the big needle sticking out of it. Do not do this. This is when I felt the pain.
But this pain was quickly brought to and end with the placement of the ring and a clean up. I thanked Bear for everything he did and he thanked me for being a pleasure to pierce. I guess going from hating piercings to getting a nipple pierced is a big step, but it was a great step. Since then, I've actually added to my collection and plan to do more. Plus, I love getting out of the shower and seeing the shiny ring. All that worrying was for nothing and now I had a beautiful piece decorating my body. I couldn't be happier.