Since I was barely a teenager, I had wanted my nipples pierced. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to get, "screwed, skewed, and tattooed!" The countdown to my 18th birthday was down from years to months when my two best friends decided they wanted to get their nipples pierced also, and we decided to turn it into a bonding experience. However, one of these friends is younger than I am, and also lives six hours away, so that meant I had to wait longer. And as it turned out, she decided to not get hers done anyways.
At A Glance Author Faeri Contact Faeri@bme.anon IAM Faeri When Three months ago Artist ... Studio Carolina Tattoo Company Location Greensboro, NC And so it was down to two. The day I decided to go, it was somewhat spontaneous. I had wanted these piercings for years, so it was not a hasty decision. I just said, "Hey, today is the day." My friend came over and we started the 30 minute drive to Greensboro.
My friend was nervous, and I was excited. We listened to our music and talked about a lot of nothing. I had heard from many people that nipples are among the most painful body parts to pierce, but I was ready for it. I have my inner conch pierced on one ear, and that hurt like crazy, so I figured I could handle the pain again.
When we got there, we walked up to the desk and told the woman what we were in for. We filled out the forms she gave us, and she copied our IDs and took our money. We had to sit around for a while, because someone was getting her navel pierced. We were a little startled when we heard blood-curdling screams coming from the piercing room! Once she came out, the piercer set up the room for the two of us.
We decided that I would get pierced first. I didn't quite know the procedure for taking off my clothes and whatnot. So I stuttered out a question, and he told me to go ahead and take off my shirt. I sat down on the table in my bra, and we discussed what size jewelry I wanted. I don't remember the diameter of the rings I chose, but I know they are surgical stainless steel and 14 gauge. He took them out of the autoclave bags (hm, is that what they're called?) and put them in some kind of solution. He squeezed some lubricant out onto the table, and put on some gloves.
Off came my bra at this point! My nipples had never been very sensitive, and very rarely came out to play. He put on some gloves, and cleaned the right one up and then pinched it lightly to try to get it to cooperate. That took a few minutes. Eventually my nipple was ready. He held the needle next to it, and told me to breathe deeply and One... Two... Three! I hardly felt it! He put a little bit of the lubricant on the ring and slid it in.
He told me the second one would hurt worse. He repeated the procedure for the first one. It was also a breeze. My friend went next, and she had a harder time that I did. Her nipples have always been extremely sensitive, and when the needle went in her second nipple, it brought her to tears.
He gave us directions on how to care for them at this point. He gave us each a little bag of salt and some of the cups they give you Listerine in. We were to put this bag of salt into a gallon of water, and every morning and every night, soak our new piercings for two or three minutes.
Our piercer was very gentle and kind to us throughout this whole experience, and so I gave him a generous tip. (I know people who don't tip their piercers or tattoo artists... I think they need to show a little more appreciation!) We told everyone good night and we went on our way back to Winston Salem.
My nipples got very sore pretty quickly afterwards. My seat belt was irritating them, and when we went over speed bumps, well, it wasn't a pleasure. The next day, my friend's cat stepped on her chest, and my dog head-butted mine! What a conspiracy... The next day I also noticed that my left nipple was pierced a little bit shallow.
For about a week and a half, I did the salt-soaks. After that, I switched to washing them in the shower with a gentle soap. My right nipple healed beautifully and I love it, but my left one rejected and I had to take it out. It will definitely be repierced though
I do have a little bit of increased sensitivity in them, that was a nice little surprise. This is definitely a fun piercing! *wink*