This came about as kind of a whim. I'm not a newbie when it comes to piercing, even if I don't yet have as many as I'd like. I'd gotten my tongue done in August of `05 as a symbol of getting over / through Jr. High alive. It turned out well and since then I've been hooked on piercings. So when my eighteenth birthday came around this year, I decided I wanted to get a needle shoved through another section of flesh. I spent months browsing BME looking for something interesting that I could do that wouldn't really hurt too much, but lucky me, the horizontal hood caught my eye. It was different and it was something that I didn't necessarily have to show or tell if I didn't feel like it.
At A Glance Author Lexxie Contact Lexxie@bme.anon When Six months ago Studio Sikfrig N' Innk Location Nelson, BC, Canada Much to the surprise of my friends, that's what I decided on and as excited as they were (which was decidedly more excited than I was at the time) they told me flat out; "You're going to chicken out, we know you will." I knew they were probably right but I wanted to go through with it anyway just to prove them and myself wrong. So the day came when I found my way into town with my best friend, the other two were decidedly out of town and sorry they'd have to miss it, but otherwise I was cool, calm and collected so long as my friend was with me. Once in the shop, which was empty cause I have just that awesome of timing, the guy there asked me what it is I wanted done, at which point I told him, filled out the paperwork and found myself on my back with my skirt hiked before I knew it.
So, I've been told I'm something of a masochist by past boyfriend/s and my friend who I've had since before I can remember told me that I'd be through it without a second thought and thanks to that information as well as the stories that I'd read through on BME, most of which said something about a quick, sharp pain then pretty much nothing I was sure I could do it. Within seconds of this revelation of mine, with my hand in my friends I heard the piercer tell me he was gunna use a clamp and that I should just stay calm cause the needle was still on the counter. I have to admit that I held my breath at this point because I knew that clamp was going to be coooold, which no surprise, it was. As soon as he had the clamp in place and I'd calmed down enough thanks to my friend making stupid jokes / comments, I was told that I was ready to be pierced. My heart almost stopped. It's not that I don't like pain, I just don't like knowing that it was coming, and that along with thoughts that kept screaming "This is going to hurt like nothing before!" I started to get nervous and found that I now had a death grip on this guys chair. This was when my friend decided she liked her hands in their unbroken state and took them away from me.
I braced myself as he told me to take a deep breath and stay calm and relaxed, which is exactly what i was trying to do. He said to take a deep breath and just think of something other than the needle, so I tried to do that and just as I'd found my happy place I felt pain and, note to the wise, don't do what I did, I jumped. Yeah. The needle was part way through the skin and I jumped. Needless to say the needle slipped and I was soon bleeding. This was entirely my fault at being so wound up over the whole idea and my friend actually laughed at me. This was the point where she was sure that I'd simply get up and leave without a second thought, so did the piercer in fact, "If you want you can leave for now, calm down and come back later or another day all together." Yeah-huh, if I left now I wouldn't be coming back so instead I sat there, calmed myself down and told him I was ready. My death grip on the chair was back in place and I was breathing like there was no tomorrow. I j ust chanted in my head, 'stay calm and it will be over soon then you can laugh and tell them you aren't such a chicken.'
Once he was ready and had the clamp back in place and the needle poised he decided it was best not to warn me this time and just did it. Which I was in fact thankful for because this time I didn't jump and the piercing was successful. I admit that it did hurt quite a bit, but it wasn't the prolonged pain that I was expecting and admittedly it did throb a bit afterward but by the time I went to sleep that night I didn't even notice it. I paid close attention to the aftercare and listened to the piercer when he told me that there could be a little bit of bleeding for the next few days thanks to my jumpy personality.
Overall it went well and I have to admit that it was worth the pain. Just remember though, it really isn't a good idea to jump... My friends were surprised and they've been asking me since then to see it and officially the only people who've seen it are me, the piercer and the friend who went with me. Even my mother's been pestering me to see it. I thought it was funny that she was complaining about her nose hurting after she got it pierced so I told her that mine had hurt a lot more. The look on her face was priceless because she had no clue that I'd had anything done.
So overall, if you're considering getting this piercing or even the vertical hood than I would sincerely recommend it. The pain isn't as horrible as you'd think and it has to be the quickest healing piercing that I've ever had. Just remember not to jump.