To start off I am not some stupid kid with a safety pin and an old piercing gun stud! I've been there and done that when I was 14 to my navel, ears and nose and finally learned from it, luckily without any infections!
I'm now 21 and more clued up about body piercing risks and procedures than some "professionals" I've since been to (insert nasty gun stories here!)
I decided to pierce my own nipples because I get more satisfaction from things I've done myself and because my life's gone a bit tits up at the moment I wanted to prove to myself that I can do things when I put my mind to it.
It would have been a bonus if doing my own piercing saved me money but after ordering all the equipment and jewellery it would have been cheaper and quicker going to the local piercers!
But that wasn't my reason!
I had decided to use ametop as an anaesthetic because my nipples seem quite sensitive at the moment and I didn't want to be worrying about pain during the piercings. I had to wait another day for the chemist to order it in for me and started to consider doing without, the thought of a slow and painful piercing soon made me wait!
I had decided to pierce my nipples diagonally sloping towards my naval piercings so that when I got my vertical sternum/cleavage in the summer they would compliment each other.
So, attempt No. 1
Even though my equipment was pre sterilised I boiled it all for 30 mins just in case and during this time put the ametop on my nipples.
I cleaned the table I was using with disinfectant and lay paper towel out on it, when I had finished the boiling I laid out the needles, clamps, and jewellery.
I took off the dressing and wiped of the ametop and then used alcohol wipes to clean my nipples. I had been studying my nipples so much over the past few days that I knew exactly where I wanted to pierce and marked them up.
I could still feel my nipples when I clamped them so the ametop didn't work. But I carried on anyway, doing the left nipple first so I wouldn't have to lean over the nipple I've just pierced to do the second one. I put the needle against my nipple and started to push but it would only go a tiny bit in.
I had used the ametop so I could do the piercing a little slower than a professional would so I could be sure that the needle would exit at the right place, but because it hadn't worked I could feel every bit of it.
I wanted to just push it through quickly but at the risk of it being wonky I stopped myself.
I paused a few times and re-tried, but still I had one tough nipple!
By this time even clamping my nipple hurt, I iced it down and tried again.
Still not being able to pierce it I decided to give my poor nipple a rest and to try again the next day. In the morning my nipple was fine, I expected some bruising but it just had a little spot of dried blood and felt normal.
Nipple attempt 2
This ended up being over a week after the first attempt because of a trip to Paris and starting a new job-not that I was complaining!
So finally when I was awake, had the time, and had no alcohol in my system I prepared myself for more nipple piercing - this time armed with 2% Lignocaine gel!
Lignocaine, or lidocaine in the US, is the main ingredient in emla cream so had I had more faith in this than in the Ametop.
I applied this thickly to my nipples and covered it with cling film. I left it on for an hour, wiped it off, gave myself a nipple cripple – felt it! And put fresh gel on for another hour!
Again I boiled all the equipment, which and been cleaned and kept in a sealed plastic bag since my first attempt, and this time I also had a bowl of ice cubes on hand so I didn't have to go searching the freezer half way through!
I cleaned off the lignocaine gel and cleaned my nipple with the alcohol wipes and drew some guide lines. I clamped my left nipple and again I lined the needle up to mark and started to push. Again this was very hard to do because of the angle I was piercing and to make it harder on myself I had forgotten to put the band on the clamps!
I decided to try the right nipple, I wrapped an elastic band around the clamps and clamped my right nipple. The weight of the clamps helped by twisting the nipple around so it was more like piercing my nipple horizontally. I was sat on a stool in front of a big mirror with good lighting so I focused on my reflection rather than looking down at my nipple.
I pushed the needle to the mark, and with my elbow leaning on my knee pushed it further into my nipple which hurt a hell of a lot even with two hours of anaesthetic!
I paused and had some water as I was looking quite pale and put a bit more lube at the entrance hole. I then gave it one final push and it was through! I had defeated my nipple!
I pulled the needle out of the plastic tubing, trimmed it down and removed the clamps. I sat for a while with just the plastic through the piercing while the colour returned to my face!
I had chosen barbells and put one of these through the plastic and tried to pull away the tube, this was harder than I had expected. I trimmed it really short and used tweezers to pull the tube away which I think gave me more control-the last thing I wanted was to lose the hole.
The piercing was perfect and I instantly loved it!
Nipple No. 2
I left it a week before piercing my second nipple, this was so I wouldn't have to lean across the newly pierced nipple and piss it off even more!
Yet again I set up my little studio which I was getting quite used to!
I clamped the nipple, lined up the needle and pushed.
Becasue the fist nipple took two pushes to pierce I was expecting this to be the same so I was suprised to see the needle go through so easily! It was also easier to get the barbell in as well.
I had already told my mum about my nipple piercing and showed her so when I came downstairs to a room full of family I was ordered to show it to my aunt, my sister and my nan! Who all had suprisingly positive reactions to it!
I've have one pierced for over a week and the other for 3 days now and they both seem to be healing fine.
I was expecting them to hurt alot more than they actualy have been, the bit in front of the bars is very sensitive but thats all!
The second piercing is very slightly off center and thats only if you look really hard! I love my pierced nipples, even more because I pierced them!
Although I agree that the majority of self-piercings are poorly done hopefully I've proved that you can pierce youself correctly, and most importantly, safely.
I'm going to be lost this weekend with nothing more to pierce! Sunday had become my day of piercing!
above.