My Third Eye
This is the story of my Vertical Bridge. So I had just made this big procclaimation to Orbax about how I wasnt going to have anymore facial piercings. Or many more piercings in general. And then....I went to work. Strange things can happen when you work at a Tattoo & Piercing Parlour...
I work for Joan at Stigmata. On a pretty random at work, I was flipping
through her piercing portfolio and started humming and hawing over a picture
of a vertical bridge she had done. The picture is of a little punk boy with
also with a septum, (and a horizontal bridge, too). So I try to picture what
it would look like on my face, with my septum. I decide that it would look a
lot cuter on me, than on the guy in her book. (Its true!) Im thinking to
myself: "Self: that is a pretty cute piercing. Aesthetically pleasing, not
very common, and my piercer kicks ass..." I know that I dont want my eyebrows
pierced, and I dont want to muck around with oral piercings, and that one hole
in my nose is enough for now...but I hadnt even considered a vertical bridge.
And now, Im doing the "I want to be pierced dance".
So I ask Joan if she
has any jewelry for it, and sure enough she does. The jewelry is a custom "L"
shaped surface bar that used to be in shannons face. Funny where jewelry can
end up: sometimes I think my jewelry has a life of its own, well apart from
me. Its a pretty barbell: (although I call kitten skulls "cute" so this is may
be a slanted opinion)....the jewelry has a nice purple titanium bottom ball. I
think its swell.
So I toss the jewlery into the ultrasonic, and then into
the autoclave. Joan & I continue closing the shop. When work-related tasks are
complete we stroll into the piercing room.
Joan figures out placement, I
check my dots in the mirror...all marks are finalized and I lay down on the
piercing table.
this is the classic moment where my rational brain kicks
in and says: "what the fuck are you doing?". I quiet it down and start to
relax. I take some nice slow breaths and do a little reiki on myself. (Im a
Second Level, Traditional Practioner).
I feel VERY comfortable having
Joan pierce me. For starters, I know first hand that we are clean: that the
'clave is tested regularly, that every employee is schooled in the lessons of
cross-contamination, needles are immediatley tossed into biohazard containers
after use, and are never seen or heard from again...etc., etc. AND because
Joan is a highly skilled piercer. I trust her completley.
So there I am
laying on the piercing table. My eyes are shut at this point, so the following
information is audio and tactile info, and I may potentially miss something.
To the best of my knowledge, this is how it went:
Joan cleans off my
forehead with iodine. Pats off the excess. She clamps my very flat little
forehead. This feels very tight. I take my deep breath IN and OUT, needle goes
through, jewelry follows, bead is attached. (joan does her follow throughs
quick and smooth, just like it should be). AWESOME! I wish that I could have
seen the blood, because apparently there was some, and it looked great. Joan
used a needle slightly larger than the barbell, so the threading would tuck
inside (and not chew my skin).
The actual PIERCING part didnt feel like
any other piercing Ive ever had. Because I didnt really feel it. It just felt
like pressure: Like Joan was pushing on my forehead with her thumb. I was in
AWE of how little I felt - and that it didnt hurt. I am a very happy
girl.
It hasnt hurt yet. (Except when Orbax hits when hes sleeping). It
has healed beautifully - no pain, no puss, no fuss. Its only been a couple of
weeks, and it certainly doesnt look fresh like I thought it would.
I've
been washing it with Spectro-Jel. And thats it. There has been very little
discharge, and its easy to clean. It took a while to get used to where it was
on my face, (with my eyes closed washin' mah face). But now face washing runs
like clockwork again.
I am very content with this piercing, and have had
streams of compliments on it. From the ooohs and ahhhs of the little hardcore
kids, to the average Joe and Josephine thinking that its "cool", to the
shreiks of cheerleader wives at fancy dinner parties. Well the ladies that
shreiked at me didnt like it, but I took it as a compliment of sorts, anyway.
Ive been surpised at how well people have reacted to this piercing. When I
got my septum done, I felt like people were treating me like a barnyard
animal, but this is totally different. My septum isnt usually described as
being "PRETTY", but this vertical bridge certainly has. Ive gotten
compliements out of even the most straight laced folk. And I feel like some
crazy anime babe when I get all dolled up and go out now. Adds a little
sumpthin extra special to the mix.
this piercing has been a smashing
success.
Details
submitted by: Anonymous
on: 06 Feb. 2001
in
Surface & Unusual Piercing
Artist: Joan+Charlton
Studio: STIGMATA
Location: Guelph%2C+Ontario