The last thing that I had expected to do when I walked into New Tribe on Thursday was to walk out with two nipple piercings. I had gone down to the shop with my sister so that she could get the barbell in her hood piercing changed, and I was talking with another piercer while I waited. I was asking about nipple piercing, because I had been thinking about it for roughly four years. I guess I've just always been interested in modification.
At A Glance Author destrukt Contact destrukt@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Joanne Studio New Tribe Location Toronto, Ontario I was convinced that nipples were considered genital piercings, and that I would have to wait until I was 18 [the legal age for genital piercings in Canada], but in talking to the piercer, I found out that I was wrong. I asked a few more questions, regarding healing time, which is six months, if I could get them done diagonally, which I found out was entirely possible, and if it would be pierced with a barbell or a ring. All of my questions were answered with answers that I had really wanted to hear, so I was really considering getting it done right then. New Tribe has a bit of a reputation amongst my friends for being a very clean, high quality studio, so I was more than happy to have them pierce me.
I had to think about it for a while, and I hadn't eaten for about 10 hours, so when my sister was finished, we went shopping briefly, and out for dinner.
In a store, we were discussing whether or not it was a good idea for me to get it done, and one of the people working there overheard us. She asked what I had gotten pierced, and I told her that I was considering piercing my nipples. She said that she had gotten hers done the night before, and it was virtually painless at the time, and she could barely feel it then. That was it, I was sold. As soon as we finished dinner, I went back to New Tribe, and I got there half an hour before they closed.
I told them that I had decided to do it, and they had me fill out a form, and of course checked my I.D. Joanne [my piercer] brought me into the piercing room, and it all looked very clean, and sterile, which seemed like a good sign to me. She explained that she would clean my nipple area, and clamp it. After the clamp was in place, she would pierce it with a hollow needle, and the barbell would be put through the needle, then the needle would be removed. I felt very comfortable with her as my piercer, because she was very friendly, and very calm. She explained that everything had been sterilized in an autoclave, removed it from sterile bags, and she proceeded to sterilize my skin.
Once my nipples were clamped, I wasn't really thinking about it, to keep myself calm. She pierced the right nipple first, and I barely felt it, which seemed strange, because I assumed that such a sensitive area would be more painful.
She then pierced my left nipple, which hurt a little bit, but only because I knew what I was expecting. I asked her some more questions regarding jewelry size [14g], when I could change the barbell should I decide to do so, and when I could come back for the next two. I have my nipples pierced diagonally at the moment, so that in six months when I go back to get my next two piercings, I will have nipple rings in the formation of an 'x' rather than a '+'.
Once she had finished my piercings, she showed me the needles, and asked me to watch her dispose of them. This also made me feel very safe, because it was just added security, knowing that they care about safe disposal of potentially hazardous materials.
Over the past week, I have felt a very minimal amount of pain, and they didn't swell at all. I am very pleased with my piercings, and I would recommend this to anyone who is considering it. Because I was pierced with barbells instead of rings, I clean the piercings with sea salt soaks, twice a day every day, and will continue to do so for at least the next two months.
Joanne asked me to come back to her when I want to have the next piercings done, and I would be more than happy to do so because she did such an excellent job on the first ones.
I think that the reason I was not nervous about getting them done was that I hadn't expected to do it right then. I was happy with waiting until I was 18, but I am very glad that I have them already. I think that nipple piercings are beautiful, and I like that mine are a little bit different. I have never seen nipples pierced diagonally, and I think its good to experiment, to make a piercing more personalized, as long as it remains safe.