About 6 weeks ago, my friends and I were talking about piercings at school and my best friends and I both had an interest in the not-so-common piercings. I have always been a fan of hip piercings but never thought more into it. The other girls weren't quite as enthused as Emily and myself so we talked it over and the more we talked, the more interested I got. I started to look everywhere on YouTube and BME and any other place I could find some information about hip piercings and then i found this photo of a girl with two small flat silver discs on her hips. It didn't look like the typical surface piercing and I thought they looked amazing.
At A Glance Author Emily Contact Emily@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Suzanne Studio Hairhouse Warehouse, Rundle Mall Location Adelaide On and on I searched until I found out about Microdermals! Ohhhh, I just loved the idea. To me, they looked so much better than surface piercings but everyone has their own preference I'm sure! I researched into them until I was re-reading articles on personal experiences, general information and removals over and over again. They just seemed like the best option as they had a very decreased risk of rejection compared to surface piercings and less invasive. I was smitten immediately and the next day I started ringing up every piercing place starting with Off Ya Tree in Hindley St, Adelaide but no one there did them. After calling a few places, I was starting to lose hope as these were some of the best piercing places in Adelaide and not one of them did them so far.
Thankfully, I came to BME for answers. I started searching through threads about microdermals hoping someone was in the same situation as me and sure enough I found a thread where someone mentioned that microdermals were being done at Hairhouse Warehouse in Marion and Rundle Mall. Now, I know a lot of rumours go around about places like Hairhouse Warehouse and Essential Beauty and I just want to say straight out I'm always going to promote them because I have my navel (done in QLD at Punctured Body Piercing in Maroochydore, AMAZING place), nose, tragus and rook and they have all been done either Essential Beauty in Rundle Mall or at Marion. Not once have I ever had an infection and they were very professional.
Anyways, back to my story. After researching A LOT into microdermals, I called up Rundle Mall Hairhouse Warehouse and asked to speak to the body piercer. Suzanne was put on the line and I proceeded to ask her a million questions about microdermals such as "how long have you been doing them for", "have you ever had any reject", "whats involved with the procedure", "how long do they take to heal", "what should I avoid after having them done", "will they interfere with medical equipment in the instance I need to go to hospital", "whats the difference between microdermals and surface piercings" and many more and of course the obvious question of how much the cost.
After that I proceeded to call her about 8 more times on individual occasions with whatever question had popped into my head at the time and then after I had eventually ran out of questions I asked her to order me in the jewelery (it's a new procedure and since it's not as popular as all other piercings, they order the jewelery for each individual customer). I knew it would cost a fair bit before i even asked just by judging how much past experiences from articles I'd read from overseas on the internet. She told me that it would cost me $90 for one or if I got 2 done at the same time, it would cost $170. Suzanne told me that I wouldn't be able to get all four done on the one day as she didn't want me to stress my body out too much and that I should come back in two weeks or so. She also mentioned that there is no way she would do the piercings if I was sick at the time either.
Anyways, when I finally knew the jewelery was in (took about 5 working days) I just could not wait any longer. So on Friday, the 12th of September, me and my boyfriend (who wasn't a big fan of me getting these done), drove down to rundle mall after calling up and I was devastated to find out that the autoclave wasn't working. Suzanne felt really bad that I drove all the way down there for nothing, so she said she'd knock $10 off. She's a lovely girl and I thought that was really nice of her.
Anyways, since I was still full of excitement, the day after I finished work, I called and then went down in my two hour break before starting my other job and everything was all good to go! We went into the room and she started to feel around my skin, stretching my skin around my hips to see where my veins were. Unfortunately there was a vein that was directly where I wanted my piercing so in the end we decided to put the first two (part 1) just a bit closer to my hip. She warned me that they may rise as it is a high movement area but I didn't mind. She said I would basically be able to "train" them to sit where I want them to so we went ahead with it.
Suzanne told me to lie down on the bed while she wiped me down with sterilizing swabs and prepared all the jewelery. She felt around on the skin for a bit and then when she knew what she was going to do, she asked me which one I'd like done first and I said "either one" and so she did the bottom first. She told me to take a deep breath and as I released, the needle went through my skin. I must admit, compared to my other piercings, it hurt a little bit more but its sooooo worth the pain. I sat up a little to observe what she had done and with the needle she had basically done a really small surface piercing so that a piece of tubing was coming out of one whole that wasn't meant to be there and the other was where the dot was.
She told me that the bottom one will be facing horizontal with the large anchor facing towards my hip bone and that the top one will be facing vertical with the large anchor facing up towards my belly button so that gravity doesn't pull it out. I had also heard of stories where the piercer had put the larger anchor facing the ground and that peoples microdermals were popping out because the small anchor wasn't enough to hold onto to.
Anyways, yes it hurt a little bit I think the needle was the worst bit. When the jewelery was being put in, it was more just annoying. We were both laughing as we spoke about it, its kinda just like "HURRY UP AND GET THE THING IN!!" more than "oh my god this hurts so much". She said that sometimes they just go in after two seconds but lucky me.. mine took about 2 minutes. Fortunately for Suzanne, I'm pretty good with piercings so I didn't complain. I watched her as she tried to get the jewelery in properly and then used the needle to make more room the other side for the small anchor. By this time, the area was basically numb so I didn't feel it. Eventually, i heard the distinct "pop!" (haha, when I read about it, I never actually thought it would actually go "pop") on the jewelery go in and that was the first one done!
Suzanne asked if I wanted to do the second one today and I was definitely all for it. She grabbed a brand new needle and did the procedure all over again. Similar to the first, it hurt but nothing too extreme as i watched her do it. I could think of a lot worse. Afterwards, I stood up and looked at my new piercings. They were amazing :) I was completely smitten. I took a photo and so did she. The jewelery I had asked for were tops with a light blue jewel in them. Suzanne had recommended I get the healing caps first but i just wanted to go straight into something pretty. They matched my belly piercing perfectly. She told me to lie back down again, and proceeded to patch them up for me.
Suzanne then told me about how to clean them and gave me two different sheets on cleaning with sea salt soaks and about 3 different other ways then also another sheet on keloids and hypertrophic scarring and how to help avoid and help get rid of them. She told me to keep them patched up all the time for the next few days - week, while cleaning in between. she told me that I should wear band aids in the shower or put them on straight after as towels are now my worst enemy. So I have!
All in all, I think it was definitely a great experience. She is such a lovely girl and knew what she was doing. She had been taught by Tim, who works at Marion HHWH and she said I could go to him when we first started talking but I had a good feeling about it so I stuck with Suzanne. She basically knows me by a first name basis now and I cannot wait until I have the money to get the next two done. She was so lovely and still felt bad about the day before day so she gave me a free bottle of Protat. I definitely recommend Suzanne. Hairhouse Warehouse's number in (08) 8227 2173. If you're from Adelaide and don't know where to go, go there! Or to the Marion store. Suzanne only works Tuesday - Saturday.
So excited about getting my next two done. My friend and I will be going back down there soon, as she is getting her neck done so hopefully I will have the money to get mine done at the same time. If not, no doubt it will be soon! So keen for summer to show them off. A lot of people weren't too sure about them or just flat out don't like them but I'm in love. And I might mention that a few have changed their minds about them since seeing them, including my boyfriend who doesn't mind them now, still just isn't used to them. Hopefully you enjoyed this incredibly long story. Remember, with microdermals, ask your piercer heaps of questions about past experiences, procedure, cleansing, healing, changing jewelery tops and removal of the piercing altogether.
Thanks! :)