Piercings.

Catherine wants snakebites.
Like Eddy,

-drool-
I seriously have a thing for snakebites.
Hmph. But my parents will not let me, nor will my school.

samanthaHAMILTON:

how would one peirce their own septum?
^^,

To be blunt, one wouldn't. Unless one was an idiot.
To be explanatory, the risks of not only failing in going through with it (the septum is not only notoriously hard to pierce, but extremely sensitive), but of getting it crooked and having a horrible-looking piercing if you do manage it, are far too great. Save your cash, go to a pro and you'll have a piercing you will love, rather than a scar or an ugly-ass piercing.

asha molly.:

What is better for surface piercings- the staple bars, or the kind of plastic stuff (I can’t remember what it’s called)?
More specifically, what is best for nape piercings?
Oh also, I just remembered my other question, how long should I keep my hair away from it?
No doubt they’ll tell me when I go to get it pierced, but does anybody have a rough idea?

Nape piercings, in my experience (not personal, I have a madison which is at the front of the neck, but I know plenty of peeps that do have the nape), a surgical steel staple is definitely your best bet. The curve of the neck in that area doesn't work too well with plastic threading, and they tend to migrate. But a staple is fairly long-lasting as far as surface piercings go, and doesn't leave the bulging that plastic does in that area.
As far as keeping your hair off it goes, I'd recommend at least seven days or until most of the weeping/scabbing has finished, or until it starts to look like it's closing up. By all means, ask the piercer as I find advice as to what cleaning product you should use, healing time and general aftercare differs from studio to studio and sometimes even piercer to piercer, but I usually find that as long as the wound looks pretty healthy and is starting to close up with no sign of infection, you should be pretty well right. Just make sure to wash your hair every second day or so (use a milder shampoo than usual if you find it damages your hair to be washed so frequently), tie it up when it's wet (excess moisture can breed nasties in the wound), you're sitting at home or at night when you go to bed so it airs as much as possible, and try to avoid using a lot of product in your hair because it could irritate the piercing if it comes in contact.
Bear in mind, though, and this is for anybody who has a new piercing, that slight redness and weeping does not indicate infection - if it's painless, and a little crusty/weepy/red, it is just your body's natural reaction to a wound and it is simply healing - don't freak out and take it out. Just keep it clean with salt water or tea-tree oil (I prefer natural products rather than chemical formulas) and it will clear up within 14 days of getting pierced. The redness may remain for a while longer, but if it doesn't hurt, just keep an eye on it and try to relax.

A Black Rainbow:;:

I got my ears peirced when I was 7 and now I'm too scared to get them done again

Don't let that stop you! To a kid of 7, a tiny pain like that seems bad, and you build it up in your mind over the years to be much worse than the actual experience. Trust me, you have a few more years on you now, your pain threshold has grown vastly, and you have the self-control to grit your teeth and suck up the three seconds of stinging that ear-piercing entails. Don't allow your childhood fear to hold you back - if you want to get something pierced, take a friend to hold your hand for moral support, they will be able to talk you through it if you're really apprehensive. I go through a similar thing every time I get a new piercing... I'm all super-confident until I'm sitting there getting marked up, and the adrenalin starts rushing and I think to myself, 'Oh God, this is going to sting like nothing else...' and then suddenly it's done and I hardly felt a prick. I think it's just nerves, excitement, all the stuff that makes getting a piercing so much fun! It's never nearly as bad as I remember it next time around.

samanthaHAMILTON:

Oh, thanks.
I hear people on Myspace doing it all the time, I figured it was really easy.
Hmm, guess not ]]:
then what are some good points to bring up why a sixteen year old should be allowed a septum peircing?
my dad flat out is like, "you will look like a fucking freak, and I will hate you."
and my mom's like, "youll look like a whore, I'll be so ashamed."
and that's their thoughts on every peircing except 18g holes in your lobes.
So.
I need some hardcore persuasive arguments on why I should be allowed my tragus and my septum peirced for my 16th birthday (coming up in a month.)

One of my closest friends does her own piercings. I've told her not to, but she does it anyway. She has been very fortunate though as none of her piercings have gone wrong or got infected.

samanthaHAMILTON:

Oh, thanks.
I hear people on Myspace doing it all the time, I figured it was really easy.
Hmm, guess not ]]:
then what are some good points to bring up why a sixteen year old should be allowed a septum peircing?
my dad flat out is like, "you will look like a fucking freak, and I will hate you."
and my mom's like, "youll look like a whore, I'll be so ashamed."
and that's their thoughts on every peircing except 18g holes in your lobes.
So.
I need some hardcore persuasive arguments on why I should be allowed my tragus and my septum peirced for my 16th birthday (coming up in a month.)

