I've always adored surface piercings. They always look so good and original, and the possibilities for placement are almost endless. I had attempted to get a Madison put in a few years ago, but the local parlor lied to me and said that surface piercings were illegal in Vermont. It didn't exactly hit me right off that an eyebrow was, essentially, a surface piercing, as was a frenum. I was still new to this whole piercing scene and relied on the local tattooist for any and all information. I eventually wised up and found BME for all of my piercing, tattooing, and body art related information.
At A Glance Author cobweb Contact cobweb@bme.anon IAM cobweb When It just happened Artist Ryan Studio Lifestyles Location Waterbury, CT I had seen various pictures of surface piercings, everything from wrists to ribcages to napes. But one of the most interesting was the ring in the center of the forehead, which I remember being called a "goddess." I figured you had to be pretty hardcore to get something that extreme in a facial piercing. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to experience this unique piercing. I am currently training as a body piercer in a shop called Lifestyles in Waterbury, CT. My trainer, Ryan, has been piercing for a few years now, but because of the conservative scene in CT, he is often reduced to numerous navel piercings. I must say that the people in the area have a severe lack of originality. In the many weekends that I have been there, the most interesting thing I have seen him do was pierce a tongue at ten gauge. Besides that, it is mostly navels with the occasional nostril. He had only done one surface piercing before, and that was a clavicle, which apparently came out nicely. He had never done or even seen a forehead piercing.
We were sitting around on a very dull Saturday after the multitudes of navel piercings had died down, feeling very bored and anxious. I, having had many personal problems in the past few weeks, needed a feeling of accomplishment and originality. I told him I was thinking about piercing my forehead. He told me to pick out a ring and sit in the chair. I grabbed a simple fourteen gauge, seven-sixteenths captive bead ring from the case, and flipped it on my fingers for a moment while I thought. I was only worried about the pain. Having suffered a twelve gauge apradavya, septum stretchings, and numerous frenums, I figured that I could probably handle it. Besides, what fun is piercing without the pain? I asked the other piercer if he thought that I should go for it. He gave me the thumbs up, so I threw the ring at Ryan, and sat down in his black barber's chair. He began setting up for the piercing, getting out the pliers, needle, marker, and so on. Once he was all set up, he clean ed me off and began pinching my forehead to see if I had enough skin to do it. He was able to grab enough skin, so we continued with the piercing. At this point, I was really nervous about all of it, and was extremely apprehensive and anxious. I began psyching myself up for the excruciating pain I was about to experience.
Ryan wanted to take his time. After all, he had never done this piercing before, and he wanted it to be perfect. So did I, of course. He lined up my nose with my forehead, and put two small dots in the center. I checked them in the mirror and liked the spot he had picked. It wasn't as if this was incredibly permanent. It would probably reject very quickly due to the pressure on the skin. He began lining up the cork with the dots he had made, and finding a comfortable spot. He had me lean my head to the side so he could slide the needle downward. He kept practicing, which made me really nervous, afraid that he would do it and I would be caught off guard.
One last time, he pinched my skin to the cork, and told me he was ready. I was ready too, and continued with my deep breathing. I felt his hands moving, but I never felt any pinches, pokes, or jabs. I only felt something sliding under my skin and then up and out. I felt really good afterwards. I turned and looked in the mirror to see the large needle sitting in the center of my forehead. I turned back, and he asked me how I felt. I felt great, I told him, and he grabbed the ring. He slid it through, which pinched a little, but nothing too incredible. He closed the ring and popped the little black bead in. After he had cleaned me up, I took another look in the mirror. He had slightly missed the right dot, causing my ring to be a little off to the left. But I didn't care. I was too excited.
I ran right out of the room to show everybody else in the shop. They were really impressed with my originality and bravery. For the rest of the day, everyone I met stared at me and asked about how it felt. Being conservative Waterbury, CT, not a lot of people were used to such an extreme piercing. And I thought I stood out before with my six gauge septum ring. I went to a rave that night, and wished that I had put a blacklight-reactive bead in it. Nonetheless, everyone I met liked it (except for my parents of course. And my ex-girlfriend.).
After all the garbage I had experienced in the past few weeks, I needed an experience like this one. I had spent the morning reading LaVey's "Devil's Notebook." It said over and over again that complaining about things doesn't do any good, and that you should rise above your problems, because in the end, they don't mean a damn thing. This ring symbolizes my rising above my problems, and transcending all of the crap in my life. In placing this ring under my skin, I have set myself apart from everybody else and focused on myself and what I need to do.
In the past few days, I haven't experienced any swelling, crustiness, or leaking blood. It slides through the skin really easily, doesn't hurt in any way, and hasn't rejected at all. I have been cleaning it three times a day with antibacterial soap, and it is doing really well. Hopefully, it will reject a bit on the left side to balance it out. Then, I intend to put a barbell in it, and eventually I want a row of them going down the center of my forehead.