A black-and-white photo of a person mid-air in a Superman-style body suspension pose, supported by multiple hooks in their back and legs, smiling joyfully toward the camera. They are suspended horizontally in a large indoor space with high ceilings and visible rigging. A group of onlookers—some seated, some standing—watch with expressions of admiration, amusement, and support. The atmosphere is lively and communal, capturing a moment of shared experience and transformation.

Your (self-chosen) oldest modification

Not including modifications that were forced on you — circumcisions, ear piercings as a baby, and so on — what’s your oldest non-earlobe body modification? The reader in this entry tells me that she got her nipple pierced seventeen years ago at the Gauntlet in NYC — she’s 56 years old now and still loving it!

My nipple piercing (retired) will also turn seventeen on February 14, with my first tattoos turning 19 this year, meaning that I’ve had them for over half my life now. Roo and I were talking about our tongue splits as well, with 1998 being the year that tongue splitting exploded in popularity, many people will soon be walking around — still happy, like the woman below — with decade old split tongues.

 17-year-old-nipple-piercing.jpg

Comments

172 responses to “Your (self-chosen) oldest modification”

  1. wolfie Avatar
    wolfie

    Oldest non lobe piercings would have to be my tragus, and labret.. So, about 4 and a half years old.

    If you counted lobes.. I got my second ones when I was about 5, by choice, that’s a bit over 12 years ago. And my first ones when I was 2.. That’s.. A bit over 15 years ago 😀

  2. wolfie Avatar
    wolfie

    Oldest non lobe piercings would have to be my tragus, and labret.. So, about 4 and a half years old.

    If you counted lobes.. I got my second ones when I was about 5, by choice, that’s a bit over 12 years ago. And my first ones when I was 2.. That’s.. A bit over 15 years ago 😀

  3. Esme Avatar
    Esme

    Haha! I’m one of the ‘old timer’ crew too. First body mod was nipples (now retired) 17(or is it 18?) years ago.I got a piercing at Gauntlet NYC too the following year- a vertical hood (also retired) by the man himself, Jim Ward. In between there somewhere was my first tattoo, and there’s a branding by Fakir in that time space as well.
    Feeling old here..sigh.

  4. Esme Avatar
    Esme

    Haha! I’m one of the ‘old timer’ crew too. First body mod was nipples (now retired) 17(or is it 18?) years ago.I got a piercing at Gauntlet NYC too the following year- a vertical hood (also retired) by the man himself, Jim Ward. In between there somewhere was my first tattoo, and there’s a branding by Fakir in that time space as well.
    Feeling old here..sigh.

  5. Lenorefff Avatar

    wow i love this thread ^_^

    all these comments show a significant percentage of mods lasting well beyond the time any “passing trend” would ^_^
    as well as pointing out that even retired mods have birthdays! heehee

    for me, it’s tie between my centre labret, and both nostrils which I’ve had since I was approx 13 yrs old (I’ll be 25 this June) everything else accumulated since…
    my tattoos are babies though.. oldest one is probably only about 5 years old, if that.

    “This is not only my skin, this worn canvas, but a lasting expression of who I am.”

  6. Lenorefff Avatar

    wow i love this thread ^_^

    all these comments show a significant percentage of mods lasting well beyond the time any “passing trend” would ^_^
    as well as pointing out that even retired mods have birthdays! heehee

    for me, it’s tie between my centre labret, and both nostrils which I’ve had since I was approx 13 yrs old (I’ll be 25 this June) everything else accumulated since…
    my tattoos are babies though.. oldest one is probably only about 5 years old, if that.

    “This is not only my skin, this worn canvas, but a lasting expression of who I am.”

  7. fishywoman Avatar

    Let’s see… i had 20 ear rim piercings by age 18, 1st tattoo at age 21, pierced my own nostril and nipple at age 22, in 1988. i’ll be 42y/o in a month. and my mother said it was a phase i was going through. heh.

  8. fishywoman Avatar

    Let’s see… i had 20 ear rim piercings by age 18, 1st tattoo at age 21, pierced my own nostril and nipple at age 22, in 1988. i’ll be 42y/o in a month. and my mother said it was a phase i was going through. heh.

