I've always had a strong love for all things metal and shiny! I love the sense of pride you get after being pierced! I don't 'actually' have that many piercings at the moment due to lack of funds and old piercings migrating and what not but over the years I've had my navel pierced and my ear cartilage and currently have my left nostril pierced twice, standard lobe piercings and now of course, my nipples!
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A month ago Location Nottingham, UK I wasn't really interested in the idea of nipple piercing until a few months back, I never disliked it but it's quite an intimate piercing and I suppose it had never been the 'piercing for me' so to speak!
I'm not actually sure what swayed me more toward the idea – I feel like I've grown up in the past few months, I felt more 'sexualised' and all of a sudden nipple piercing became attractive to me.
It's like it puts a stamp on my sexuality.
I kept the idea to myself for a while as I wasn't sure how people would react if I told them but I soon shared my thoughts with my friends who were themselves, very intrigued by the idea of nipple piercing. I held back telling my mum for a while too but she was more than supportive when I told her- a little worried but supportive never the less.
I researched the piercing a lot using BME and various other sites, I read through everyone's experiences for months on end, sometimes the experiences would put me off slightly. I think like most people, I was looking for reassurance and very few stories gave me that. But it's important to remember that no two people's piercing experiences are the same – what's excruciating for one person will be a walk in the park to another. You can't predict how much the piercing will hurt until you've actually been through the experience; it's as simple as that!
I told myself as soon as I had the money I'd go for it but I'd always put it off for one reason or another. It never felt like the right time. I'd often go into the shop and browse around at the nipple jewellery trying to give myself the boost of encouragement I needed to just go for it but I'd end up freezing when I saw what they'd be putting through my nipples!
Then one Monday after a really lousy weekend I decided I was going to do it. I made sure I was wearing a strapless top and a comfortable bra then I went to meet my friend in town. I told her my plans and she was more than happy to come with me. I went to the shop I always go to, more out of routine than anything else. I was ready to back out but she marched me straight to the shop and told the lady at the counter what I wanted done. She laughed and said "Blimey, you're a glutton for punishment aren't you." The piercings were due to cost £50 altogether but she said as I was having two done she'd only charge me £45, "Great," I thought!
It hadn't really hit me that I was about to get my nipples pierced at this point, I just stood at the counter getting ready for myself to chicken out. A lady in front of me had just gone up to have something pierced so I got myself a cup of water while I waited. I'd barely put the cup to my mouth when the lady shouted over "Ready when you are." My friend lead me straight up the stairs before I had chance to talk myself out of it, by this point everybody in the shop knew what I was about to have pierced!
I felt pretty calm going up the stairs; the nervousness I usually get still hadn't hit me. I felt kind of numb more than anything- it was almost like an outer body experience!
I handed the piercer dude the jewellery I'd been given downstairs, I hadn't been given a choice, she just gave me plain 12mm barbells.
He looked at me like I was crazy when he saw I wanted both nipples pierced!
He told me to get up onto the couchy type thing and that he'd pierce both nipples in a matter of seconds. He kept me sat up which I was glad about; I tend to go a bit light headed if I'm pierced whilst lying down. He told me to lift up my top and bra- I found this a bit more embarrassing than I thought it'd be. From this point I had my head turned away, I did not want to see that needle!
He sprayed some kind of freezing solution on my nipples and drew on the dots. He didn't ask me to check the placements which I was quite surprised about because he normally does. Then out of nowhere he pierced my right nipple. "Oh, is that it?" I thought to myself, feeling quite relieved! He left the needle in while he quickly pierced the other side which again came as a bit of a surprise, not a bad technique though; it gave me no time to think about what was going to happen!
The second piercing had slightly more 'feeling' to it but it wasn't pain, it felt like a needle was going through my nipple's as you'd expect but it wasn't painful, it was a pushing feeling, totally bearable! Then he put in the jewellery, now that stung a little, In fact I'd say that 'hurt' more than the whole piercing experience but it was only very mild stinging at that!
Now as I said I wasn't watching any of the procedure but I'm pretty sure he didn't use clamps, I didn't ask why, didn't really get chance to- it was all over very quickly and before I knew it I was being told to grab an aftercare leaflet on the way back downstairs.
Normally he's very informative but I found him very unhelpful this time round, I think I'd caught him on a busy day but even so, that's no excuse! I took a quick glance down at my nipples before pulling my top back up; I decided to take my bra off, not because it was too painful to pull back up but because it was too awkward.
In fact I was surprised at how much it wasn't hurting! I didn't even feel like I'd had them pierced!
We walked back down the stairs where I was greeted by lots of people asking how it went.
"Great!" I said, "Absolutely fine!" I went on to say my nose piercings hurt a damn lot more, soon realised that was the wrong thing to say to a bunch of people that were just about to have their noses pierced, whoops! The lady behind the counter told us to hang around for a bit and relax (I liked her; she was a lot more helpful than the piercer!) The nice lady even gave me Savlon cleaning solution free of charge! Everyone began to crowd round me and ask about the procedure and what not, I felt like a minor celebrity!
After we left the shop I went straight to the toilets to check out my new piercings! It still hadn't hit me that I'd actually been and had them done though; probably because it still didn't feel like they had been! I had the occasional 'twinge' now and again but nothing like I was expecting.
I was worrying about the bus ride home, it's particularly bumpy and after reading stories on here I was bracing myself for an uncomfortable journey but it was completely fine!
I had a proper look at my new piercings when I got home; I noticed my right piercing isn't as straight as it could have been which I was quite annoyed about, I don't think I'll be going to that piercer again, I've never had any faults with him in the past but I found him very unprofessional this time round. Never the less I was extremely pleased with my new piercings and so relieved that I'd finally
gone through with it!
It's been a fair few weeks now and the piercings are healing nicely. I occasionally get the odd bit of dried fluid which is to be expected but that's pretty much it – I haven't had any pain, bleeding etc. In fact to date, they've been the most trouble free piercings I've had!
So, to anyone contemplating getting their nipple's pierced.... Go for it! Make sure it's definitely what you want of course but if its things like the pain factor stopping you going ahead with it then don't worry! I'm not going to say it won't hurt you because we all have different pain thresholds but you won't know until you do it and by the time you realise if it has hurt you or not you'll already have pretty new shiny things! :op