Well, depending on the laws and such where you are, you should be allowed to get your tragus once you're sixteen without parental consent. I'm assuming the septum would also be in that category, as most places only request that you have consent until the age of 18 for genital piercings (nipples included). There could be laws where you live preventing that, though, or is it more the fact that while you're living under your parents' roof you're obliged to abide by their rules? It's tricky for me to hand out advice because my parents have always been pretty laidback and relatively easily persuaded/nagged into letting me have my own way, but you could always try:
- Piercing it with a 16g retainer so that the jewellery is delicate (not whorish or freakish) and can be flipped up out of sight when your parents are around, if it offends them personally
- Tragus piercings are about as common as earlobe piercings these days, they're nothing to worry about, and once again they're usually 16g and very small, quite pretty, and totally acceptable not only in schools but in the workforce (if you work part-time or are looking at getting an after-school job sometime).
- My bet is that your parents have only ever seen the veritable 'bull-ring' septum piercings, so if you think it might help, refer to my previous post and show them the difference between 'bad septum' (which is what they're imagining you'll look like with one), and 'good septum' (which may be far more acceptable in their eyes). Show them a few pictures, do some other research into the procedure, aftercare and possibilities with regards to jewellery (eg ring vs retainer vs clear acrylic retainer etc), and they may see that if you really have your heart set on it, it might not be such a bad thing providing you're going to look after it and not have an ugly 'whorish' piercing.

Okay, well that was some pretty sucky advice, I'll admit. But then I can't really be sure what your individual situation is, or how 'strict' your parents are, so I feel bad for not being much help. If you need any extra help, feel free to PM me or post here and share some more insight so I can maybe come up with some more persuasive arguments.
Lol, sometimes I wish my parents had been asses to I could have learned to talk my way around them. It's far too easy for me when they just give in after a week of, 'But I wanna...' hehehe.
Nah, they rock though. Thanks mum, for letting me punch holes in my face repeatedly.

samanthaHAMILTON:

What?
how do you peirce your fingernail?

I'm not sure about these days, but I remember a friend of mine buying a nail-piercing kit from a hairdressing salon. Basically, it consists of a needle and a sleeper-type ring (except really small) and you just punch a hole in the part of your fingernail that hangs over your finger (the white bit, obviously you have to have long nails to do this) and put the ring in it. It grows out as your fingernail does, much like fingernail tattooing (I know, I spun out when a buddy of mine got his tattooed, I'd never heard of it before), but by having the kit at home you can do it whenever it needs re-doing, rather than paying for it every few weeks.

Life On Mars?:

bmezine.com has been mentioned now, but I think I'll be more obvious about it now.
READ THIS. IT'S USEFUL.
Watch out, though. There are some explicit piercings (pictures included >< ), so be careful what you click on.

Cheers I don't know why I didn't think of a direct link to bmezine. It's teh radd for researching and such... srsly, guys, go click it. Find out stuff. Even if you don't want a piercing. It's fun to learn about.

asha molly.:

Ahaha, one of my friends has her nipple pierced.
Just one word of advice if you do get it done, don’t go in a moshpit later that day XD

Sounds like it could have been a similar situation to my first MCR show... but my lip piercings were a few weeks old.
I just remember moshing my ass off, and then suddenly I felt... odd. I automatically reached for my lip to check they were all still there, and it turned out the ball had flown off my newest one, and the bar had slid back into my mouth and was rolling around.
I missed almost all of 'Give 'Em Hell, Kid' because I had to run to the bathroom and put it back in before it closed up, it was too new and not healed yet.
That annoyed me.
But I think the funniest thing was the girl standing next to me washing her hands... I'm standing in front of the mirror thrashing around and singing along, and she's looking at me like I'm a total freak.
Good times.
Note to self: wear rings in future, rather than bars. Yes, rings may get caught if they're not quite snug (usually a lip ring is 8mm, 10mm looks and feels good but is too big), but at least they can't just fly off into the crowd.

jenny; bad luck girl:

I'm having so much trouble getting these damn 6 gauges in my ears.
I've never had this much trouble going up to a new gauge, before.
It's not like I'm trying to stretch them before they've healed-- I've waited the same amount of time between 8g & 6g as I have between all the others.
They just won't stretch, & I'm afraid that if I force it, I'll end up damaging my lobes.

Suggestions?
(Other than just waiting a little longer, which is what I'm doing, for now.)

Try putting it in from behind forward, and then (depending on what jewellery you are putting in) take it out and put it in the front again.
It took me months to size up once, because I didn't figure that out.

3 piercings on the left ear and 1 on the right

Gold-Plated Dirt.:

Try putting it in from behind forward, and then (depending on what jewellery you are putting in) take it out and put it in the front again.
It took me months to size up once, because I didn't figure that out.

Thanks! I finally got them in XD

ok, i was stupid and did not read this thread before i got a piercing in my left ear cartilidge.
iconsecuently i got it done at the first reputable place i saw (an accessories store) and had it done with a gun.
i have had it for nearly a month now, but it still is sore when i press around it, like the soreness when you press on a mild bruise.
theres no infection as i clean and check it regularly.
does anyone know how i can fix this?