  9. Karen Avatar

    lets see….oldest non-lobe piercing….. that would have to be my 7 year old nostril piercing that i got when i was 17. i knew nothing about piercings at the time; the only other piercings that i had were my standard lobe piercings (2 in each ear) that i got when i was a kid, at a mall with a piercing gun (yikes!!).

    Needless to say, the gun-created hole got infected, so i went to my very first piercing studio to get it fixed. From that point on, i’ve been mildly obsessed with body modifications, learning all i can. 🙂

    to date: 2 tattoos (professionally done) and 12 piercings (also professionally done).

    hooray for education!! 🙂

  10. Karen Avatar

    lets see….oldest non-lobe piercing….. that would have to be my 7 year old nostril piercing that i got when i was 17. i knew nothing about piercings at the time; the only other piercings that i had were my standard lobe piercings (2 in each ear) that i got when i was a kid, at a mall with a piercing gun (yikes!!).

    Needless to say, the gun-created hole got infected, so i went to my very first piercing studio to get it fixed. From that point on, i’ve been mildly obsessed with body modifications, learning all i can. 🙂

    to date: 2 tattoos (professionally done) and 12 piercings (also professionally done).

    hooray for education!! 🙂

  11. Katie Avatar
    Katie

    I started self-piercing my ears at 15… that would make the first 15 years old. My nipples, tongue and navel are all 12! On the flipside… my youngest piercing is a set of 3 dermal anchors… at 6 days

  12. Katie Avatar
    Katie

    I started self-piercing my ears at 15… that would make the first 15 years old. My nipples, tongue and navel are all 12! On the flipside… my youngest piercing is a set of 3 dermal anchors… at 6 days

  13. Seany Bwoy Avatar
    Seany Bwoy

    Mine is my left nipple…the only piercing i still have from my teenage days(non-lobe)..it is 11yrs old now i was 17 when i got it done in a trailer park, at a no questions asked kinda place.

  14. Seany Bwoy Avatar
    Seany Bwoy

    Mine is my left nipple…the only piercing i still have from my teenage days(non-lobe)..it is 11yrs old now i was 17 when i got it done in a trailer park, at a no questions asked kinda place.

  15. snakelady1956 Avatar
    snakelady1956

    My oldest piercing is my inverse navel. It was done in 1978 at Gauntlet in LA.

  16. snakelady1956 Avatar
    snakelady1956

    My oldest piercing is my inverse navel. It was done in 1978 at Gauntlet in LA.

  17. snakelady1956 Avatar
    snakelady1956

    Non earlobe, that is.

  18. snakelady1956 Avatar
    snakelady1956

    Non earlobe, that is.

  19. guesting00h Avatar
    guesting00h

    I know you said no lobes but my left lobe was done in ’75 , still has a ring in and last August I got another hole in the same lobe. Hardly rushing things with 30 + years between them but the second one was completely trouble free.
    In my 50′s and intend to grow old disgracefully.

  20. guesting00h Avatar
    guesting00h

    I know you said no lobes but my left lobe was done in ’75 , still has a ring in and last August I got another hole in the same lobe. Hardly rushing things with 30 + years between them but the second one was completely trouble free.
    In my 50′s and intend to grow old disgracefully.

  21. Madi Avatar
    Madi

    I had to really think but, Besides my lobes I pierced my eyebrows when I was 13. I no longer wear jewelry in them because they were starting to grow out and I didn’t want huge scars on my face. After that was my navel. I wanted something I could hide because I had gotten in so much trouble for the eyebrow ring. 😉 So that is still in so I’d say that’s 13 years old. Wow, it’s kinda crazy when you think about it.

  22. Madi Avatar
    Madi

    I had to really think but, Besides my lobes I pierced my eyebrows when I was 13. I no longer wear jewelry in them because they were starting to grow out and I didn’t want huge scars on my face. After that was my navel. I wanted something I could hide because I had gotten in so much trouble for the eyebrow ring. 😉 So that is still in so I’d say that’s 13 years old. Wow, it’s kinda crazy when you think about it.

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